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Eastern Origins

June 19, 2008

It is amazing that the Bible has kept it’s sacred and popular appeal considering what religion has done to it over the centuries. Bibliolatry remains the biggest obstacle to biggest hindrance to capturing the fullness of the Spirit from it. Secondarily, I’d put the lack of understanding of the environment-culture out of which it was written as a great peril to our receiving the spiritual messages and benefits.

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The Bible was written from an Eastern paradigm, culture, and origin. But, if one thinks that God (from somewhere out there in space) actually wrote it, then it’s inerrant, infallible, and book closed. It’s literal and you’re trapped in all that those constraints bring to the table - and they are legion!

But, if you conclude that the Bible was written by men, sometimes inspired and sometimes not, who were of an Eastern origin in their thinking and writing then the Bible comes alive and makes SENSE! How cool is that?

Eastern imagery is critical to understanding the Bible. The language of the West is linear and clear. The language of the East is highly symbolic. Thus when you read, “If your hand offends you cut it off”, the Eastern writer was not giving you a physical instruction but a symbolic lesson. The HAND speaks of any “form of expression” and the warning is that one should back off or turn away from any “form of expression” which is offensve.

Stories in the Old Testament particularly are not records of historical facts, but allegories, symbols, and metaphors that carry messages of truth for living our lives. Remember, a thing does not have to be a FACT to be TRUE! A metaphor is not less than something as many interpret such, but a metaphor is more than. To get locked into the literal and inerrant words is to live off the LETTER of the book (which brings death) and to miss the SPIRIT of the book (which brings life).

By missing the ORIGIN of the Bible much of the wsidom is missed. The miss the ORIGIN of Jesus (His Jewishness) is to miss much of His wisdom. It’s such a difficult thing for the Western ego to accept Eastern anything. But, we must! :-)

Written by Ernie · Filed Under Daily Commentary 

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