Police scanners

[Roadgeekteen]

As a Christian guy studying theology (finishing my BA this spring and probably going on to an MA), I've noticed Christians tend to fall into three camps about how they read and interpret the Bible.

At one extreme, you have the fundamentalist Christians, who read the Bible exactly like how Muslims read the Quran. Every word of the Bible is taken literally, seen non-negotiably, and used out of context. They view that the writers of the Bible were basically possessed by God when they wrote the Scriptures. They unequivocally advocate for young-earth creationism and deny that "science" and Christianity can coexist. I've noticed that a lot of Baptist churches seem to fall into this camp.

At the other end of the spectrum you have the more liberal Christians, who read the Bible as if it was a flawed guide book from God. The words are not to be taken literally, seen mostly as metaphorical and mythical. They focus on the general themes and ideas, not specific doctrine. They view that the writers wrote the Bible as a normal author wrote a book. They almost unequivocally advocate for old-earth evolutionism, and view that science has superseded the Bible in many ways. Many "high church" Protestants fall into this view.

But I think that both of these sides err in how they interpret Scripture. Fundamentalists treat the Bible too literally, while liberals treat the Bible too metaphorically. They both do not understand the nuances of the Bible, and sadly both sides mislead and alienate people from what Christianity is actually supposed to be.

The third camp for interpreting the Bible is a more eclectic, balanced approach, which is backed up by scholarship. This view understands the Bible as completely authoritative, but that it also has a historical context that incorporates metaphorical language. For example, I believe like the fundamentalists that the Bible is infallible, but like the liberals, I believe that it is also contextual. There are certain stories and poetry in the Bible that I would say are metaphorical, but there is also a lot of stuff that I would say is literal and historical. I don't think that God possessed the writers of the Bible and nor do I think the writers just came up with it on their own; God instead inspired the writers and let them use their writing styles to communicate his truth. This eclectic approach lets the Bible speak for itself without having some agenda placed onto it (and it is indeed how many orthodox [notice not capitalized] Christians have interpreted the Bible throughout the years).

Most Christians aren't even fundamentalist.

I take it you're not from around there, then...

Certainly, most are conservative Christians, but is YEC (Young Earth Creationism) the majority opinion there? Somehow I doubt it but maybe I'm wrong.

I think it is still the majority opinion, but I don't think it's as big of a majority as you might think.

So where do I stand on young-earth creationism vs old-earth creationism vs theistic evolution? Honestly, I'm still trying to figure that out.

I would fall in the third category of Christianity as well.

[bugo]

I am well aware what Bugo means by this. I just think it's such wild hyperbole that it's not even close to reality. Most Christians aren't even fundamentalist.

Settle down, Beavis.

(Yes, I'm well aware that you're really not a cartoon character from Highland.)

[bandit957]

There is a Police Scanner App available for mobile devices.

I had an app like this for a while, but it used up a lot of data and batteries.

[kphoger]

Most Christians aren't even fundamentalist.

I take it you're not from around there, then...

Certainly, most are conservative Christians, but is YEC (Young Earth Creationism) the majority opinion there? Somehow I doubt it but maybe I'm wrong.

Not knowing how big each of the churches is in town, I really have no way of making an educated guess.  But it honestly wouldn't surprise me if it were the majority opinion.

So where do I stand on young-earth creationism vs old-earth creationism vs theistic evolution? Honestly, I'm still trying to figure that out.

My own take starts from the position of "let the scientists do the science stuff and let theologians do the theology stuff".  This doesn't entirely resolve the problem, but one thing it does succeed at is that it makes you stop thinking of the book of Genesis as a modern Western science textbook.  Because it isn't.  It's an ancient Middle Eastern religious text.  That perspective doesn't give you all the answers, but it does help with context.

[Scott5114]

This would normally be when I'd split the off-topic posts to a new one, but in this case, that new thread would be outside of the forum's remit, so...can we go back to the topic of police scanners, please?

[LilianaUwU]

Ooh, does this mean I can infodump about roleplay on FiveM servers?

[Scott5114]

Ooh, does this mean I can infodump about roleplay on FiveM servers?

No, just 3M servers.