tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5226574259643603032.post1949118194423233990..comments2022-03-26T21:36:40.823-07:00Comments on emergent pillage: can we stop misusing I Kings 19?jazzact13http://www.blogger.com/profile/17437006437523413659noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5226574259643603032.post-10378873546543100982011-12-13T12:31:23.545-08:002011-12-13T12:31:23.545-08:00"So, given the various and sundry ways that G..."So, given the various and sundry ways that God spoke to people, why is it that this one time with Elijah is taken out from all those others, and treated as if it were and is normative?"<br /><br />Christians are trying to make sense of a a collection of texts that says over and over again, "God speaks to people," but today, we're not hearing it. Using that verse in that way helps people to their faith. We have our experience of reality and then we encounter the Scriptures and try to fit it into our experience. Nobody is seeing burning bushes, but the "still small voice" becomes easier to believe. Verses like this, and the idea that prayer can be answered in mysterious unexpected ways, helps people to have faith, when our experience doesn't match the biblical narrative.<br /><br />I think interpreting Elijah's experience that way comes largely from the individualism found in evangelicalism. Evangelicals belief it's all about me and my relationship with God. They say things like the Bible is like a love letter written to you. They take the Bible out of the context of words written by and for communities, and think it's a personal selfhelp book. This is an unfortunate side-effect of the printing press and modernism.<br /><br />Maybe the better thing is not to say, "Oh, you won't see the burning bush, or hear a booming voice. God speaks with a still small voice," but instead we should jsut say, "God's not talking to you."Nickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02236286634504145339noreply@blogger.com