Feeling the heat?

Last week Sally and I went on a camping holiday, staying at a touring park near Newquay in Cornwall. (That is the reason for the bloggage silence last week). If you live in UK you know that last week was HOT.

Staying in a tent meant that there wasn’t really any escape from the heat, although we were very pleased with ourselves that we brought a patio umbrella from home, along with a heavy base.

Most days saw us spending some time beside the small campsite swimming pool, lugging the large parasol umbrella to shade us as there was no real shade beside at the pool. It was gratifying how many people commented that they wished they’d thought of bringing a parasol, and equally gratifying that we were shaded from the intense heat and could enjoy relaxing by the pool without burning.

As I was enjoying one of these shaded relaxations I started to think about how we seem to measure a lot of human activity and emotion using temperature, and how the temperature scales are inconsistent.

Someone who is being successful may be described as ‘on a hot streak’ or ‘on fire’ but a person who is quick to get angry is ‘hot-headed’. And someone who is kind is ‘warm-hearted’ but someone who is cruel or thoughtless can make our ‘blood boil’. You can smoulder attractively or be smouldering with rage.

A person who is being ghosted has been ‘given the cold shoulder’ but if someone is relaxed they are ‘chilled’. We describe someone being ‘numb’ when they are out of touch with their emotions while someone who is ‘cool’ is admirable.

If we only relied on the words this would be very confusing wouldn’t it? Hot and cold can be both good or bad. How do we know which is which? We interpret these things by the context around them – culture, circumstances, experience and so much more.

So why don’t some people apply these same discerning qualities when they read the Bible? Suddenly they are only able to take the words at face value (ignoring the fact that the words themselves, which they read literally (literally) in their own language, are translations from the original language in which the Bible was written down) and are unwilling to accept that language has always had these nuances.

Except that they do. Sometimes. They know that when they read:

“Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;
    let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.” (Ps. 96:12 NIVUK)

They don’t literally consider that those fields are sentient and able to express emotion (along with all of the animals, birds and crops within the fields) or that the trees have grown mouths and created some sort of arborial choir. Of course not, that would be daft. These are clearly poetic metaphors.

When Jesus said, “I am the Light of the World” (John 8:12) we don’t think he is either saying he is the sun by which we get light, or he is a first century global floodlight. They know he was speaking figuratively, and accept that without question.

But there are other passages that they have been told must be read literally and there is no room for exploring metaphors, figurative language or even finding out whether the contemporary words used are accurate translations from the original language. And it seems to me that often these are the passages that confirm bias or prejudice against others.

Do we start with what we believe and then read the Bible through those tinted glasses, filtering out anything that doesn’t confirm our belief; or do we read the Bible illuminated by the radiant light and heat of God’s love for all and allowing that to shine hope, joy, peace and love?

Is the Bible a thermostat (changing the temperature) or a thermometer (changed by the temperature)?

Be blessed, be a blessing