BEWARE OF THE BORG

You've really got to wonder about a guy who is arrogant enough to vote on the parts of the Bible he likes. But that's what Marcus Borg does as a member of the nonsensical Jesus Seminar. The good Mr. Borg is speaking in Birmingham today (at $10-$25 a pop):

"I'm going to talk about two visions of the church in America," Borg said. "The earlier vision, dominant for the last 200 to 300 years, sees the Bible as a divine product. It tells us how God sees things. The emerging vision sees the Bible as a product of the way ancient Israel and the early Christian movement saw things. It's a human product. It tells us what they think, not what God thinks."

Slavery, women's ordination and now homosexuality have tested old interpretations of scripture, Borg said.

"It's no longer adequate to say, `That's what the Bible says,'" Borg said. "The Bible legitimates slavery. We worked through that one. The Bible read literally prevents women's ordination. We worked through that one 30 years ago in mainline denominations. We're now in the stage where the same recognition is being applied to the passages on homosexuality."

The new view on the Bible allows for changes in moral attitudes.

"We know some things those ancient communities didn't know," Borg said. "It's not that the word comes from God. The Bible doesn't come with footnotes saying `Interpret this literally.' Symbolic is not less than literal. To interpret literally is an interpretation."

No, we can't say 'That's what the Bible says'--apparently we have to say 'This is what a Jesus Seminar scholar says this is what the Bible means.'

As my old college professor used to tell us, we as a society have forgotten at least as much as we have learned. Borg can talk about how much more we know, but the conclusion is simply we know more than God does. I would suggest he read Romans 1 or 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, but then I'm just simply accepting what the Bible says--Mr. Borg and his ilk have seemingly learned better.