Valley Princess

Learning to Love: Day 37

Biblical Criticism

To Crossan's "free-healing" theory,1
Daniel's "post-composition,"2
The Christian has something to say,
The Lord has one contrition.3
For miracles occur today
And they call it no sign,
And what occurred here yesterday
Their minds only malign.
They say Anti-Epiphanes4
Had died of natural causes.5
They say that Jesus' miracles
Are late appended clauses.6
Continuing their convictions,
If they keep what they say,
"Jonah's a funny fiction,"7
God has prepared one way: 
By thus they have forfeit their souls
To everlasting fire
With the now nameless great rich man,8
For they call God a liar.
Their anti-Christ hearts, attitudes
Deny that Jesus saves,
On the other side of their great rift,
Deny men raised from graves.
As they marry their conclusions
And cleave to what they claim,
As they convene their seminar9
And belittle the Name,
The Epiphany will be on them
Where God has set the date--
The generation of God's wrath,
The called-out reprobate.
To them is given just one sign
That they dismiss and scorn.
As they mock the sign of Jonah10
Our Lord can only mourn.
No matter the miracle made,
No matter the sign sent,
They deny that God does speak
And refuse to repent.
Are they just like the Pharisees
And of God's power scared,
Or like insolent Israel:
They want what they prepared?11
They won't see with scales on their eyes.
How can they if they're blind?
They won't understand the message
If they have a closed mind.
Is there an Ananias
Who will pray they receive sight?
Is there an intercessor
Who will pray they do what's right?
Can someone ask that God reach them
With words that calm their fears?
Can someone ask that He would quench
Their thirst, itchy ears?12
God's Word is trustworthy and true.
It's stood the test of time.
Its wealth is worldly foolishness. 
It is what is sublime. 
No matter where God tries to meet 
Them they will not receive.
No matter means by which God speaks,
They will not believe,
And God does greatly grieve.

Epilogue:
God can take the reprobate
And turn him into something great.
Think of Crossan, Harris, all,
And think if they were only Paul.
If God empties, fills what’s now full,
They will become the miracle.
Perhaps we don’t see miracles
So that they will believe.
Perhaps we see miracles come
Because we do believe.

  1. New Testament scholar John Dominic Crossan, in his book, The Historical Jesus, argues that Jesus was a social revolutionary, calling for social and economical egalitarianism through practices he calls free healing and open eating. These are not actual miracles, but revolutionary actions that Jesus took to cross social and economic boundaries to accept people who were considered outcasts by their culture. Jesus socialized with and ate with people who were were considered unacceptable, thereby “healing” them of their social stigma. To Crossan, Jesus is not a Savior, but merely a social revolutionary.
  2. Many scholars today believe that the Book of Daniel is too accurate compared to recorded history and too detailed to be composed by the historical Daniel during the Babylonian exile (605-636 BC) Rather, they argue it was composed during the late Persian (450-333 BC) or early Hellenistic (333-170 BC) period. This rationale assumes that prophecy is not real and therefore Daniel could not have prophesied the future so accurately. According to these assumptions, many Biblical scholars would say the Book of Daniel must have been written after the events prophesied occurred.
  3. Genesis 6:5-7
  4. Antiochus Ephiphanes
  5. 1 Maccabees 6:5-13 records that Antiochus Epiphanes, by his own profession, died for his sins against the Jewish people by the hand of God. 2 Maccabees 9:5-9 records that his death came by God through worms that ate him from the inside out as his flesh rotted. Modern scholars, however, do not consider these accounts to be accurate, and that he died of other causes.
  6. People, such as the Jesus Seminar, argue that anything miraculous recorded in the gospels is not historical, but was later added to the narrative that circulated about Jesus.
  7. The New Oxford Annotated Bible explicitly says, “Jonah is not a historical book in the sense of recalling events that actually occurred,” but rather, it uses “humor or irony to make its points…such as exaggerated behavior (running away from God, 1.3); inappropriate actions (sleeping through a violent storm, 1.5); outlandish situations (offering a prayer of thanksgiving from inside a fish’s belly, 2.1); ludicrous commands (animals must fast and wear sackcloth, 3.7-8); and emotions either contrary to expectations (anger at mercy, 4.1-2) or out or proportion (being angry enough to die because a plant has withered, 4.9)” (1302).
  8. Luke 16:19-21
  9. The Jesus Seminar
  10. Matthew 12:38-42, Matthew 16:1-4, Luke 11:29-32
  11. 1 Samuel 8:7-8
  12. 2 Timothy 4:3

Day 37

This is a difficult poem to return to and read after several years. It is partly because of the longing I feel for my former professors and classmates to be saved, and partly because of the rage I feel when I remember how God’s power was demeaned in their eyes. I am even afraid of this poem’s reception from you, as it directly addresses what will happen to all nonbelievers on the last day. But it is not out of hate, but love that this reality must be proclaimed. It will not do to soothsay men who are going to be accountable in the coming judgement. False prophets soothsay. True ambassadors of Christ must admit and warn that there is a wrath to come against all evil. I have poured out many tears in my prayers for the salvation of such men, and I am confident that some of my tears that Christ will have to wipe away (Revelation 7:17) will be for those who never repented.

There is a level of righteous anger that is required of us when Biblical scholars rationalize the supernatural accounts of the Bible, but instead of focusing on the anger, what if we channeled that visceral emotion into prayer on their behalf? What if we converted the energy incited in ourselves from that raw reaction into acts of love and compassion toward them? I could argue all day and night about how absurd their theories are, but I have never won anyone closer to Christ by arguing with them. It only throws me into a tizzy. What does attract attention is acts of love and mercy beyond selfish ambition. This is only possible with God’s help. This is only a potential if we put aside our flesh and let His Holy Spirit perform a miracle in our own hearts before their eyes, the miracle of turning the other cheek, blessing them, serving them. Maybe they will be like the men who heard God’s voice and dismissed it as thunder, but maybe they will be like the men who recognized God’s voice for what it was (John 12:27-32). God knows, but it is only our job to obey, and if we do, then maybe we will see God perform a miracle in them.

If you enjoyed this material, please leave a like or comment on my blog, share, and you can purchase my book, Learning to Love: A Collection of Poetry and 40 Daily Devotions, on Amazon. Until next time, God bless.

Sources

The Bible. English Standard Version, Crossway, 2001.

Crossan, John Dominic. The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant. Harper Collins, 1992.

Oxford University. The New Oxford Annotated Bible. 4th edition, Oxford, 2010.

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Sara DuVall is a wife and homeschool mom. She lives in the Tennessee Valley of North Alabama with her husband and four children. Originally from the Florida Gulf Coast, she was raised in the church and worked for the church for some time. Sara has a MA in English literature and certificate in technical communication, having work experience in the field of technical communication and technical editing. Her BA is in cultural anthropology and English writing. Sara has been writing poetry since she was about 13 years old. Inspired by a poem written by her great-grandmother, Sara has studied and enjoyed the art of poetry ever since. She is a published short story author in Northwest Florida State College’s Blackwater Review (2006 and 2007). She is also an award-winning short story author at the University of West Florida (2009). She published her first book, Learning to Love: a Collection of Poetry and 40 Daily Devotions, in 2021. The daughter of a choir director and college music teacher with an MA in voice, Sara was regularly exposed to music from an early age. Although she is a far cry from the vocal qualifications of her mother, and although she is not nearly as proficient a pianist as she should be from her tutelage, Sara has maintained her musical background by expressing herself through acoustic and classical guitar and the Native American style flute, composing many of her own songs. Besides writing and music, one of Sara’s favorite work experiences was as assistant curator of the Heritage Museum of Northwest Florida where she got to accession people’s old stuff and guide tours about it. They just don’t make things like they used to.
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