The definition of literal

As I am continuing to read A New Kind of Christian, I am really struck by the parts on the bible. On page 71, McLaren writes “Fortunately, evangelicals don’t. . . justify killing infidels, even though Moses ordered the faithful to do so in Exodus. They don’t practice polygamy, even though David and Solomon did. They don’t recommend dashing the infants of their enemies against stones, as one of the Psalms celebrated. No, they have a grid of decency that keeps them from applying the Bible literally in these situations. But they seem generally unaware of this grid; they think they rigorously apply the Bible literally, and no one is as faithful as they are. Their grid is like their own retina- they see by it, so they can’t see it.” I am sure that to some it seems like heresy; that the teaching represents a false teaching that must be attacked and dissected for all of its weaknesses. But McLaren goes onto a masterful job outlining both ‘liberal’ and ‘conservative’ arguments for Scripture and in it reveals a major weakness of mine which is interpreting scripture through my overarching biases.

For instance, a week or so ago I was reading the last part of 1 Corinthians 14 and it deals with tongues and prophecy- two gifts my faith tradition is somewhat uncomfortable with. In this chapter Paul lays out the ‘ground rules’ for these gifts and reiterates the idea that tongues need an interpretation. I’ve always held onto this as my trump card in the debate as if to say look, I’m all for tongues as long as there is interpretation. I’ve believed that verse to be literally true. And yet later on in the chapter, Paul instructs women to be silent in church and that if they want to ask questions, they can essentially ask their husbands when they go home. And I’ve always contextualized that passage because it doesn’t fit my paradigm. I’m as guilty of the Christians who do that sort of thing with other causes. And so I need to continue to check my biases and judgments. Doesn’t mean I’m wrong on women, but it does mean I need to examine my biases against tongues.