“Danger, Will Robinson!” is the well-known warning from the old 1960’s TV show Lost in Space. Quoted often in other TV shows, movies, and music, it is the only connection most of us have to the show. So it should not be surprising that we think it must have been in every episode, but it was apparently stated in only one. That illustrates the power of popular culture where perception promptly becomes reality. It is also an apt warning about one of the biggest mistakes of Biblical interpretation; letting our perceptions become the reality. We live in a hyper pop culture time and get most of our information about the past (recent or ancient) from the culture around us. When we start interpreting the bible based on current perceptions we can quickly impose current thinking on ancient truth and massively miss the meaning. Since the Bible is the word of God the warning “Danger, Will Robinson” is indeed worth heeding in our study. Over the centuries many teachers turned every Biblical event into an allegory. Those efforts often stripped the original events of any real meaning; giving rise to imaginative and imaginary meanings that aren’t remotely Biblical. One of my mentors told of saving money for a copy of Origin’s commentary on Romans, just to find it useless because it allegorized practically everything. Another danger we should beware is creating doubt that we can know anything since we can misunderstand and don’t know everything. In the case of Hagar, Sarah, Ishmael and Isaac we know it is an allegory because the Bible said so (Gal 4:24). In that event we have an allegory that teaches a truth far deeper and more glorious than the wonder of two women having sons. Real events, with real meaning, that can be understood - even in a pop-culture driven world.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Feb 2014 11:49:47 +0000
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