letters to surfers

With a post-modern approach how can you decide which is the correct interpretation of the Bible or anything else?

by Robert Brow



Let me answer with a parable. A fellow asked for permission to study Mollie Brow (my wife) as the subject of his thesis for a Ph.D. in physiology. He monitored all the food she ate and drank, and analyzed it by proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, etc. Every week he took blood samples. He even had an implanted computerized laboratory which transmitted every heart beat, gland secretion, etc. At the end of five years he had a brilliant thesis that gave a total explanation of patient M.

In this thesis about patient M. the investigator has used a perfect scientific explanatory model. The problem is the model does not capture the fact that Mollie Brow has raised four children, is a warm loving person, has a vast knowledge of the Bible, is a first class proof reader, plays the piano and organ, does marvellous oil paintings, and in the last five years has begun and led Bible study and prayer groups in three continents.

Post-modernism recognizes the fact that there are hundreds of explanatory models for explaining Mollie Brow. Physiology is only one of them, and it is in no sense privileged. You can also use historical, sociological, psychological, economic, and marketing models. Next spring Revenue Canada will give a total explanation of Mollie E. Brow under SIN 422 470 963 for income tax purposes. To evaluate her piano and organ you need a music model. To appreciate her painting you need an artistic model. But really to know her you have to meet her, love her as a friend, and be open to the totally unexpected. Even after 45 years of marriage I am still astonished.

Each of these models for knowing a person can be used carefully, exactly, and objectively. Which of them is the correct one? God has allowed us the freedom to use all sorts of alternative explanatory models to relate to our neighbours, family members, and to Himself. And the awesome fact is that who we are is a function of the models we choose to live by. There is no proof that the other models are wrong, but the only model that can explain how and why God loves us, and how we can love and enjoy Him is what I call Creative Love Theism. See - (Creative Love Theism and Predestination)
 

Bob Brow, 116 Rideau Street, Kingston, Ontario K7K 2Z9 Canada 613 542 9838 web : www.brow.on.ca



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