I have often said about reading the Christian Scripture, that one must discern what is truly mystical revelation given to the writer from source and what is cultural B.S., influenced by the culture of the one writing. Many times people will call me out for what they term cherry-picking, insinuating that I merely ignore the passage I do not like. As I state in the title, that is absurd. How can I say that? Actually it is easy. Abraham Cohen, has written an informative book entitled "Everyman's Talmud." It is the Jewish equivalent to a Christian book on basic, and introductory systematic theology. It divides the Talmud, the written version of the oral traditions of the Rabbi's of old, into various categories such as the doctrine of God, the doctrine of man, the doctrine of revelation or scripture etc. The fact is that long before the Christians codified their scripture, the Jews had already established rules for cherry-picking the Tanakh, or the Old Testament. The rule that makes way for cherry-picking is called specularia. It states that Moses is the standard by which all other scripture must be interpreted. It uses Numbers chapter 12 verses 6-8 as the justification for specularia. Here is an excerpt from Cohen's book.
“What was the distinction between Moses and the other prophets? The latter looked through nine specularia, whereas Moses looked only through one. They looked through a cloudy specularia, but Moses through one that was clear” (Lev. R. I, 14).1 His apprehension of the divine message was therefore more intimate than theirs. The Revelation granted to him was the source from which all the later prophets drew." Cohen, Abraham. Everyman's Talmud (p. 187). BN Publishing. Kindle Edition.
Even in the Old Testament, under the Old Covenant, the concept of being able to cherry-pick interpretive meaning was well established. Let's look at the passage. Numbers 12:6-8 "The LORD said, “Hear now my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known to him in a vision; I will speak with him in a dream. (7) My servant Moses is not like this; he is faithful in all my house. (8) With him I will speak face to face, openly, and not in riddles; and he will see the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” Notice the phrase, "he is faithful in all my house."
The writer of Hebrews, used that phrase to overthrow the specularia of Moses. Look at this passage. Hebrews 3:1-6 "Therefore, brothers and sisters, holy partners in a heavenly calling, consider that Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, (2) was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses also "was faithful in all God's house." (3) Yet Jesus is worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. (4) (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) (5) Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that would be spoken later. (6) Christ, however, was faithful over God's house as a son, and we are his house if we hold firm the confidence and the pride that belong to hope." There you have it, the justification for Jewish Christians to take the words and witness of Jesus over Moses. This overthrew the earlier specularia and enabled cherry-picking.
Orthodox Christian doctrine is replete with cherry-picking. In fact, all systematic theologies, use essentially the same headings such as doctrine of God, doctrine of man, doctrine of scripture and cherry-pick the meaning. The Pelagian, Augustinian debate is the result of cherry-picking. This was later taken up by the Calvinist, Arminian debate using the same cherry-picking arguments. You should be able to see the extreme absurdity of the accusation of cherry-picking by anyone.
The question is not is the scripture cherry-picked, but how logical is the philosophical and theological foundation for the cherry-picking? So this brings it down to my cherry-picking of scripture. What criteria do I use for cherry-picking scripture. Not just the Christian scripture either. I apply this to all writings that are metaphysical in nature and appear to be mystical revelation from source. I emphasize the Christian scripture here because I believe that there is a lot of mystical revelation from source in it. Wanting to be as transparent as possible, here are some of my criteria. I am not sure that this is exhaustive of the criteria I use, but I believe that it will provide a window into my view, and demonstrate that it is likely something that is supported by the indwelling spirit we all have as a result of being participants of the divine nature. They are not in order of importance.
- All of the biblical narrative must be examined in relation to the advent of Jesus and the ultimate establishment of the New Covenant meant for a "new humanity."
- Jesus message was transitional. It moved from strictly old covenant Judaism to messages that would be universal for all of humanity and instrumental in giving guidance to the "new humanity." This was even true in the Sermon on the Mount.
- Paul's writings, and the pseudo writings from his students, contained a mixture of mystical revelation that Paul received from source, and cultural interpretation that resulted from Paul's rabbinical training in Judaism. Paul was a walking dichotomy.
- John's gospel was meant to be a bridge between the Jewish aspects of the New Testament and the message meant for what Paul called the 'new creation' or the 'new humanity.'
- Paul made a distinction between those who were born under the Law and those who were not. To those born under the law, it was the law of sin and death, to those not born under the law and those who embraced the teachings of Jesus it pointed toward the law of the spirit of life in Christ.
- All true mystical revelation must line up with John's revelation that God is Love!
- Understanding what is meant by God is love must line up with Paul's definition of love in First Corinthians chapter thirteen, especially the one that states that God/Love keeps no records of wrongs
- The spirit was poured out on all flesh and all people have the divine nature and the capability of hearing directly revelation from the Spirit of God. However, any revelation that is truly from the Spirit of God will line up exactly with Paul's definition of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians chapter five.
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