"Artless" Christianity Part 3: Metaphors?? How very dare you???

   One of the idiosyncratic modes of belief of this idiotic form of Christianity involves overlooking all the literary elements that are "inherent" in our language and pretending that these elements are "true," and undeniably literal. Meaning, some Christians believe that the "Tree of Good and Evil" was a real physical feature of this very mythic garden that is alluded to in many religious poems throughout the medieval times. If anyone who is remotely familiar with the cache of medieval literature, these mythic locations from Genesis are often alluded to in much the same way the Greeks interposed mythological allusions within their works. For the people of Greece who are immersed in this culture, these mythic references bolster the relevance of the work to these Bible. Many poems written by the hands of highly devout Christians feature some of the same allusions and allegorical language that is predominant in the Bible. Why then are there some Christians that pugnaciously defend the fallacious idea that their literature is somehow divided from the archetypes and language techniques that are pivotal to reading text in a respectful and intellectual manner?

  It is something that really confounds me. In many ways, its prideful, deceitful, and even heretical. Jesus commonly created parables because stories have a mythic dimension that articulates a deeper message than language that is unpoetical. Art eludes us from focusing on the superficial level alone and makes us focus upon deeper truths. When Biblical literalistic Christians read the Bible in this vacuous way, they are depriving their followers of these deeper, more urgent messages than what shallowly lies above. Is it really important that it was a fruit that "Eve" ate or that her act symbolized defiance against some idea of God? More importantly, do we need to stress Eve's gender as if the fact that she is a female somehow factors into her treasonous act?

The Adam and Eve myth can be misused some many ways if it is taken literally. Some Christians have warped the "Adam and Eve" story as something that somehow backs up the vile idea that women are untrustworthy and lack any credibility whatsoever. Therefore, they must be monitored closely like hounds and the man must strongly support his superior role in order to keep himself from succumbing effeminately to the whims of these irresponsible emotional creatures. With this misinterpretation of a myth, we later see New Testament text echo this very misogynistic re-rendering of the text with the silly idea that husbands mustrule over their wives as the church is overruled by God. In last few centuries, domestic abuse was overlooked because the wives could not be "trusted" Maybe, she was being defiant like Eve was in the face of the patriarchal God thus she was deserving of punishment. The Jewish people who wrote the Adam and Eve story were be profoundly confused by this weird mishandling of their text. Furthermore, How did the snake morph into "Satan" when the snake originally represented the archetypal symbol of evil that exists within the Egyptian religion.

Typically, some Christians read their Biblical text as dry historical text though most of it is mythic history with a few historical facts thrown in. Or, some other texts are, for the most part, heavily historical though there are obvious mythical elements thrown in. For example, Jesus never really fed those droves of people with a handful of fish and bread. Instead of purely instilling belief in the literal truth of the superficial content of the text. We have to consider the underlying message. Also, if we are competent and ethical, we will take the fact that most of the Jesus accounts were written eighty or ninety years afterwords. In church, we also focused on believing that the fish and loaves story actually happened . To children in their formative years of learning, this teaches them to read stories shallowly: it is no wonder then that many people struggling with critical thinking later because their church stressed the least important element of a story over the deeper spiritual truth.
 The "anagogical" meaning of the fish and loaves story metaphorically depicts the community element that is very important to Christian ethos. If we just understand the silly fish and loaves story as something that actually happened, we miss the stressed element of this story that is an instructive story of sorts for Christ followers. Jesus is essentially showing that Christians are symbolically of "one-flesh" when they have gathered and the food thus must be distributed evenly among these people. No one is to gloat that they had more bread than their neighbor and absolutely no one is to whine that they did not get enough. "Equality" is the  reoccurring message of Jesus. We all are members of "one body" which is the whole of humanity. Fascinatingly, "bread" reappears in the communion scene where Jesus once again represents his gathering as something that is intrinsically equal. Both these "fellowships" involve bread because on a spiritual level, we are all equal. It is imperative to Christians that no one is excluded from these gatherings. Christianity initially was a philanthropic religion that highlights charity Where have we gone wrong? Thankfully, there are legions of Christians that are more progressive who really know the "anagogical" truths of the Bible rather than these flimsy superficial messages

Perhaps, the real logic behind Biblical Literalism lies with the fact that arrogant megalomaniacs can use the superficial artless interpretations of the Bible to gain control over people. The whole African American community in our country was debased and enslaved because so many people thought that they were the corrupt descendants of Abel.  This idea of the non-Christian or the "other" was often seen as descendants of the evil race of Abel and his band of hybrid "nephilim." (In another post, I hope to showcase the abuses done to minorities throughout history by "nominal" Christians who completely misread the Bible for malicious purposes)

Sadly, the superficiality of this type of Scripture reading does have consequences. Its vital tool is depriving people of doubts and their own autonomous thought processes. That is why we sadly see a bunch of bullies feeling that their bullying of gay teens is "biblically" justified. Republican candidate, Michelle Bachmann, has vested interest in this idea and thus has taken no measures to strengthen tactics to decrease this kind of bullying in her state of Minnesota. She masquerades her ideas as being "nominally" Christian to deflect any criticism. God has no real involvement in this type of shrewd misrepresentation of Christianity. He is simply there to shine his favor down on despots throughout history and several notable "Tea Party" figures." There are number of people who aren't Christians who are morally appalled by the number of gay teens that have committed suicide. Then, there are those "nominal" Christians whom like Michelle Bachmann make snide remarks about the tragedy as if the true evil lies with the fact that these guys are "sinfully effeminate and thus walking targets." (I hope to do a whole post about Biblical Literalism lending to sexism/homophobia. Both matters are inextricably linked.)

Some disgruntled Christians might ask: "Well, if the story is not LITERALLY true, you are reducing our biblical stories to fluffy-wuffy metaphors?" Sadly, I've seen some very irate responses from Christians to the notion that their God might actually be an adept poet. Or, the larger truth might be that writers of religious text knew that art is the only way to express something that is ineffable. God neither "exists" or is a "singular being," these are metaphoric ways of depicting something vast and unknowable. Actually, God being unfathomable to our minds and being elusive is a much more respectful manner of viewing God then as this anthropomorphic being that some Christians become so enamored with that they begin decorating him with some of their own egotistical ideas thus their "literal, ego" God becomes their little pet. The literal interpretation of Biblical text becomes nothing but his shallow liturgy that is leached of the artistry and wonderment that is omnipresent in real works of art. We need to regain the tools to read text carefully and inquisitively. Without this, religion easily regresses to something primal. Throughout history, Christianity sadly really have become deservedly infamous for being inhuman rather than humane.