Originally Posted by Dave
Truth
There is a parable from the Indian subcontinent that might be relevant to where we are going -- blind men and the elephant --- In various versions of the tale, a group of blind men (or men in the dark) touch an elephant to learn what it is like. Each one feels a different part, but only one part, such as the side, tusk, trunk, foot, or tail. They then compare notes and learn that they are in complete disagreement. This tends to imply that one's subjective experience can be true, but that such experience is inherently limited by its failure to account for other truths or a totality of truth. Thus, if we each share our truth we begin to paint the picture of “the truth”. Thus, if your experience leads you to believe a certain way and others have had the same experience maybe all of you touched the “trunk” and have a common experience but you are still limited in understanding the overall truth of what you are experiencing.
Joseph Campbell interprets Matt. 17:1-9 Jesus the guide, the way, the vision, and the companion of the return. The disciples are his initiates, not themselves masters of the mystery, yet introduced to the full experience of the paradox of the two worlds in one. (Hero with a Thousand Faces pp. 229-230)
Bart Ehrman writes, "For Nearly two thousand years there have been Christians who have thought that the world was going to end in their own lifetimes...this belief is as ancient as the Christian religion is itself, that it can be traced all the way back to the beginning, to the teachings of Jesus of Nazereth. Jesus thought that the history of the world would come to a screeching halt, that God would intervene in the affairs of this planet, overthrow the forces of evil in a cosmic act of judgment, and establish his utopian Kingdom here on earth. And this was to happen in Jesus' own generation. (Jesus - Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium p. 3)
Friedrick Schleiermacher writes, "Here it must be premised, that even supposing the originality of our doctrine were not proved, it still would not follow that it is false or arbitrarily invented, providing only that those original testimonies are not demonstrably at variance with it...But anyone who in the interpretation of particular passages is not content merely with a sense in harmony with his own theory, but keeps an open mind for a true impression of the whole, will scarcely be able to ascribe to the sayings of Christ about His relation to men and to His Father. (The Christian Faith, 1830-- p. 421-422)
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