Bully's Blog

or How Modern Conservative Theologians Unwittingly Use Literary Genres to Mask Their Unbelief 

One of the big problems with modern theology is its habit of categorising parts of the Bible into literary genres. For sure, the Bible contains historical prose, visions, poetry and songs. But many passages won’t actually fit into these neat little pigeon holes without hamstringing their intended purpose. And as it turns out, these “genre-lisations” are excuses to compromise with humanistic pop-philosophy and pop-history.

The three main gripes I have are misuses of the genres poetry, polemic and apocalyptic.

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From John Barach’s blog:

The Fruit of Dispensationalism

In the Portland airport, on my way back home, I read a new book on eschatology by Auburn Avenue’s associate pastor, Duane Garner. Here are a few paragraphs to whet your appetite. In the context, Garner has been talking about Hal Lindsey’s recommendation that Christians retreat from society because things are going to get worse and worse until Jesus returns:

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For those reading my book, I need to correct a paragraph on p. 289. Although the newly expanded territory measured out the pattern of the Ark, the Ark was in heaven. So restored Jerusalem became the four-cornered Altar of Incense beneath it (the Holy Place/City) and the Empire became the Bronze Altar beneath that. 

“The Lord had used the exile to expand His territory. He had scattered His people as the four winds. Jerusalem was now the Temple (the holy city), a rebuilt Altar of Incense. The Empire was now the Land, the four-cornered bronze Altar beneath it.”

This all of course is a type of the New Jerusalem ruling an even greater world in this current age. I’ve also added a diagram.

“God claimed the Babylonian Empire as His territory, and began converting Nebuchadnezzar’s new World (Sea) into Land. The kings had failed to continue bringing the riches of the Gentiles under the Covenant, so the Lord expanded the Covenant promise. The expansion would cost Israel her life.”

The Mac vs. Windows debate as Creation vs. Evolution. Watch here.

And another one here.

“The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who call’d me here below,
Will be forever mine.”

This verse in John Newton’s otherwise wonderful Amazing Grace makes me cringe. Bible symbolism is incredibly diverse, but also incredibly consistent, as a word search for flood or snow will show.

A flood is the rising of the Abyss in judgment, and after the historical flood, it was used by the prophets to picture Gentile nations flooding in from the ‘outer courts’ boundary over the four-cornered ‘Altar’ of Israel to wipe out the unfaithful ‘sons of God.’ It is used to picture Egypt, Babylon, and even the false teachings of the Judaisers in Revelation 12, but never mercy.

Snow only gets one negative rap, and that is the whiteness of ‘leprosy’ (actually, plague). In this case, it is the evil twin of true glory. It is death masquerading as life, an un-covering instead of a glorious robe.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but within are full of dead [men's] bones, and of all uncleanness.”

The symbols are important, and we are mostly illiterate concerning them. They are not poetic fluff in any way. God communicates truth by His word to interpret His creation. But we think like Greeks instead of Hebrews.

“If Satan was defeated at the cross, why was there so much Satanic activity before the destruction of the Temple?”

(*Satan was thrown out of the heavenly Temple but moved into the earthly one – seven worse demons – a false Lampstand. Judaism’s seven eyes were darkened. [Matt. 6:23])

“Since I was a little girl, friends, relatives and neighbours would bring their problems to Mother. She had a rare combination of being completely moral and completely nonjudgmental at the same time — the exact opposite of liberals who have absolutely no morals and yet are ferociously judgmental. 

You could tell Mother anything, get good counsel and not end up feeling worse about yourself.”

–Ann Coulter

“Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.”  (1 Cor. 3:12-17)

Are the gold, silver and precious stones our heavenly bling? From the structure of this passage, I think what Paul is referring to is the church. If we are building disciples who remain despite trials and testing from God, we will be rewarded. The immediate context of this is the false doctrine of Judaisers, and their house of gold, silver and precious stones (Herod’s Temple and his puppet High Priest’s robes). While Paul was building a Temple out of people, Herod was busy polishing the brass on the Titanic that he knew Jesus had said would be submerged under a Gentile flood (Daniel 9:26). Herod’s precious stones didn’t make it through God’s judgment. The Day declared what it was in truth.

The question is, are our disciples a robe/house for Jesus, or are they kindling in His nostrils? When He comes to judge, what will our ministry be revealed as?

 

“…Powers don’t enjoy being exposed as frauds, and so the Church, like Jesus, has often provoked vicious opposition. But the effort of the powers to shore up their position is hopeless. The worst they can do is kill Christians, but that just means the cross gets repeated over and over, repeatedly revealing the iron fist beneath the velvet glove. Against a cruciform Church, the powers are helpless as babes.

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