speaking of meta

[symbioidlj]

I don't know if this is necessarily Meta in that sense, perhaps more metaphor, but I've thought, ever since reading some Jung, about how to interpret the Bible metaphorically. As many of you know, I grew up in a fundy church (Assembly of God, the same as Johnny boy Ashcroft and Elvis muthafuckin' Presley). So, everything was literal. But as I realized I didn't believe in that deity/belief-system, I was able to see the Bible in a different context. I wrote a thing a long time ago about "the fall" being symbolic of our fall from childhood innocence into adulthood and the onset of sexual awareness.

I also was aware of the metaphor of our body as "the Temple of the Holy Ghost"... This was one thing that we were taught. We should respect our bodies as that which holds the spirit of God. How very un-gnostic... Now, when I moved into pantheism, I could see that metaphor for the divinity within all life... The Prana, if you will... The universal force of motion, life, vitality. Not necessarily in it's biological sense, though, that too. I also recalled the Book of Revelation has a point where the Anti-Christ enters the temple and declares himself God. I realized that perhaps one could interpret that not in a literal way (OMG, the Jews are gonna build a new temple and that means we need to destroy al-Aqsa and then the antichrist will really go in there, and look out ARMAGEDDON!!!!), but rather, what is the anti-Christ and what happens if it enters the temple? If YOU are the temple, what do you need to guard against.

Again, this is quite elementary to pretty much any non-fundy, but it's still something I want to do sometime. Go back and read parts of the Bible in it's proper allegorical context (and maybe not so proper... that is... recontextualize it in my terms).

Anyways, yeah. And god... and the bible... and all that...

Comments

[rayefrenzy.livejournal.com]

I ended up going to an a/g church for a while. I also got kicked out of said a/g church for being "demon possessed" (read: thinking for myself). But, yeah, I really couldnt agree with you more on the metephors. Damn fundies fucking up my Christianity.

[vesicular.livejournal.com]

I was always told, if you really want to study the bible, you should learn hebrew and read the original text. Too much gets lost in the translation.

[sophy.livejournal.com]

Hebrew for OT, ancient Greek for NT. :)

[roadriverrail.livejournal.com]

That implies the "real Bible" is in the original languages.

If you want to understand its morphology over time, I'd agree. Reading it in "the original language" will not tell you anything about its modern understanding, interpretation, or influence. Post-Luther, the Bible is a vernacular text.

[roadriverrail.livejournal.com]

Go back and read parts of the Bible in it's proper allegorical context (and maybe not so proper... that is... recontextualize it in my terms).

Even more fun is to read The Bible without any context at all...to treat it as just a literary classic like Joyce or Dickens. To just read it without pretension.