Write a letter to a friend who is disturbed because he/she heard someone claim that there are mythical elements in the Old Testament. Reassure your friend by explaining what is meant by myth, how they come to be there, and how to interpret them. Include a couple of examples.Yo yo yo, Miss Britney Simone Linder, xxx
I heard you were freaked out by what Mr Hattingh said in RE, about there being mythical elements in the Old Testament, and that it didn’t actually take God seven days to create the world. Don’t panic, and don’t tell your mom it’s time to leave this too-weird Catholic school, ok?! Well, not just yet, anyway, first lemme try to clarify!
I know you go to the Assemblies of God – and I know that your church teaches that it’s important to be a Bible believer and that the Bible is inerrant (i.e. completely right and true). Well, in a way I fully agree that it’s hugely important to believe the Bible, because it IS completely right and true… HOWEVER: the way I see it, the challenge is in how one interprets the Bible, and the amount of focus and importance we attach to literal meaning when we read the Bible. Does a thing have to be literally true to the letter in order to be true, or can a thing still be true even though it uses metaphor and other figures of speech to explain itself?
A kind of imaginative story that uses symbols to speak about reality beyond people’s general understanding is called a myth. Yes, I know, we usually say something is a myth if we mean that thing is totally untrue or just plain rubbish. But when we’re working with scripture it’s important that we are clear about the words we use and what they mean in their context. So for us, a myth is a colourful and creative way of explaining something that is actually true. Strange but true, I tell you!
So whose idea was it to include myths in the Bible anyway? Well, myths got there because the Biblical writers were trying to find ways to explain and explore the profound nature and reality of God’s relationship with human beings. Have you ever just been at a loss for words when you’re trying to explain something about yourself and your Mom and your sister and how you guys fit together and love each other enormously even though you constantly bicker and fight over shoes and who does or doesn’t get to sit in the front passenger seat of the car? (And no, we’re not going to digress and get onto the topic of that brick someone hurled through the windscreen that time your mom and your sister were in the car taking a back-road detour, and we’re definitely not going to talk about your sister’s scar… but yowzer, your sister is my hero! Your family sure does churn its women out strong; you guys are all survivors of note!!) Anyway, after that non-diversion… getting right back to the subject at hand: at a loss for words? Yup, well so were the Biblical writers at a bit of a loss for words when they wanted to write about God! And at the time they were writing, in the ancient Near East, myths were a form of storytelling that people understood and could relate to – so the Biblical writers borrowed this recognisable way of communicating deep truths and applied it to the stories they were writing to try and communicate deep truths about God. And because these stories do indeed communicate profound truth, they were included in the Bible when believers sat down to decide what counted as part of the Bible and what should be left out. So a lot of thought has gone into the truth that is contained in scripture, and you can be sure that if it’s in scripture, then it has most definitely been accepted as true.
(It’s a part of the canon: so can I get a BOOM! BOOM!?? … Ok, that was a lame sound effect jokepun, I know! Forgive me! I should be working the Saturday Surgery with Roger Goode on 5FM! Yeah baby!! Hey, did I tell you that I used to work with Roger before he was a DJ? Seriously, I kid you not: 2001, but it was not a Space Odyssey. I was a new media producer at a company called Tinderbox Interactive and he was my studio runner. I used to give him all kinds of jobs to do for me, sourcing sound effects and doing voice clips. I also gave him a lift to work when he still lived with his uncle. The thing I liked most about Roger is that even though he wasn’t at all religious, he was sincerely interested in hearing about why I had Hillsongs Simply Worship tapes in my car. He’s the kind of guy who grovels through your glove box looking for clues about what you listen to, because he says a person’s choice in music tells you a lot about who they really are. He was right: nobody else at work knew I was a Christian because I kept that bit of information very quiet back then; I was only just beginning to explore my faith and I was in no way ready to defend my allegiance to a belief system that many of my colleagues considered to be narrow-minded, rigid and judgemental.)
Right. Ok. So now this letter is turning into an epic! But that’s just because I am such a legend.
This brings me to my next point:
The seven-day creation story is a myth. That doesn’t mean God didn’t create the world, it means that the way the story has been told is for the express purpose of teaching us something about God! We don’t know for sure how the world came into being or exactly how long it took. I like to think that faith and science are not mutually exclusive: if scientists are discovering that the world works or evolved differently from what we understood previously, this new information doesn’t negate everything we believe about God; just the opposite, it usually magnifies God’s glory and shows us how awesome God’s creation really is, and makes us realise how little we know about the universe! But as far as the creation story in the Bible is concerned, the narrative is not unlike ancient Near Eastern tradition and echoes elements of the Enuma Elish. The main difference between the ancient writing and the way the Genesis account is written, is that the Bible story shows us that there is one God who is good and loving, who created all things (including human beings – in the image of said loving God), and that all of creation is good, because God made it with goodness and good intentions. I think it’s quite cool that the six working days are divided up into three days of separation (light/dark, water above/below, water/dry land… all very holistically yin-yang) and three days of population or integration (the universe, birds and fish, animals and people… again very holistic in that it leaves nothing out and shows that human beings are as much a part of creation as all other living things are). The seventh day rest or Sabbath holds it all together: everything belongs to and in the loving God who created it, and this amazing reality deserves to be observed and celebrated. Plus it’s a great basis for a day of rest once a week! Can you imagine school for five days running, then a sports day and then back to school again for another five days?! Hayibo!
The story about the flood and Noah’s ark is a myth. Again, this doesn’t mean it’s just a fat lie; the story has been included to express something about God. In this case, I’m not entirely sure what the flood was supposed to teach us… but I will get back to you on this one in a couple of weeks! It’s coming up soon in my Bible correspondence course.
The story about Moses parting the Red Sea is a myth. Or is it? I was reading in this morning’s Cape Times about a study that shows it’s quite possible that the wind could have parted the waters. Some of the anti-religion lobby are crowing that this study is proof that Moses didn’t do it, the wind did it, and therefore the Bible is a lie and God is irrelevant. From my reading of the story, the wind was very definitely involved when Moses parted the sea, so depending on how you read it, this just confirms the Exodus 14 account, instead of the other way around. Anyway, the study explains some interesting fluid dynamics, regardless of whether the Exodus story is myth or hard fact. Read this online: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0012481
Anyway, proving something possible is not the same thing as proving something true. It’s just proven to be … possible. I think that whatever science discovers, all of the myths are there to invite us to consider the possibilities, and to believe in a God for whom all things are possible, and to remain hopeful that love abides through all things and will always win out in the end.
And that’s where I’m going to end this letter: leaving you to ponder all of this in your heart.
xoxoxo
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