Saturday, 26 March 2011

'Parodios' - many a truth spoken in jest

Paul preparing to 'throw the book' at Parodios?
Originating on the blog of fundagelical Justin Taylor is a "recently discovered first-century letter, apparently authentic, written to the Apostle Paul himself." Who'd have thought our more wooden-minded brethren could be such creative writers? The 'letter', "buried in a cave on the island of Satiricus", has been doing the rounds to a chorus of chortles from Taylor's fellow-travellers. Some are a bit too cloth-eared to work out that it's satire, fueled by contempt for emergent-style ministries. Example:
How many times though, do we as “spokesperson(s) for the faith” run into the same issue? Being called out as unwisely harsh when speaking out against heresy, or that which distracts people from living missionally. I completely agree that to question these words, in the case of Paul, is to question God, as this was certainly divinely inspired through the Holy Spirit. It does provide some comfort though to know that even Paul was met with the same objections that many of us receive today. Just because people are defensive about the tone, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily the wrong one.
Just remind me not to attend a Bible study with that guy.

What intrigues me is that I can say a hearty 'amen' to most of the points that are just meant to evoke gleeful giggles, and sniggering comparisons to Rob Bell and Marcus Borg. But "Parodios", quite simply, strikes me as a much more Christlike character than Paul! Many a truth spoken in jest?  Read it for yourself and see what you think.
Posted by Gavin R at 10:18

2 comments:

  1. Baywolfe26 March 2011 at 10:35

    Of all the strange "crimes" that human beings have legislated out of nothing, "blasphemy" is the most amazing--with "obscenity" and "indecent exposure" fighting it out for second and third place.
    --Lazarus Long

    I'd add heresy to that list.

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  2. Anonymous27 March 2011 at 13:54

    I was on the cheering squad for "Parodios" too, until the real author(professing preacher) stepped out from behind the curtain at the end and started waving his hands, going "But every word is inerrant! Paul is just as 100% right as the rest of the Bible! Never mind the contradictions, the provenances, the problems! Only BUH-LEEEEVE and y'all will be saaaved!"

    Although, a case could be made that "the letter from Parodios" is essentially what the Worldwide Church of God was preaching, from the beginning, with Justin's apologetic dismissal at the end being the False Church's response. Initially, that was their response, before they destroyed us from the inside out, that is.

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