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Dialect of Christ

Discussion in '2005 Archive' started by NateT, Jun 26, 2005.

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  1. NateT

    NateT Member

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    Here's the situation. I'm grading lessons for Crossroads Bible Institute. It is a prison ministry. I've got one of my students who writes me with almost every lesson.

    About a year ago, when I first started grading, he was telling me all about the "Dialect of Christ." He had a rather allegorical interpretation of texts, in his letters, but during the studies, he was always able to nail down "what this text means." I wrote him some and told him I didn't buy into a lot of what he was saying. It quit for a while.

    This week I got another "Dialect of Christ" letter. It is rather lengthy, but he is dealing with Genesis chapter 1. He claims that this chapter is prophecy. For example, when it mentions water, he claims it means "the crystal clear doctrine of Christianity." He says that when called the light "day" that he was talking about Christians, and the darkness was talking about unconverted people.

    I haven't gotten all the way through his letter yet, and I have started composing my response to him in my head. However, I was wondering if any of you have ever run into anything like this? Or is this just something my guy created as a hodge podge of teachings?

    Thanks
     
    #1 NateT, Jun 26, 2005
  2. Joseph_Botwinick

    Joseph_Botwinick <img src=/532.jpg>Banned

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    The guy is certified.

    Joseph Botwinick
     
    #2 Joseph_Botwinick, Jun 26, 2005
  3. jdcanady

    jdcanady Member

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    Many of the early Christian fathers saw much of the old testament as a allegory for Christ. It is interesting to read some of their thinking.

    I would encourage him to first try to understand how the people Moses was addressing understood the passage. That is the context. Let him understand that, a literal meaning, before trying to understand something symbolic.

    He should then see how the passage has been understood throughout history, by various different people, scholars and laymen, especially Jews for Old Testament passages. Some passages are clearly Messianic, such as Moses lifting the bronze serpeant in the wilderness. We know that, because Christ explained it in the Gospel of John.

    If what he believes is clearly different from orthodox belief, and historical understanding, then he has the burden to show why all these other Christians throughout history are wrong, either through word study, or historical evidence.

    One of the worst phrases in Christdom today is "what does the passage mean to you?" Why not simply ask, "What does the passage mean, in the context it was written."

    Hey Joseph, it is good to have you back. I hope the kids did well at the band camp! Tell us sometime how it went.
     
    #3 jdcanady, Jun 26, 2005
  4. untangled

    untangled Member

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    I agree with jd.

    To add to this, I have an old friend that recently became a Christian and started to attend a liberal college (which I unfortunately graduated from years ago). He sees the Bible in its entirety as allegorical, except for some Gospel accounts.

    He claims anyone with intelligence can see that the Bible is more of a story book filled with poetry and good teachings and that it cannot be the Word of God, however he claims some of the teachings contain God's ideas. He is one of those people that asks, "What is my truth?"

    Don't get me wrong, I believe there are some symbolic texts within the Bible, but only when the situation leads to that.

    In Christ,

    Brooks
     
    #4 untangled, Jun 26, 2005
  5. Charles Meadows

    Charles Meadows New Member

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    JD is right. This smacks of Origen and some of the other fathers. I do not see that symbolism implied here.
     
    #5 Charles Meadows, Jun 26, 2005
  6. exscentric

    exscentric Well-Known Member
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    Don't know of anything currently for sure but:

    There was a classy sounding woman on radio back in the 70s I'd guess out of CA that felt that the Bible was not to be understood as given, but that each word has a different meaning and that God had only given her the true meaning to the Bible. She would explain for a half hour on what what meant or something similar.

    There is also a black bunch on television that take a word and use the dictionary to define the word then a thesarus at times to really get to the true meaning of the word and get to what God really meant. Guess the dictionaries were inspired also :)

    Have never gotten a movement behind the black teachers, and the gal in CA was God's only instrument on earth so she was the group :) don't remember her name. Maybe some of her converts are still around.
     
    #6 exscentric, Jun 26, 2005
  7. Joseph_Botwinick

    Joseph_Botwinick <img src=/532.jpg>Banned

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    <a href="http://www.baptistboard.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php/topic/10/5120.html" target="_blank">Hey there. It is good to be home. Click here for an update on camp. [​IMG]

    Joseph Botwinick</a>
     
    #7 Joseph_Botwinick, Jun 26, 2005
  8. Mercury

    Mercury New Member

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    Well put. I agree.
     
    #8 Mercury, Jun 26, 2005
  9. NateT

    NateT Member

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    I agree with everything you guys have said so far.

    My first point is going to be to look at what the people Moses wrote to thought about the passage.

    My second thought was going to be that since we all have the Spirit (because that is what he keeps saying: the Spirit is guiding him) that we need to expose our beliefs to the larger community as a whole. Like what someone was saying, that we need to see how other Christians think of it.

    From what little I've read of Origen, it did remind me of him.
     
    #9 NateT, Jun 26, 2005
  10. Sounddoctrine04

    Sounddoctrine04 Guest

    Definitely of the Origen camp. When one uses such a method of hermeutics, then the whole of scripture is clay to be molded to one's imaginations.
     
    #10 Sounddoctrine04, Jun 30, 2005
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