Revelation or interpretation?
So I'm listening to the New Testament on CD on the way to work this morning and shivered when I heard Matthew 6:26
I have always had a severe issue with the idea of humans being superior to other animals and this line, as well as many others in the Bible, have always rubbed me the wrong way. But I'm an Episcopalian and we believe that Jesus the Christ was the physical manefestation of God during his time here on Earth, so how could God make such a statement?!?
Well, it occured to me this morning that Jesus isn't making a statement here; he is asking a question. And it seems this is a far more profound question than I had previously thought. Over the years, I've come to know Jesus' character to be that of one who posesses the infinite wisdom of God and therefore each of his words would contain far deeper meaning than what is understood at face value. We all know about the tendency for entities of great wisdom to pose riddles and speak quizically of the profundities they purport. I think, and this is where I suspect interpretation rather than revelation, that this is what Jesus/God is doing here. Perhaps this question, "...are you not much more valuable than they?" is not necessarily rhetorical, but rather an invitation to cogitation.
I would certainly like to think so, as anything less would severely compromise my desire to know such a God more fully.
We (humankind) are not superior to other animals! The scientific evidence does not support such an argument any more than one's true spirit would. Indeed, I would go so far as to submit that it is exactly those attributes that we use to uphold such a fallacy (our "intellect", emotions and even our "really big brains") that make us the inferior animal.
But there is more on that to come, so stayed tuned......
And in other news, Brother Jacquez is correct, Lyrics Born is the shit!
I have always had a severe issue with the idea of humans being superior to other animals and this line, as well as many others in the Bible, have always rubbed me the wrong way. But I'm an Episcopalian and we believe that Jesus the Christ was the physical manefestation of God during his time here on Earth, so how could God make such a statement?!?
Well, it occured to me this morning that Jesus isn't making a statement here; he is asking a question. And it seems this is a far more profound question than I had previously thought. Over the years, I've come to know Jesus' character to be that of one who posesses the infinite wisdom of God and therefore each of his words would contain far deeper meaning than what is understood at face value. We all know about the tendency for entities of great wisdom to pose riddles and speak quizically of the profundities they purport. I think, and this is where I suspect interpretation rather than revelation, that this is what Jesus/God is doing here. Perhaps this question, "...are you not much more valuable than they?" is not necessarily rhetorical, but rather an invitation to cogitation.
I would certainly like to think so, as anything less would severely compromise my desire to know such a God more fully.
We (humankind) are not superior to other animals! The scientific evidence does not support such an argument any more than one's true spirit would. Indeed, I would go so far as to submit that it is exactly those attributes that we use to uphold such a fallacy (our "intellect", emotions and even our "really big brains") that make us the inferior animal.
But there is more on that to come, so stayed tuned......
And in other news, Brother Jacquez is correct, Lyrics Born is the shit!
posted by Lost Tortoise | 09:57
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