The problem with maps...

[Wilson L. Deaton]

Maps are static and based on things that change. To see what I mean just try to get your hands on a 1930 guide map and try to use it to drive Route 66. (Route 66 was commissioned in 1926 and officially decommisioned in 1985 with large sections of the road no longer existing. Naturally many landmark establishments along the route no longer exist either.)

On the other hand, if you know what you are doing you could get from Chicago to LA using a compass. A compass would have worked in 1930 and a compass would work today. Of course it would be difficult. There would be obstacles and surprises but if you know who to use a compass it could get you there.

Growing up I was taught that the Bible was like a roadmap. (There's even a song, "I'm using my Bible for a roadmap...") The problem is that since the Bible was written, all the landmarks have changed. Old barriers on the "route" are gone, rivers have changed course, old cities have disappeared and new cities have sprung up. This makes it rather difficult to use the Bible as a roadmap.

On the other hand, a compass makes a much more fitting metapor. Regardless of what is happening to the terrain, the compass will show the way.

While just a metaphor, this approach has far reaching implications with how we "use" the Bible and how we intrepret/exegete it.

Wilson

[Jerry Frank]

I'm not sure that I fully appreciate the metaphor / analogy, at least not as defined in your explanation.

It seems to me that if I am relying solely on a compass to get from LA to Chicago, I may encounter, for example, a road that use to cross the mountains but is no longer there. I could spend an awful lot of time wandering about trying to find a new route through with just a compass. Will all that extra meandering and searching lead me astray from the route Christ wants me to follow?

However, if I have the compass AND the really old road map, even one that only shows the old Indian trails through the mountains, I would speed my way along substantially. Is the "narrow way" more appropriate for me to follow? Certainly the obstacles of the modern era will mean that different routes need to be followed but I think the old road map will be of more use to us in finding our way than will the compass.

Just some initial thoughts. Nothing cast in stone.

Jerry

[Laurie Florence]

On the other hand, a compass makes a much more fitting metapor. Regardless of what is happening to the terrain, the compass will show the way.

While just a metaphor, this approach has far reaching implications with how we "use" the Bible and how we intrepret/exegete it.

Wilson

Thinking of the Bible as a compass that will always show you the way, no matter how things seem to change. Wilson, this is kind of profound. Ideas like this are why I LOVE the NazNet!
Laurie

[Barbara Moulton]

I prefer the idea of a compass to a roadmap too. That's why I can be a woman in ministry, despite some of the specific verses in the Bible which seem to prohibit it. The overall "direction" of the Bible makes a place for women, despite a few signs (verses) along the way that seem to put up roadblocks.

Psalm 119:105 (King James Version)
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

I've always liked this verse. If you are walking in the dark you sometimes use the flashlight to illuminate what's ahead on the path and sometimes you hold it closer to your feet to illuminate any immediate concerns.

If I am at a cabin making a journey to an outhouse (horrors) I need a light to shine ahead to see the general direction I need to go to get to the outhouse and then I need to shine it on the path ahead to make sure I don't step on a snake.

The Bible can give me direction to help me set my general path and guidance for issues that are closer to hand.

[Billy Cox]

The overall "direction" of the Bible makes a place for women, despite a few signs (verses) along the way that seem to put up roadblocks.


From my experience with the Bible, I think it's the other way around. Women in the Bible are marginalized by God's people with a few shining exceptions.

[Gina Stevenson]

Someone else has been thinking along these lines, Wilson, apparently when they wrote something I've heard now & then during the last couple of years ... a song called, I think, "True North." ;)

Thanks.

Maps are static and based on things that change. To see what I mean just try to get your hands on a 1930 guide map and try to use it to drive Route 66. (Route 66 was commissioned in 1926 and officially decommisioned in 1985 with large sections of the road no longer existing. Naturally many landmark establishments along the route no longer exist either.)

On the other hand, if you know what you are doing you could get from Chicago to LA using a compass. A compass would have worked in 1930 and a compass would work today. Of course it would be difficult. There would be obstacles and surprises but if you know who to use a compass it could get you there.

Growing up I was taught that the Bible was like a roadmap. (There's even a song, "I'm using my Bible for a roadmap...") The problem is that since the Bible was written, all the landmarks have changed. Old barriers on the "route" are gone, rivers have changed course, old cities have disappeared and new cities have sprung up. This makes it rather difficult to use the Bible as a roadmap.

On the other hand, a compass makes a much more fitting metapor. Regardless of what is happening to the terrain, the compass will show the way.

While just a metaphor, this approach has far reaching implications with how we "use" the Bible and how we intrepret/exegete it.

Wilson

[David Cash]

There is one difference, though. Basic human nature may not have changed all that much from Biblical times. God hasn't changed at all. I think the Bible as a daily guide is a lot safer and a lot more reliable than an outdated roadmap would be.

My own view is that the Bible is a very wise and balanced book and following it very literally won't take me to anywhere bad as long as I take the time to read the whole thing. (In other words, the guy who reads only the story of Jephtah's vow could do something really extreme, then read the rest of the book and realize that Jephtah was clear out of line in the first place, and I'm sure we can all think of similar instances.) In fact, I'll go a step further. Not only will basing my life on the Bible not take me anywhere bad, it will lead me into a very good life.

Of course, if Heaven is the issue, Jesus is the road, not just the compass or the map, but the whole story.

David Cash

[Billy Cox]

My own view is that the Bible is a very wise and balanced book and following it very literally won't take me to anywhere bad as long as I take the time to read the whole thing. (In other words, the guy who reads only the story of Jephtah's vow could do something really extreme, then read the rest of the book and realize that Jephtah was clear out of line in the first place, and I'm sure we can all think of similar instances.) In fact, I'll go a step further. Not only will basing my life on the Bible not take me anywhere bad, it will lead me into a very good life.


I agree in principle but I believe that one's motivation for reading the Bible can significantly color what they 'see' in the text. That can take you somewhere bad.

Would torture and death be considered bad? Some people live by the Bible and it costs them their lives, families, etc.

How about this amendment to your final statement?

"Not only will basing my life on reading the Bible in faith not take me anywhere ultimately bad, it will lead me into a very good life possibly now, and definitely in the hereafter."

[David Cash]

I agree in principle but I believe that one's motivation for reading the Bible can significantly color what they 'see' in the text. That can take you somewhere bad.

Would torture and death be considered bad? Some people live by the Bible and it costs them their lives, families, etc.

How about this amendment to your final statement?

"Not only will basing my life on reading the Bible in faith not take me anywhere ultimately bad, it will lead me into a very good life possibly now, and definitely in the hereafter."

Your amendment sounds ok to me, Billy.

I wasn't thinking so much in terms of the physical disasters and persecution as I was in the kind of lifestyle and spiritual walk Scripture leads to.

David Cash