The Bible as Miraculous Secular Instrument

[Mortalsfool]

                                  FROM
MUNDANE WORDS TO SPIRITUAL TEACHING IN GOD'S HOLY BIBLE
                          “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men
liberally...” James 1:5

The Bible is not a supernatural instrument in the sense that it must be
continually manipulated by God in order to accomplish its purpose. It
does not require God's hand to reach down from heaven each time a
word produces an unexpected understanding. The Bible was part of
God's original plan when creation was initiated. Like everything else
in creation, it was designed to operate according to established
principles. This does not make its operation any less miraculous. It
simply suggests that God created it with the ability to continue
performing its intended purpose without requiring His continual
intervention. A stone dropped from the hand falls downward without
God having to reach down and make it fall. It does so because God
established the law that governs it. The Bible's ability to speak to
mankind may operate in much the same way. As long as words exist and
mankind can read them, the possibility remains for those words to
disclose something beyond their ordinary meaning.

The Bible was another part of God's design for the human experience. Its
purpose was to help humanity in its quest to understand His ways.
There is nothing that exceeds the power God put into words. “In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God.” I make a point of speaking only of what I
believe has been promised to each of us in the Bible. This article
attempts to disclose the mechanism by which the Holy Bible can
transition between ordinary meanings for the masses and spiritual
disclosures of what I will call gifts. I am
concerning myself particularly with the Bible's words and their
ability to impart something above the mundane. By mundane I mean the
ordinary understanding available to anyone who can read the words.

The word mundane is defined as “of this earthly world
rather than a heavenly or spiritual one.” It is this
distinction that interests me. The same Holy Words can address the
reader in either of these two states. The words themselves have not
necessarily changed. What changes is what the reader is capable of
receiving. Throughout the Bible there are promises of gifts that come
directly from God. God promises wisdom, understanding, guidance,
teaching, discernment, a renewed mind and the Spirit of truth. These
gifts are not merely answers to questions. Some of them represent an
increasing capacity to see.

In my mind, UNDERSTANDING rises above faith's hope and
may be the most rewarding gift. Understanding gives the learner a
certainty that is not found in hope alone. It begins to reveal the
mysteries of God by disclosing their purpose, their hows and their
whys. It also begins to explain why God's works can remain mysteries
to one person while becoming understandable to another. When God made
His plan for humanity's existence, I believe it was complete at its
inception. In its completeness there was no need for God to
continually modify His creation. He already knew the end from the
beginning. His plan included laws that would govern and ensure
consistency of operation, just as the laws governing science and
physics do. The power of words to convey meanings beyond their
ordinary meanings may be another one of those laws.

What I am disclosing may appear to be one of life's mysteries, but that
does not make it different from the mysteries of science. There was a
time when many of the laws of science were mysteries to mankind.
Through diligence and reasoning, we learned to understand them.
Perhaps the spiritual operation of words is another law waiting to be
understood. It is this law governing the ability of words to reveal
God's mysteries that I wish to examine. I will approach the subject
from several perspectives: God's purpose, its availability to all,
its intent, its certainty in determining what can be disclosed, and
its filtering system that determines who is able to see what.

I can best relate this Holy Words phenomenon to the reading of a love
letter written by one person to another who loves them in return. A
love letter can be read by many people, yet each reader will receive
something different from it. A historian might see something of the
period in which it was written. A student might examine its language.
A jealous person might see envy in the expressions of love. A family
member might remember the relationship between the two people. But
there is one person who can receive something that the others cannot.
It is the person to whom the letter was written. The words have not
changed. The letter has not changed. What changes is the relationship
of the reader to the one who wrote it. Only the one who was loved and
who returns that love can experience the full intent of the letter.
To everyone else it remains information. To the beloved it becomes an
experience, even a vicarious feeling.

So also is the Bible. It was brought into being by One who expresses His
love for humanity. The same as the love letter, it can unveil
meanings and produce an experience that cannot be fully received by
someone who has no relationship with the writer. This may explain why
two people can read the same passage and come away with entirely
different understandings. The Bible addresses itself to all who read
it. The historian may find history. The scholar may find ancient
writings and subjects worthy of study. The unbeliever may find
reasons to question it. The person searching for hope may find words
of encouragement. The casual believer may find reasons to attend
fellowship and strengthen his faith. But the person who has entered
into a relationship with God may find something else. He may begin to
recognize himself in the words. He may see the teachings of Jesus in
a new light. He may recognize connections that were invisible before.
He may begin to understand not merely what the words say, but what
they mean in relation to his own life. Understanding is the
uncommon gift.

A vast majority of readers struggle to make sense of the Bible's
content. This is understandable. The Bible contains history, poetry,
prophecy, instruction, parables, letters and many different forms of
expression written across generations. But something else is
occurring when a person reads it with faith. The reader is no longer
merely collecting information. The words begin to interact with what
is already within the reader. Faith, experience, expectation and a
relationship with God become part of the reading. This is where the
mundane word can become a spiritual teaching.
                        
CONSIDER THIS
God wants to enter each of our lives and share His love. He gave us the
story of the sacrifice of His Son so that we might experience
something of the Father's love while we yet live. He assures us that
His love is offered without measure or price. The Bible contains
promise after promise offering an understanding of His ways. It
promises an opening to eternal life through the sacrifice of His Son,
Jesus. And the requirement is remarkably simple: Love me
as you love my Son whom you have not seen, and love your neighbor as
yourself. How else can we manifest our love of
Jesus in our own lives if we are not loving our neighbors?

Salvation is a product of acceptance and faith. Understanding is its reward.
Faith in Jesus opens the door to communication with God the Father.

Jesus said in John 16:23, “In that day ye shall ask
me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask
the Father in my name, he will give it you.”

And again in John 16:26, “At that day ye shall ask
in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for
you.” These words suggest something more than merely receiving
an answer to a question. They suggest access.

The words of God become representatives of God. They remain words, but to
the person who receives them in faith they can become something more
than information. They can become communication. This is where the
mystery of Holy Words begins. The words do not have to change. The
Bible does not have to change. God does not have to continually
intervene and alter the words for each individual reader. The reader
changes. The relationship changes. And with that change, the capacity
to receive changes.

The same sentence that once appeared ordinary can suddenly disclose
something that seems to have been waiting there all along. It may
answer a question that was never written into the sentence. It may
reveal a connection between two passages that had previously appeared
unrelated. It may explain something about God that could not be
understood before. It may even produce an understanding that feels
less like learning something new and more like remembering something
that was somehow already known. That is what I mean by a spiritual
gift. The gift is not necessarily the word itself. The gift
is what the word is capable of revealing.

The Bible therefore may be more than a book containing information about
God. It may be an instrument designed to permit a relationship
between God and humanity to continue through the generations. Its
words remain available to everyone, but what those words disclose may
depend upon the reader. The historian reads history. The student
reads information. The believer reads instruction. The seeker reads
hope. But the person who has entered into a living relationship with
God may read something else. He may receive understanding.

Perhaps that is the great peculiarity of God's Holy Words. They can
remain mundane words to one reader and become spiritual teaching to
another. The words have not changed. The Bible has not changed. The
reader has.

[Mortalsfool]

I’m writing this reply to my own article because I am curious. This article has been read over a hundred times. Since it’s posted on a category of philosophy that concerns religion, I feel that those to whom the Bible is sacred had to form some opinion about the premise being made.

The article is the culmination of over sixty years of an obsession with understanding the workings of words, the dynamics behind the many effects that contribute to their importance. They are important to the real world of the common experience and at the same time provide the backbone of spirituality. They employ a mechanism that makes their workings miraculous in both the secular world, and the spiritual.

I first learned to understand the secular power behind words, when I learned how to design ‘canned pitches’ for selling. I learned how they worked. I learned how to use them. They work without fail!

The spiritual power of words occupied the past forty-five years of my obsession. The Bible became a book of understanding Gods’ ways. The article above is what I feel I’ve learned.

What do you think of the premise?

[Walker]

What do you think of the premise?

The Holy Bible is divinely inspired.

[Mortalsfool]

Hi Walker, I think that we both agree on the point that the Bible is inspired. My real question is, 'what do you think of the premise describing 'how' and 'why' the Bibles' miraculous ability to communicate is structured.

[Walker]

Hi Walker, I think that we both agree on the point that the Bible is inspired. My real question is, 'what do you think of the premise describing 'how' and 'why' the Bibles' miraculous ability to communicate is structured.

I read the article, and this is what it means to me, so far.

What is the premise? Can you state it in less than fifty words? Is the premise the title of the thread? If so, are you saying that the miraculous can be accepted, or believed, by the secular?

What I’m getting from the article, is that you’re saying that the divine intercession that is required for the divinely inspired Holy Bible to have manifested from the emptiness of infinite potentiality, caused the transmission of the Holy Bible to take a preternatural form, rather than supernatural. As such the Holy Bible is extraordinary, but not beyond the realm of human comprehension.

Based on the premise that the Holy Bible is preternatural, rather than supernatural, the unchanging words of the the Holy Bible express new meanings to a reader as that reader’s capacity for understanding expands and matures. The Holy Bible transmits meanings for the child, and with the same words it also transmits meanings that the child does not understand until he becomes a man, and puts away childish things.

Contrast the preternatural with the supernatural. The supernatural leaves no room for apprehension other than faith.

If this reception mirrors your transmission, then what is the secular explanation for miracles told in the Holy Bible?

[Mortalsfool]

Hi Walker, from what you’ve said, I think you understand my idea exactly as I proposed. While the Bible along with all creation was a product of supernatural power, it was ‘programmed’ to operate in such a way that its operation is preternatural.

Regarding your question: ‘what is the secular explanation for miracles told in the Holy Bible?’ I have written several articles in which I propose that the Bible is a book that contains both lies and truths in it. A ‘believer’s’ immediate response is, to say the Bible has lies in it is blaspheming. Although the Bible does have a quote in it where God supposedly says, ‘I will cause them to believe a lie’.

I consider ‘the lies’ to be like fables. A fable starts out with a story. A story that has no expectation that it will be believed, like animals and inanimate things talking and reasoning. But it takes the truth revealed in the second part of the fable, the moral, to bring to mind a truth that must be deduced in order to gain understanding of the point being made.

Even with a great faith in God’s ability to make anything possible, it is impossible for me to rectify stories like Samson killing a thousand soldiers with the jawbone of an ass. It may be a story in a form like a fable and there may indeed be a lesson, or moral, to the story, but I can’t in my wildest allowance for God’s power, believe it. Nor do I believe we are supposed to accept it as true.

As for the miracles, I think they are only possible, if and when, they can be rectified without violating the laws of science. I believe not one molecule has ever been moved since creation, in violation of the laws God set in motion at the start. If one had, all the understanding we have in science would crash.

Walker, thanks for taking the time to comment. I appreciate it.

[Walker]

Regarding your question: ‘what is the secular explanation for miracles told in the Holy Bible?’ I have written several articles in which I propose that the Bible is a book that contains both lies and truths in it. A ‘believer’s’ immediate response is, to say the Bible has lies in it is blaspheming. Although the Bible does have a quote in it where God supposedly says, ‘I will cause them to believe a lie’.

That is the place to apply any stress tests of reasoning, because with that you’re judging God’s word about miracles within the assumption that the Holy Bible is bound by the limitations and judgments of the mundane that determine what is possible and what is not possible, rather than being preternaturally free from mundane possibilities.

[Walker]

As for the miracles, I think they are only possible, if and when, they can be rectified without violating the laws of science. I believe not one molecule has ever been moved since creation, in violation of the laws God set in motion at the start. If one had, all the understanding we have in science would crash.

Walker, thanks for taking the time to comment. I appreciate it.

You're welcome.
The question is, do you know the unknown laws of science?

*

As an aside, awhile back I read a report that archaeologists determined from fossilized prehistoric tracks and length of stride that a caveman had been running barefoot over sand faster than modern Olympic Sprinters, which seems rather miraculous to folks who get winded fluffing the pillow while sleeping at night on a mattress fit for an ancient king. And we know how short those cavemen were, so he must have been pretty springy.

Moving to a supramundane hypothesis: With fewer forms to contain all the finite life-force that there is available to the human form, and with the distribution of the entire life-force available to the human form inequitably distributed amongst all the available forms, those forms will be much more vital and stronger, and last longer (Methuselah), when there are significantly fewer forms. Simple math. God's favoured forms, such as Sampson, got an extra ration of the finite life-force.

Implications: Among many implications, with folks like Sampson around using up so much life-force, no wonder the population was low. Well, that and the climate. And with all that God has witnessed the human race displaying, likely by now he's holding some of that life force in reserve and no longer portioning all of it out to the available forms .

[Mortalsfool]

Hi Walker, thanks for your replies. When I wrote this article it was written to share an idea about how the Bible creates responses that suit the readers expectations. It reflects near a lifetime of studying how words manifest their diverse meanings to different readers. I never intended to argue its points and have no intention of doing so. It is what it is. Readers can either agree with the premise or dismiss it. I figured from your responses that you get what I was proposing. It has served my purpose. Thanks again for your comments.

[Lacewing]

Even with a great faith in God’s ability to make anything possible, it is impossible for me to rectify stories like Samson killing a thousand soldiers with the jawbone of an ass. It may be a story in a form like a fable and there may indeed be a lesson, or moral, to the story, but I can’t in my wildest allowance for God’s power, believe it. Nor do I believe we are supposed to accept it as true.

Refreshing logic and clarity.

It does not make sense that it would be wise or divine to be blind followers/believers of anything. Deception and detours (and mankind's manipulations) come in many forms -- most effectively in that which we trust without question. Staying clear and noticing them for what they are is surely a divine thing to do!

[MikeNovack]

Even with a great faith in God’s ability to make anything possible, it is impossible for me to rectify stories like Samson killing a thousand soldiers with the jawbone of an ass. It may be a story in a form like a fable and there may indeed be a lesson, or moral, to the story, but I can’t in my wildest allowance for God’s power, believe it. Nor do I believe we are supposed to accept it as true.

LOL ----- well first leave aside "numbers" << and the term, applied to soldiers, can mean a troop/war band the same way the term "commander of a thousand" means a military rank, not how many troops he actually had >>

More important, a SICKLE not such an improbably weapon with which to reap an enemy. How do you think sickles were constructed n the bronze age? You COULD make one of bronze, but copper was money and a sickle blade made of bronze would cost more than the farm! So in the bronze age, ordinary poor folk still using flint (and flint still used for ceremonial purposes like sacrificial knife, circumcision, etc.). So how do you make a functioning sickle using flints? You take the jawbone of a horse or ass and glue flints into the tooth sockets. Then lash on a handle.

No good reason to assume the "jawbone of an ass" refers to one before made into sickle. Given the context of being used as an effective weapon, makes sense to assume after flints inserted.

[Mortalsfool]

Even with a great faith in God’s ability to make anything possible, it is impossible for me to rectify stories like Samson killing a thousand soldiers with the jawbone of an ass. It may be a story in a form like a fable and there may indeed be a lesson, or moral, to the story, but I can’t in my wildest allowance for God’s power, believe it. Nor do I believe we are supposed to accept it as true.

Refreshing logic and clarity.

It does not make sense that it would be wise or divine to be blind followers/believers of anything. Deception and detours (and mankind's manipulations) come in many forms -- most effectively in that which we trust without question. Staying clear and noticing them for what they are is surely a divine thing to do!

Hi Lacewing, it is because of the ‘blind faith’ teachings of organized religion that I dropped out of church. While they tout the miracles in the Bible, they refuse to question them. I don’t think I’m being unreasonable to demand some small degree of reason and logic when considering their actual occurrences.

Take for example when Jesus was entering Jerusalem for the Passover. When he instructed someone to go into the city and have a Passover meal and place prepared for his arrival, the churches see it differently than I choose to see it. They teach it as though Jesus put his hand up to his forehead like he was soothsaying a future event. He said go into the city to a well. Where he would see a man dressed in white carrying a pitcher. Tell the man the Master needs a Passover prepared, and it was so. It was no miraculous seeing into the future. It was common knowledge.

I would rather consider that Jesus was acting as any other man of the times could have done. If Jesus was an Essene for example, he would have known that that sect of believers had few or no women in their group. Out of necessity, a man would be the one drawing water and not a women. He would also been dressed in white as was the norm for his group. Any Essene man who frequented the well could have been told to go and have the Passover location and meal prepared. He would only have to go and see ‘the steward’, of which each group had one and tell him the Master was coming. No miraculous foreseeing of the future was needed. Just an awareness of the times and peoples. But the churches prefer to imagine Jesus using his miraculous power to predict the future. Blind faith? Too much for my head to accept.

[Mortalsfool]

Even with a great faith in God’s ability to make anything possible, it is impossible for me to rectify stories like Samson killing a thousand soldiers with the jawbone of an ass. It may be a story in a form like a fable and there may indeed be a lesson, or moral, to the story, but I can’t in my wildest allowance for God’s power, believe it. Nor do I believe we are supposed to accept it as true.

LOL ----- well first leave aside "numbers" << and the term, applied to soldiers, can mean a troop/war band the same way the term "commander of a thousand" means a military rank, not how many troops he actually had >>

More important, a SICKLE not such an improbably weapon with which to reap an enemy. How do you think sickles were constructed n the bronze age? You COULD make one of bronze, but copper was money and a sickle blade made of bronze would cost more than the farm! So in the bronze age, ordinary poor folk still using flint (and flint still used for ceremonial purposes like sacrificial knife, circumcision, etc.). So how do you make a functioning sickle using flints? You take the jawbone of a horse or ass and glue flints into the tooth sockets. Then lash on a handle.

No good reason to assume the "jawbone of an ass" refers to one before made into sickle. Given the context of being used as an effective weapon, makes sense to assume after flints inserted.

He had to be Rambo without a gun to create such a legendary story.

[Lacewing]

It does not make sense that it would be wise or divine to be blind followers/believers of anything. Deception and detours (and mankind's manipulations) come in many forms -- most effectively in that which we trust without question. Staying clear and noticing them for what they are is surely a divine thing to do!

Hi Lacewing, it is because of the ‘blind faith’ teachings of organized religion that I dropped out of church. While they tout the miracles in the Bible, they refuse to question them. I don’t think I’m being unreasonable to demand some small degree of reason and logic when considering their actual occurrences.

I love discussions that look for value without imposing blind nonsense/belief. I, too, thought it was perfectly reasonable to question the beliefs that my Christian community was claiming when I was growing up. Although the people were well-meaning, they seemed intoxicated with stories and horrified about questioning those stories. It did not make sense that we should be in fear... nor did it make sense that we could even fathom something (a god) so much greater than ourselves. Even then, I thought potential must be magnificent beyond imagination.

Take for example when Jesus was entering Jerusalem for the Passover. When he instructed someone to go into the city and have a Passover meal and place prepared for his arrival, the churches see it differently than I choose to see it. They teach it as though Jesus put his hand up to his forehead like he was soothsaying a future event.

Religious stories of miracles seem like a drug. Oooh, we better believe and follow that if powerful miracles 'by God' are involved! Yet, similarly outlandish stories unassociated with religion would be ridiculed (by religious people) as insane or evil and completely unbelievable!

Fantastical Bible stories seem geared to inspire an absolute childlike belief and dependency from people who are seeking to align with stability or authority -- and, questioning any of it is seen as something you should receive prayer for!

Seeming "miracles" do happen all the time... although they need not be described in religious terms. They're actually quite natural for anyone when necessary aspects perfectly line up together.

I would rather consider that Jesus was acting as any other man of the times could have done.

I agree. An inspiring man... a wise man... who recognized the divine in all.

It is strange to think of how so much has been distorted in his name. He would surely be horrified... but he would surely also understand. Blind followers can range from delusioned to downright dangerous.

Why can't we question all of this with honesty? Why can't we acknowledge how much is unknown beyond ourselves? There are clearly magnificent forces that can (and do) work through any of us. For what purposes do religions try to own that? Such is a denial of innate divine nature... which is not only a foolish denial, but a rather 'evil' one.

[Mortalsfool]

Lacewing, to you and others on this site, I've yet to 'relearn' how to form replies using the quotes for posting. Sorry, I'll get to it. At eighty-nine it seems like I'm always too busy doing nothing.

I do gain some comfort in believing God has a plan that is above my paygrade. I say that because of verses like — Philippians 1:15–18 "Even in Unrighteousness, Christ Is Preached" — they give me a pause in judgements made about religious doctrines.
Because, in the final analysis, I'm a product of such teaching. I question, what would I now not know had I not been taught lessons I now consider foolishness? What benefit does my present thinking enjoy?