A certain paradox and absurdity.
We have Bible and revere it But when you think about it this is illusory. A community that believes itself to be biblically based is really based on an interpretation of the bible. IN other words an exegete. This is the narrative of the Reformation. Sola Scriptura, and in particular, sola Reformation exegesis. Not, for example, Gnostic interpretation of the Bible or consideration of contemporaneous Gnostic Christian texts.
So, a rather strange inconsistent hybrid. Accepting the canon which was set by Councils, but rejecting Councils’ wisdom on other matters.
For that matter we could even say that the modern world is also ‘biblically based’ in the sense that the Enlightenment programmatically set about to deny things described there, and to erect a counter narrative. So it is based on denial of the Bible, using a hermeneutic of suspicion against the Bible.
Christianity is also a quite peculiarly idiosyncratic interpretation of Scripture, one which the antecedents would not have imagined, and which the scholars of the day rejected.
Now in our time we have a most amazing extraordinary occurrence in the outpouring of new texts, historical research, evidence, and exegesis, all of which dictate necessarily a completely different understanding of Scripture.
Evidence that we are being fed the new information by design.
We get back to the old question of whether Christianity was a spontaneous act of God in a rather cruel reversal of Judaism, or perhaps something quite unexpected and mind boggling.
We have the reality of two completely antithethetical gospels in the NT, not only are they not overtly harmonizable except by quite a strained effort, but they are incompatible, at least overtly. So, how could this happen? Were people not paying attention?
Or were these two contrary gospels deliberately included side by side, either by divine supernatural means, or by a beguiling human agency operating behind the scenes.
Here is the scenario…
So you see how, from a rather simple collection of a few possible mainstream narratives, we have all kinds of possibilities and permutations. And, over arching all of them, we have the likelihood that the world may be ruled by demonic powers which can control our minds and thoughts and behavior and speech at will. And so we really don’t know where ‘we’ begin and ‘it’ or ‘He’ or ‘they’ end, spiritually speaking.
Balaam and Psychic Detectives
We have the Balaam principle to deal with.
So, bottom line…
We should detach ourselves from these texts, and un-mix them so that we have only the word of the Son of Man, and we hear and obey it, and by this, we discover the Truth. Not a property or abstraction but a Person.
And we enjoy fellowship with that person.
And we enjoy the power of unity with others in that fellowship. But in order to filter ourselves and each other, we need a high entry standard, the DIDACHE.
We do not need a teacher. Teachers are part of the problem, not the solution. WE already have one perfect Teacher and one perfect constitutional structure for our ‘classroom’ or community.
