Friday, October 31, 2008

I was reading a book recently called Walking on Water. It is written by a Christian author who was trying to help Christian artists, musicians etc. to find creativity. Unfortunately, the book was filled with hermeneutical misconceptions. Too many, that it made me seriously question her point.

She compares the Christian with Mary, the mother of Jesus. Her comparison makes several major errors. 1) It spiritualizes the text. Mary's virgin pregnancy was a one time event in history. Not written as an allegory, but as a narrative. Nothing in the passage indicates we are to respond to creative ideas in the same way that Mary responded to carrying Christ. There is no comparison between Christ and our puny little creative works. 2) It draws application where no application is hinted or desired. As I said before, this is a narration of an event in history. Only once was there a virgin birth, only once was the child the Lord of all Creation.

Several other errors also were found, though many would disagree. God doesn't speak creative works into our hearts, we draw them out of ourselves. God communicates no longer through speaking to one's heart, he communicates through his eternal word, the Bible.

The times in the Bible God audibly speaks are rare, to say the least, also, if we get creative juices from God, then how come many (or most) secular creators better acknowledged as great than Christian creators?

Anyways, I'll probably end up posting more thoughts like these as I read through this book. Tata for now!

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