Misheard Bible???

So, what is the nature of scripture? Hmmm, good question - and one I have been struggling with for most of my adult life, as I have journeyed through many differing traditions and ended up very much within the liberal, broad part of the church!

I wonder if sometimes our approach to the Bible is somewhat like a misheard song lyric, every now and then we stop and say 'oh, so that's what it says'.  So here's some Peter Kay with some amusing misheard song lyrics (there's a few rude bits, so don't watch if easily offended) 





I riffed off of this for today's sermon at St John the Divine, Victoria - as you'll tell if you listen to the podomatic link below, some of it I stole (acknowledged) wholesale, and then moved on to considering exactly what we are doing when we encounter 'bad' bible bits!

Comments

Bob MacDonald said…
I read this yesterday in response to Greg Jenks posting from Australia - you can find my reading here.
10:26 pm
Bob MacDonald said…
Curiously enough, I had also posted on punishment a few days ago. In my first 56% of the Bible read in Hebrew, rendered in English, I have not once used the word punish. I conclude 'no wonder the Christian world is distorted by the notion of penal substitution. But it will not do to stop there, or say 'this Scripture is not for me'. The death of Jesus is my salvation and my rebirth. It is similar to this akedah story of Abraham that we are reading, Hebrew roots of Christian sacrifice. Without this, there is nothing. The Abraham-God (and it is God not Yahweh) is the cornerstone for the cornerstone. We are thorough sinners (as is Abraham) but I agree that punish is the wrong metaphor for the solution. Absolutely wrong. The model of punishment lead directly to the holocaust, not just to the near holocaust of Isaac or Ishmael. There must be a power behind our lives or we will succumb to the state of sin we find ourselves in. That power for Abraham is in God's command and his hearing it. It may be that we would be better off without God. But the impact of this story like that of Job cannot be removed from our mix.
1:01 am
Bob MacDonald said…
Sorry - should have put in the link https://meafar.blogspot.ca/2017/06/genesis-50.html is where I deal with the translation problem. The KJV reduces no less than 6 differing Hebrew stems to punishment.
1:03 am
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