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I'm sorry if this is a little off topic...but I wanted to make sure that all of you fans didn't forget to vote for Gordon in this years Bloggies.

http://2007.bloggies.com/index.php

Shameless plug, I know, preacher. Feel free to delete it if it makes you uncomfortable in any way. But I have gotten so much from your writings that I felt this might be another venue to boost your readership.

Are these videos on youtube? Can I put them up there?

How do you account for the fact that the demons in these stories spoke? They actually talked back to Jesus. What do you make of that if the demonic is just a matter of "first century worldview"?

Also, would you then discount Satan as a personal being?

Any news on the Learning Bible being available at Viva? I could only find the CEV and NIV versions, but was hoping for the NRSV.

I'm a biblical neophyte. But by saying "people attributed lots of things to demonic possession", are you thus implying that at least some of the stories in the bible that speak of demonic possession (or demons in general) are in fact, probably "not" demonic possession and instead just some deviation in mental/physical health that those people (and the writers of those books) attributed to demonic possession. So Christ didn't cast out demons, he simply moved first century schizoprenia from a man into a herd of swine?

Whoa. Doesn't this allow you to interpret scripture basically anyway you want to? To place emphasis on whatever you want to, and de-emphasize others? I mean, wasn't Christ tempted by Satan for 40 days...going so far as to have direct conversations with him? But you "discount" that as a personal manifestation?

I don't lean conservation, or liberal, when it comes to bible interpretation - I don't know enough to, which is one reason I'm reading your blog. But isn't this a little odd? I mean, one can't ignore certain parts of the bible and latch onto other parts of the bible just because it doesn't translate well, or there's no good cross-reference for existing cultural differences, right? What am I missing here?

Yours is among the most measured, reasonable, fitting, and respectful take on the biblically-demonic I've read/heard yet. Somewhere in the comments above, the oft-asked question, "Doesn't that mean you are interpreting the bible anyway you want?" appears. To this question, I always smile and think, abso-fin'-lutely. And given that each of us is going to have to choose how (if at all) to do so, I am grateful that yours is among the voices offering such a way.

Good, good job here.
Lauren

Gordon,

I appreciate the humility you bring to the text, and the form that the text takes. I am still learning how to read it for what it is rather than trying to make it something its not. But is it going too far to suggest that the Bible invites us (some of us anyway) to live in its story not just while we're reading it?

I have a couple thoughts in response to this. I find it worth mentioning that since they did *have* doctors in the 1st century, it seems a bit simplistic to merely juxtapose belief in the demonic with the belief in medicine. It seems it was possible then to believe that some problems were caused by demons and some were not.

You're right to say that merely nominal belief in demons is meaningless if that belief doesn't manifest itself in any actions in real life. But it seems like you go a bit far by saying that if a parent takes their kid to the doctor their belief doesn't mean anything. What if, like the people in the bible, they both go to the doctor *and* pray against the demonic?

Granted that most of us separate the spiritual much more starkly from the physical than any 1st century person, but it doesn't seem to me to be wholly disingenuous to *try* to live in the story the text presents in this way, as long as one doesn't claim that one has achieved a "biblical" worldview with perfection.

David Mahfood
dmahfood@ufl.edu
http://spiffthespaceman.blogspot.com/

I appreciate your direction on how to read the new testament.

Regarding demons, I have a layman's interest in quantum physics. The latest discoveries in this area as well as discoveries in neuro-biology and other so called "hard" sciences actually support the possiblity of literal demons. It's fascinating stuff.

L.J. Van Cleave

Hi Gordon.

I wonder if it would be worth your while (and beneficial to us readers) for you to include a new link under your "Main" segment of the left sidebar dedicated to this video Reading the Bible series. In the same way that Foy, RLPDV and Dear RLP have their own sections. I'm finding these snippets so very useful that I know I'll be coming back to them, and I get the feeling you'll be doing more than enough to merit linking them all under a common banner.

Also, thanks for the word 'excursus'. That was new to me before today.

Simon.

This one got me thinking quite a bit actually. One of the biggest issues I have with stuff like this is that there is such a big boundary in what we are willing to accept from the Bible, and what we are willing to accept in today's reality. I have been rolling through a lot of both the new and old testament, and as I get older, nothing seems as cut and dry as it once was. Part of me feels guilty about that, simply because I have a voice in me telling me that it's a decrease in faith. I feel like I'm going through a very adolescent time in my own faith, and I'm not entirely certain where that leaves me. On the issue of demons, that's one I still struggle with myself. I can only pray that eventually God will lead me to the point were I'm supposed to be, and keep trying to walk this path as best I know how.

If "He" isn't in the eschatology, it's just scatology.

So why can't I see any of the videos? They all come up as empty boxes with a little "graphic" symbol in the upper left corner. Do I need some other software?

Fr. Paul

Interesting take on demons Gordon. I guess that I don't agree because of the interactions that Jesus had with demons in the gospel accounts. Seems that He would have set the record straight for us.

Kansas Bob
kansasbob.blogspot.com

Ok, I posted them on youtube. A real live preacher search should find them. My account is teachersears. I have a bit part in Superman and the Burning Statue of Liberty, also on youtube. Sorry for the shameless plug.