Re: [asa] On Job

Hi Jon, you wrote:

> I think we can get in trouble by too quickly assuming the scripture is not
> speaking at face value. I was making a statement just yesterday while
> teaching a class at church (on a different subject) about the danger of
> assuming that the Bible doesn't really mean what it says. In the back of
> my
> mind, I was thinking to myself, "This statement may come back to me when
> they find out that I believe Genesis doesn't necessarily mean a literal
> seven days of creation, or a global flood, etc."

> It is a slippery slope to begin allegorizing away all that we can't
> explain
> with our present knowledge, but there is certainly a place for it, if
> science and scripture are to be reconciled.

I agree. Allegory can be a cop out to cover a lack of understanding. There
are some intriquing tie ins with ANE literature that have been largely
overlooked. One quick example I ran across is based upon the "tree of life"
in Genesis. Only by delving into the literature would you discover the date
palm displayed on cylinder seals was considered the "sacred tree" and
revered as having special significance. Cylinder seals often display the
sacred tree. At Uruk, biblical Erech, an urn containing the cremated
remains of an individual also had in it a date stone symbolic of a hope for
a future life. And when Jesus entered Jerusalem palm branches were waved
symbolic of his resurrection. How many Christians would make a connection
between Palm Sunday and the tree of life in the Garden of Eden?

Dick Fischer - Genesis Proclaimed Association
Finding Harmony in Bible, Science, and History
www.genesisproclaimed.org

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Received on Mon Oct 9 11:15:46 2006