[TruthTalk] Fw: Fictitous interview with Karl Barth

[Lance Muir]

----- Original Message ----- From: Jonathan Hughes To: Lance Muir Sent: April 04, 2005 20:09 Subject: Fictitous interview with Karl Barth From: http://rclough.blogspot.com/2005/04/interview-with-barth-on-inerrancy-of_01.html Student: Professor Barth, welcome to the University. I came to get an interview with you for the student newspaper. KB: Fine. Stu: Professor, you are considered by many to be one of the greatest theologians of the twentieth century, if not THE greatest. The founderof biblical theology. KB: Well, thank you, but.... [directing his gaze at a bible on his desk] Stu: I suppose, being modest, you would attribute it all to the Bible. KB: No, not to the Bible itself, but to what happens when I would read the Bible. Stu: Sorry. Let's see if I have it right for the newspaper. The Word of God was revealed to the biblical authors, who wrote them down in the Bible, so the Bible must be true, word by word, and when you read these words, the same true message originally sent by God appears in your mind. Right ? KB: No, not at all. Stu: Well, weren't they inspired ? KB: Yes, but that's no guarentee that what the biblical authors wrote down was as perfect. You see, no experience can be perfectly reproduced in language. Stu: So the Bible is not the literal truth of God !? KB: The short answer is not always. But it's more complicated than that. I'll get to that, but for now let me just say that it contains quite a few errors of fact. The best that you can say in that regard is that it is true as a whole. Stu: What are we to do, then--- if it contains errors !? KB: You are placing your faith in the text of the bible, printed in a book. The book an object made of paper, ink and a cover. You want to be careful not to worship such an object, for it's not God. It's just a book. Stu: But that's all we have. KB: Not at all. If you can feel the spirit moving in you, you have faith in Jesus Christ. Stu: I don't see the connection. KB: [ picking up the bible] Listen to this, from Jesus, in John 14:26. " I will send you the Holy Spirit, who will teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said said to you." Stu: So what's true is not the text itself, it's the existential encounter with the Holy Spirit, during the reading of the text, through which God's message is transmitted to us. KB: Exactly. Stu: I see. ....but if that's true, I don't even NEED the Bible ! I can just commune with God ! KB: Not so fast. How would you understand the meaning of those messages without the Bible ? Stu: Hmmm. I guess we do need the Bible. But I still don't understand. You say that although God inspired the Bible -- so that He is sort of a Superauthor-- the message was, although inspired, still written down by imperfect men in words, which are also imperfect by nature. By the time I read it, with my imperfections, there's nothing left ! KB: Absolutely not. But it depends on what eyes you use to read it. If you read it with the eyes of reason alone, such as you might read your chemistry textbook, that's all you get. The words, imperfect as they may be. But if you read it with the eyes of faith, you get..... Stu: ....voila!..... a linking to the original inspiration... KB: ...on the wings of the Holy Spirit...... Stu:.... the original truth ! KB: Likely so, but we are not God, so that the best we can say is that it would seem so. Hebrew 4:12 puts it that the text, under these conditions, is like a double-edged sword that can not only deliver God's word but cut your soul in two. As I see it, that's the action of the Holy Spirit that Jesus was talking about in John 14:26. In this encounter, you experience the truth, God's truth, and this can be be the most convincing encounter of your life, and the Word actually enters into you and changes you. But later, when you fall back into the literal meaning of the words-- the best that you have is Man's truth -- truth on a level that you can relate to yourself or others... that of text, words, language, with all of their imperfections. Stu: If that's so, then what gives the Bible its authority ? KB: Not the text itself, which is public, but the private encounter of the individual in faith. To non-believers, the text can sound wacky, because they view it with the eyes of reason, like a textbook. But believers who read it with the eyes of faith are really reading it through the eyes of Jesus, sotospeak, and it makes great sense-- at least to the soul. And the Word becomes part of your soul, cleansing and lifting it up to God. Stu: Wow . I've felt things like that. It's more like a silent music, like a great Hymn, than just words. KB: Exactly. Stu: wow.........[pause] ...tell me, Professor, speaking of hymns...do you have a favorite one? KB: Yes. Yes. [smiling] "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." END