Rethink: Metaphors, Bully Pulpits, and Letting Go
As 2023 comes to a close, let's question reading the Bible only as a metaphor, explore how bully pastors affect the rest of the church, and ponder the beauty of letting go.
Rethinking Faith: December 2023
Welcome to the December issue of Rethinking Faith on this last day of 2023. Today we will question what happens when we read the Bible strictly as a metaphor, explore how bully leaders affect the rest of the church, and ponder the beauty of letting go of our dreams and plans.
What Happens if We Only Read the Bible Metaphorically?
If you’ve been with me for a while, then you know that I mostly push back against behavior driven, religious Christianity. I’m especially inspired by some flavors of American Evangelicalism. I live in West Michigan which is kind of a miniature Bible Belt, so I usually have plenty of topics to comment on.
I don’t often encounter many intensely progressive liberals in my real life, although I’ve confronted similar attitudes of “I’m right and you’re wrong” and “you are only good if you do these behaviors and believe these things” that come from both sides. Then I joined Threads.
It’s been an amazing experience honestly. I love it there and I’ve found more of my people on that social media platform than I’ve ever found anywhere. (In fact, a bunch of you new subscribers came from there. Hello!) There is a WIDE variety of thought on Threads. It’s good. It’s challenging. I like it. But it has made me really stop and think a number of times.
One of the topics that keeps coming up is the idea of a metaphorical Bible. This isn’t a new idea if you know church history, but it was kind of new to me. Some people believe that the entire Bible should be read as a metaphor, especially Genesis and the Gospels.
Reading the Bible as a metaphor does get rid of uncomfortable topics like creation, the fall, original sin, the flood, violence, the virgin birth of Jesus, and his death and resurrection. Everything is just metaphorical. None of it really happened. It irons out complications, paradoxes, and tension points. I can see why it would be attractive to read Scripture this way.
But I have to wonder, if everything is just a metaphor and nothing is real, then what is the point of believing? What exactly are we believing in? Just a nice idea?
I need it to be real. I want a literal Jesus who actually lived, died, and rose again to restore me to my Father. I need a literal fall—even if Genesis is a poetic retelling—to explain this broken world and the desires of my broken heart, and to show me a God who from the very beginning came to seek and save the lost. I want a real Holy Spirit who is empowering me from within in ways I can’t explain.
I’ve met God as a Real Being who changed my life. So to suddenly decide it’s all just a metaphor doesn’t make sense to me.
On the flip side, not everything in the Bible is meant to be literal. People get in trouble this way too. (Ask me about “the lamp of the body is the eye” in Matthew 6. My cult taught some strange things about this passage.) The Bible is full of metaphor, simile, and Jewish idioms that we won’t understand without some digging. To read the entire thing literally is just as much of a problem as reading it all metaphorically.
Guess what? There is a middle way. (Of course there is.) As we read the Bible, determining which books and chapters the original audience would have seen as metaphor and which as literal, let’s try to ask the questions Middle Eastern Christians have asked for centuries.
Why would God do this?
What does this teach me about God?
How does this connect to the bigger picture of Scripture?
Too often we get caught up in all the details, we look for rules and principles, we try to figure out what Scripture says about me. The Bible was not written to 21st century Americans—I know, shocker. And we can’t read it assuming that it was written to or for us. We are often asking the wrong questions. We are reading with the wrong perspective.
As we approach the Bible with humility, as outsiders, asking the right questions, we might be surprised at what and Who we find.
“The person supposedly representing Jesus is nearly the opposite of Jesus. And that makes people wonder whether this whole Christianity thing may also be a fraud.”
Michael J. Kruger, Bully Pulpit
I’ve read a lot of books on spiritual abuse over the past few years and I wanted to add this one by Michael J. Kruger to the mix. I finally picked it up over Christmas break. He comes from a different perspective than many of the other books I’ve read. As a seminary president and professor, Kruger is writing to church leaders and pastors as one of their own.
I appreciate the way Kruger summarizes how we got to this place of seemingly rampant abusive church leaders and how he defines what spiritual abuse is and is not. He calls out churches who want to sweep things under the rug. He tells them to stop making excuses because of an “ungrateful, overly sensitive, and therapeutic culture.”
I love how Kruger walks through the old and new testament showing patterns of spiritual abuse. It’s not like this is a new thing. But it’s also something that we cannot ignore.
“So why don’t churches see the trail of dead bodies? Why don’t they connect the dots? As we shall see, the problem isn’t just a single, abusive pastor. Sometimes the problem is a church culture that enables (knowingly or unknowingly) the abuse.”
I’m looking forward to reading the rest of this book. Michael Kruger is asking questions that I’ve been asking myself. I know too many situations like the quote above describes. It’s time to stop standing around. It’s time to do something. I hope we can. I hope it works.
Why Does God Often Work When We Stop Trying?
Last year, in December of 2022, I didn’t even have a finished book. I was frustrated with the system, the Christian publishing industry, and my own lack of ability to make anything happen.
As you know, six months ago my little book entered the world. Surprise!
This school year has felt very full. Teaching is busy, my family is busy, the little college ministry I helped to start at our church is busy. I didn’t feel like I had any extra time to market my book (blech, not my favorite thing) or even stay current on my social media platforms.
Ten years of trying to write a book. I wrote it. Now what? I felt frustrated. So I stopped trying and just focused on my real life. It was good.
During November’s Hope Retreat (see last month’s newsletter), I spent some time talking with Jesus about this journey I’ve been on. I was honest about my feelings of failure and acknowledged that I couldn’t do it all. I didn’t really get answers, but I felt peace.
Six weeks ago I popped onto Threads again. If you aren’t familiar with it, it’s a new word-based social media (kind of like Twitter) connected to Instagram. It felt like something I had time to do so I decided to give it a try. Just wow.
I’ve found my people. And they have found me. I’m selling books again (which as an indie author is really exciting). Three different podcasts have reached out and asked me to be a guest on their show. It’s almost overwhelming.
It feels like when I finally stopped trying to do it all on my own, Jesus smiled and said, “Now watch Me.”
I think we spend far too much time trying to do life in our own strength. I know I do. I wonder what would happen if I stopped striving and started resting, trusting, and letting go sooner next time?
What is the thing you are trying to make happen? Maybe it’s even something God has given you a vision for and you know it’s His will. Can you release your own efforts and plans and let God take it over?
I’m excited to see what happens next.
Thanks for taking a moment to rethink some of our religious traditions and beliefs. I know that it can be scary to deconstruct and reconstruct our faith, but finding the real Jesus is absolutely worth it. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts, questions, or comments.
You can find me on Threads, Instagram, Facebook, my website, and on my podcast Looking for the Real God. I’d love to connect with you on any of these places!
You can also order an autographed copy of my book, Religious Rebels: Finding Jesus in the Awkward Middle Way by clicking on the button below.
Bully Pulpit is on my TBR as well. Glad to have your thoughts. Thanks for sharing!