Responses to deconstructionism

Did God really say…? is the first question in the Bible, before that everything was fiat and imperative and then obedience. Beginning here, a new way of thinking enters the picture. It seems that this is now the only acceptable way. It is easier (post Genesis 11) to play that game, because now we have the additional element of language in the equation and the problem of the original languages and translation and transmission is introduced. Can you really know what God has said or meant?

When they were placed in the garden there was one prohibition but other than that, complete freedom. Not only complete freedom but also everything truly working together for good, no impediments, no difficulties. Eve’s initial response to the temptation though shows us another side of human nature, the tendency to legalism. Not only should she not eat of the tree, “neither shall you touch it.”

In uncertainty we tend to go one of these two ways, license or legalism. Either can be a destructive response. Religion tends to grow out of the soil of legalism or vice versa. Religion likes rules. Tolerance, a religion of its own, tends to embrace license. How do you deal with uncertainty?

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 21:41 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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