Biblical metaphors.

You know what's really interesting?  Viewing the bible, not as a literal and historical account of anything, or even as a god-breathed work intended to teach a group of people how to live, but as a literary metaphor for a major change in humankind.

There are major differences between the old and new testaments.  I think of it in terms of power, though.  In communing with god in the old testament, all communing had to be done through sacrifices and through a prophet - no regular person could commune with god by him or herself unless ordained by god to do so.  Since government and religion were quite literally inseparable, this meant that exclusive power lay in the hands of the person (man) who could commune with god.  Similarly, the power that the individual held was nearly nothing.  He or she could not commune with god without a medium of some sort, and therefore, alone, each person holds little to no power.  This results in, I think, a de-valuing of individual human life.  That which holds no power is weak, and weak things tend to be weeded out by natural selection, one way or another.

This is illustrated, in my opinion, by the overall violence and, by standard scruples, lack of respect and value for individual human lives.  We look at something like stoning children for being insubordinate to parents and we don't see biblical justice, we see child abuse and murder.  Mass war, genocide, glorification of violence - all traits of the old testament - hold less impact in a society where the life of the individual does not matter as much.

But, come to the new testament, and you see a radical change in the beliefs taught.  Suddenly, communing with god is no longer a distant spiritual language spoken only by the chosen, but god is "personal" through jesus.  The individual is handed the power to commune with god, both figuratively in theology and literally in jesus' interactions with the people of his age.  The power of the gospels is founded in jesus' empowerment of "the least of these," effectively granting the powerless power, and in that respect, value.  The individual is made important.

Now take a look at our society in the US.  I have some friends who are diabetic.  In a biblical time, a person may have been able to survive as diabetic by learning, by trial and error, how to regulate his or her diet.  These days, thanks to advances in medicine, diabetes, along with a slew of other health issues, are considered treatable and completely livable.  Blindness.  Down Syndrome.  Deafness.  Hemophilia.  We live in a society that completely violates social darwinism in favor of value for the individual.

So what was the message?  God has sent his only begotten son so that anyone who should believe in him will not perish, but shall have eternal life?  Maybe that's a metaphor for the value of human life.  Anyone means The Individual carries value now.  It means that genocide is no longer acceptable, and it means that killing one to save many carries much more weight than it used to.  It means that it's not acceptable to terrorize anyone in the name of religion.  It means that the life of a serial rapist still holds inherent value, despite the crimes he committed.  It means that slavery is not okay, under any circumstances. It means picketing the funeral of a gay soldier is not okay.   It means it's not okay to commit infanticide because a child is born with Downs.

Thoughts.