January 6, 2015
You probably can’t begin to count the number of times you’ve heard statements like, “The Bible clearly says. . .” or “Look, it’s right there, as plain as the print in your Bible!” Or “I don’t need to hear any other explanation of _____________; it’s right there in Scripture!” Such statements have come from the mouths, or pens, or keyboards of people who may have been referring to creation, or slavery, or whether women should suffer in childbirth (or preach or vote or attend college), or whether LGBTQ people should be allowed to marry, or whether abortion is ever permissible, or numerous other issues that have come up over history.
Writing for his Slacktivist column on Patheos, Fred Clark explains what it means to talk about the ambiguity of the Bible on many topics. And, says Clark, there are even different ways of understanding the meaning of ambiguity, an important point to keep in mind.
Read “The Bible is clearly ambiguous, but not that kind of ambiguous.”
