Monday, October 19, 2009

Politics/Theology: Conservative Bible Project

Some time ago, I wrote an article criticizing Conservapedia for deciding to rewrite the Bible "conservatively". I still think this is absurd. However, I just read something written by Slacktivist on the same topic, and I think his diagnosis is (as often) horribly wrong.

Fred thinks what's going on with the "Conservative Bible Project" is just a result of their conservative outlook. They're conservative and don't want to change, the Bible is liberal, so of course they have to change the Bible. In a way this is right, what's being done does relate to their conservatism, but that's not simple enough. Ultimately, what Fred is doing is saying that conservatism=idolatry. This is absurd. What's going on here is idolatry, the folks at Conservapedia have made ultra-conservatism their god, and the bible has to give. This isn't exclusive to conservatism though, liberalism can do this just as easily. Mostly Fred doesn't do this (though I think he gets close at times) but it can easily be seen in the likes of Bishop Bruno of the Episcopal Church, who will always choose whatever his ultra-liberal agenda dictates. A perfect example of this would be the joint Hindu-Episcopal service he put on.

Of course, we all do this to some extent, taking our own biases and bringing them to the Bible. I think for this we just have to thank God for his grace, which applies not just to our acts but our thoughts. Nevertheless, we have to try not to do this as much as possible, and we should avoid making either liberalism or conservatism, or any number of other things our god.

 I would say that one thing Christians should notice was how Jesus worked out his agenda in the world. He didn't work at a political level, but on a personal level. There are plenty of rational reasons to avoid trying to use the government to change the world to our image, but there is also a very good religious one - the imitation of Christ.

4 comments:

  1. This is really interesting. So they are actually trying to EDIT the Bible to fit their views????

    I always felt that the Bible is overused on both spectrums. I've never hear anyone say 'Psalms says this. . .but is contradicted in Numbers but. . .'etc. etc. They simply use a random verse, line, what have you, to fit their purposes. That would be like me saying. Hey Kevin said 'The Bible is simple'. Want to know why because in line 12 of his website, which he wrote five years ago, he wrote 'that's not simple enough'. What context did I pull this out of? You guessed correctly (and it ain't family friendly).

    If ANYONE, conservative or liberal, rewrites a text to serve their purpose then, artistically, the art form is dead and religiously it is hethenistic.

    ReplyDelete