Re: metaphors

Bill Dozier (dozier@radix.net)
Fri, 11 Oct 1996 13:37:59 -0400

Regarding Re: metaphors, Gene Dunbar Godbold wrote:
>
> Now to the point: It appears that some metaphors for God are picked by
> God Himself (as C. S. Lewis has written). These include "King" and
> "Father" and (for Jesus) "Shepherd".

Sure, metaphor is OK. We should not fall into the trap of the opposite
extreme of an Eastern view of God as ineffable or the Islamic ideal of God
being "beyond metaphor." The Bible certainly encourages us that God wants
us to know a lot about him (and a lot more later). We had better not, as I
think you are warning, confuse metaphors with definitions.

> The obvious antidote is frequent bathing of the brain in the
> scriptures which restore the proper perspective to our wayward selves.

Of course.