Ten Words or Phrases Not Found in the Bible
From T. J. McTavish's "A Theological Miscellany; Odd, Merry, Essentially Inessential Facts, Figures, & Tidbits About Christianity"
What do you think?
"Eternal security" surprised me - not because I thought it was in there, but I haven't heard that phrase used before, anywhere. It must be a big concern for somebody, though. I'll bet "Second Coming" is a shocker to some; even those who realize Jesus didn't ask people to "accept" him in order to "go to heaven," the LaHaye vision of Revelation is so widely known and taken for granted that if someone told me it was in there, I'd probably have bought it.
Next time someone asks if you've "accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior so you can go to heaven," you might ask them what they're talking about, and where those ideas came from. If the answer is "The Bible," your reply cound justifyably be "Bulls***." It's probably not pastoral, or helpfully-relational. But true :-) Is there such a thing as holy impishness?!
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Extra Credit; Is God a Taoist? from The Tao Is Silent by Raymond M. Smullyan.
This is an imagined conversation between an anonymous mortal and God that raises some great questions. I can't add anything to it; I've encountered some similar thought before in the work of Daniel C. Dennett, The Tao of Pooh, The Dancing Wu Li Masters, and others, and this was a fun, refreshing, and insightful review.
This may surprise some folks, but these words and phrases just can't be found in the Bible.Accepting Christ - Glossolalia (a term for speaking in tongues) - Personal Savior - Going to heaven - Inerrancy - Infallibility - Second Coming - Eternal security - Theology - Trinity
What do you think?
"Eternal security" surprised me - not because I thought it was in there, but I haven't heard that phrase used before, anywhere. It must be a big concern for somebody, though. I'll bet "Second Coming" is a shocker to some; even those who realize Jesus didn't ask people to "accept" him in order to "go to heaven," the LaHaye vision of Revelation is so widely known and taken for granted that if someone told me it was in there, I'd probably have bought it.
Next time someone asks if you've "accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior so you can go to heaven," you might ask them what they're talking about, and where those ideas came from. If the answer is "The Bible," your reply cound justifyably be "Bulls***." It's probably not pastoral, or helpfully-relational. But true :-) Is there such a thing as holy impishness?!
----
Extra Credit; Is God a Taoist? from The Tao Is Silent by Raymond M. Smullyan.
This is an imagined conversation between an anonymous mortal and God that raises some great questions. I can't add anything to it; I've encountered some similar thought before in the work of Daniel C. Dennett, The Tao of Pooh, The Dancing Wu Li Masters, and others, and this was a fun, refreshing, and insightful review.
Ten Words or Phrases Not Found in the Bible posted by St. Peter's UCC at Monday, October 16, 2006
3 Comments:
I don't think "relationship with God" is in there either but I am glad that I have one.
True enough. I searched my HTML-NRSV version and didn't find "relationship with God."
The book's subtitle is "Odd, merry, and essentially inessential facts..."
I'm not necessarily down on any of the terms in the list (I find Trinitarian theology bubbling up in my own reflections quite often). It just seems like a good illustration of a larger point about what's essential and what is not. When I think about the number of people who consider, in good faith, that "accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior" is the only thing that matters about Christianity, and the fact that the phrase doesn't exist is Jesus' own story, my head wants to explode.
The dissonance is nearly overwhelming.
But point well taken, Bob. There are certainly a great many rich concepts and metaphors created since the canon was closed. I certainly don't mean to close myself off to those. -h
wowie, i'm quite "certain" of some things today, aren't i? :-)
"...phrase doesn't exist in Jesus' own story..."
typing fast and going crazy on some other things, -h
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