My travails with conservative definitions of the Bible has led to pondering the various implications of names for writing. We choose many different words for written material. Mostly we convey authority with these various words. What types of authority are implied?
Writing simply is a collection of written words. Creative writing implies fiction, whether short story, novel or fantasy fiction. Fiction has no authority. No one bases punishment, or exclusion, or imprisonment on fiction. News is, at least theoretically, reality based. It carries the authority of fact. It is supposed to be dispassionate and free of opinion. This is in contrast to opinion pieces, which carry only the authority of the quality of the writer's thinking and conclusions.
Directions are writing that tells us how to find or assemble something. Models have directions. Maps give directions. The operation of machinery involves instructions. We use directions to build models, but assembly instructions for machinery like lawn mowers, or swing sets. Instructions generally are used for moving parts, machines and things more complex and important.
Directions and instructions carry authority, but not much. They say to us 'here is how to do it. You don't have to obey, and you may get a good result if you don't, but it will be easier for you if you do'. Advice and precepts carry different implications. These have the authority of experience, but not of instructions, with regard to activities. For example, One may have instructions for operating a lawn mower that are completely different from advice on how to mow lawns, or precepts on taking care of lawns. Advice and precepts are personal, not general or device specific.
Rules carry much more authority. Games have rules. Organized groups have rules. Rules imply no societal punishment but possible, even likely, organizational punishment. If one does not follow the rules of the Senate they are ruled out of order, lose the right to speak, or even get thrown out of the group.
Laws are a different matter. Laws are made by society, and failing to follow them carries societal punishment, even police action. Laws also carry the weight of a collective judgment by society regarding acts or choices.
In ascending order then we have fiction, opinion, news, directions, instructions, rules and laws. The top of the authority pyramid, however, is 'scripture'.
The word scripture simply means writing, but the word itself carries much greater authority. Scripture is used for writing that is from God. Scripture transcends the values and choices of Man. Scripture transcends law. Scripture is the source of moral authority. Scripture is God's law. As such, scripture is generally considered infallible. God is Right. God inspires Scripture. Therefore Scripture is infallible.
When people use the term scripture they really mean infallible, transcendant. Those who feel otherwise about a particular item use terms like 'early sources', which carries a historical ring, or 'biblical material'. This difference in terms leads to lots of trouble, as those who feel the Bible is infallible are generally not flexible or receptive to those who feel otherwise. Not infrequently, such individuals want to impose their views on other, believing as they do that they are right and everyone else is wrong.
But there is a major problem with this.
On Youtube there is a video called Christmas Carol Fails. The authors have sung a Christmas carol and used Youtube's captioning function to create words. They then sing those words and see what Youtube's captioning makes of the first set of captions. The results are hysterical. For example, the Christmas song 'Do you Hear What I Hear' has as its first line 'said the night wind to the little lamb'. After two rounds of caption translation we get 'suckling man manor to the lamb', not quite what it started as. And here is the problem with 'scripture'.
The Bible was written in Hebrew and Greek. 2700-2000 years ago. When Greek and Hebrew were both different from what they are now. Hebrew has no vowels, only schwas placed above and below the strong of consonants. All the Bible is written in capitals only, without punctuation. Then it gets translated, always a process of choosing and interpreting.
There is no way this can be taken literally. There is no way the hand of Man is not present in the Bible in writing and translation. And this ignores cultural changes and errors. Infallibility is simply untenable. The Bible's transcription and translation have non-trivial similarity to the game Whisper Down the Lane.
Of course, for those who believe in infallibility material like this means nothing. Infallibility means not only that they are right, but that anything that says they are wrong is itself wrong, and that every other infallible source is wrong too.
The irony of insistence on biblical infallibility is that it reduces the Bible from inerrant Godly Law to fiction. The Bible falls from the highes to the lowest level of authority, except for those who believe their own beliefs. What else does this mean?
Well, it means that Santa Claus told the Easter Bunny the Bible is literal and infallible. They talked it over after shooting Bigfoot for dinner but before taking a swim with the Loch Ness Monster.
I am absolutely sure. The Tooth Fairy came and told me, and I wrote down everything the Fairy told me.
Ted
Writing simply is a collection of written words. Creative writing implies fiction, whether short story, novel or fantasy fiction. Fiction has no authority. No one bases punishment, or exclusion, or imprisonment on fiction. News is, at least theoretically, reality based. It carries the authority of fact. It is supposed to be dispassionate and free of opinion. This is in contrast to opinion pieces, which carry only the authority of the quality of the writer's thinking and conclusions.
Directions are writing that tells us how to find or assemble something. Models have directions. Maps give directions. The operation of machinery involves instructions. We use directions to build models, but assembly instructions for machinery like lawn mowers, or swing sets. Instructions generally are used for moving parts, machines and things more complex and important.
Directions and instructions carry authority, but not much. They say to us 'here is how to do it. You don't have to obey, and you may get a good result if you don't, but it will be easier for you if you do'. Advice and precepts carry different implications. These have the authority of experience, but not of instructions, with regard to activities. For example, One may have instructions for operating a lawn mower that are completely different from advice on how to mow lawns, or precepts on taking care of lawns. Advice and precepts are personal, not general or device specific.
Rules carry much more authority. Games have rules. Organized groups have rules. Rules imply no societal punishment but possible, even likely, organizational punishment. If one does not follow the rules of the Senate they are ruled out of order, lose the right to speak, or even get thrown out of the group.
Laws are a different matter. Laws are made by society, and failing to follow them carries societal punishment, even police action. Laws also carry the weight of a collective judgment by society regarding acts or choices.
In ascending order then we have fiction, opinion, news, directions, instructions, rules and laws. The top of the authority pyramid, however, is 'scripture'.
The word scripture simply means writing, but the word itself carries much greater authority. Scripture is used for writing that is from God. Scripture transcends the values and choices of Man. Scripture transcends law. Scripture is the source of moral authority. Scripture is God's law. As such, scripture is generally considered infallible. God is Right. God inspires Scripture. Therefore Scripture is infallible.
When people use the term scripture they really mean infallible, transcendant. Those who feel otherwise about a particular item use terms like 'early sources', which carries a historical ring, or 'biblical material'. This difference in terms leads to lots of trouble, as those who feel the Bible is infallible are generally not flexible or receptive to those who feel otherwise. Not infrequently, such individuals want to impose their views on other, believing as they do that they are right and everyone else is wrong.
But there is a major problem with this.
On Youtube there is a video called Christmas Carol Fails. The authors have sung a Christmas carol and used Youtube's captioning function to create words. They then sing those words and see what Youtube's captioning makes of the first set of captions. The results are hysterical. For example, the Christmas song 'Do you Hear What I Hear' has as its first line 'said the night wind to the little lamb'. After two rounds of caption translation we get 'suckling man manor to the lamb', not quite what it started as. And here is the problem with 'scripture'.
The Bible was written in Hebrew and Greek. 2700-2000 years ago. When Greek and Hebrew were both different from what they are now. Hebrew has no vowels, only schwas placed above and below the strong of consonants. All the Bible is written in capitals only, without punctuation. Then it gets translated, always a process of choosing and interpreting.
There is no way this can be taken literally. There is no way the hand of Man is not present in the Bible in writing and translation. And this ignores cultural changes and errors. Infallibility is simply untenable. The Bible's transcription and translation have non-trivial similarity to the game Whisper Down the Lane.
Of course, for those who believe in infallibility material like this means nothing. Infallibility means not only that they are right, but that anything that says they are wrong is itself wrong, and that every other infallible source is wrong too.
The irony of insistence on biblical infallibility is that it reduces the Bible from inerrant Godly Law to fiction. The Bible falls from the highes to the lowest level of authority, except for those who believe their own beliefs. What else does this mean?
Well, it means that Santa Claus told the Easter Bunny the Bible is literal and infallible. They talked it over after shooting Bigfoot for dinner but before taking a swim with the Loch Ness Monster.
I am absolutely sure. The Tooth Fairy came and told me, and I wrote down everything the Fairy told me.
Ted
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