Michael Gungor made headlines this week when he stated that
he does not take the Bible literally. This revelation came after his Dove
Award-winning (and Grammy-nominated) band Gungor had a show cancelled for that
same reason.
In an effort to explain himself, Gungor apologized if any
fans were duped into thinking their Christian band had Christian beliefs.
Taking a page out of the Emergent Church playbook, Gungor said, “We have always
tried to be upfront about our wrestling with doubts and questions of faith.”
That’s fine. Many people wrestle, and it often takes years
for a person to really understand what they believe. But Gungor goes a step
beyond mere wrestling with doubt. He stated, “NO REASONABLE PERSON takes the
entire Bible completely literally (emphasis in original).”
Well, Mr. Gungor, I am one of those reasonable people you
say do not exist.
In the same post Gungor makes clear that they are not young
earth creationists (meaning they believe in Darwinian evolution), and that they
do not believe in the biblical account of Noah’s Flood.
To make his point, Gungor continues, “The Bible says God is
a rock. Do you take that literally?”
What he fails to realize is that the Bible is the most unique
book ever written, and for a variety of reasons; not the least of which is that
the Bible contains every type of literature. It uses personification,
comparisons, metaphors, similes, parables, and poetry, to name a few. This
means that a REASONABLE PERSON can both take the Bible literally and appreciate
the literary device that paints a picture of God being a rock (in this case,
pointing out God’s immovable, unchanging protection).
For Gungor to reject Biblical creation is to reject the
Bible’s opening sentence (he referred to it as a “myth”). If that part is wrong
we might as well throw out the whole thing. Next time we sing Gungor’s song we
should add a line:
You make beautiful
things, you make beautiful things out of the dust (in 4 billion years).
His stance on the Flood is also puzzling. "Even if God miraculously fed all of
these species and kept them from killing each other on the boat, how big would
that boat have to be? And what sort of ecological systems would have to be in
place for all the species to survive? Genesis puts the ark at 300 cubits long,
50 wide, 30 high. (a cubit is approximately 45 cm) If you do the math, there is
really just NO way to fit two of every kind of animal species on an ark of the
dimensions that the Bible purports.”
Most reject the 45 cm cubit in favor of a much longer cubit,
but that is beside the point. God is capable
of miraculously feeding the animals—He has used manna and the beaks of birds.
And He can keep them from killing each other—the lion will lay down with the
lamb, and He closed the mouths of lions when Daniel was in their den. God is
sovereign and can do with His creation what He wants.
God, who created ecological systems, can create whatever
ecological system would be needed on the ark.
But Gungor wasn’t finished: "So let's get imaginative and say that
God shrunk these animals Rick Moranis style so that all the animals can fit…”
Instead of rushing to Honey I Shrunk the
Kids (starring Rick Moranis) to interpret the Bible, did it ever occur to
Gungor that, perhaps, God thought to use baby animals?
From there
Gungor attacked the Bible’s reference to the “corners of the earth” as proof
that the Bible should not be trusted. First, we need to realize that “corners”
is a poor translation that newer translations have changed. That same word is
translated as borders in Numbers, and the Greek equivalent literally means angles. Quadrants, borders, even
extremities, would be a good translation. Second, Gungor ignores the references
in Job to the earth being spherical and suspended in space on nothing. NO
REASONABLE PERSON believed that the earth was round 4,000 years ago, and yet
the Bible was right when science was wrong.
Mr. Gungor, you
can align yourself with the academic elitists who reject the Bible, but there
are plenty of reasonable people who will not sell out to remain relevant. You
might think it is safe to deny things like creation or the flood, but what are
you going to deny next? The crucifixion? The resurrection? It’s a dangerous
game you are playing, and your liberal friends will not be content until you
reject it all.
NO REASONABLE
PERSON should be ashamed of the gospel of Christ, because it is the power of
God unto salvation (Romans 1:16).
Comments