I'm following the lead of Paik and Joanne Swenson in my 2nd thesis chapter that says Literalists like LaHaye and Jenkins are more Gnostic than Christian. The "age of accountability" in the LB novels, in which all children under the age of 10 are Raptured, seems to deny the presence of Original Sin.

I read the Salon piece and think it's really interesting. I don't see a problem with it, some questions evangelicals rarely ask themselves are: If Judas had not "betrayed" Christ, would Jesus have fulfilled the Scriptures, died on the cross, been able to offer salvation? Is God truly "not willing that any should perish but all should come to redeption?" and if so, what about Judas? Did he not create Judas, knowing that he would betray Jesus. Would that and the subsequent suicide condemn him to hell?

I suppose it's akin beatifying Satan for tempting Eve, so that sin would enter the world, and as a result, salvation. Someone's got to play devil's advocate, I guess.

Nice piece on the Gospel of Judas and Pagels' book and interview. The question of the inerrancy of the Bible has been of interest to me for many years, and after having read Pagels' The Gnostic Gospels, it confirmed (for me) that the Bible's metaphorical language is the least of its problems. As with most attempts to undermine any argument, one of the most popular is to show how it contradicts itself. Given the huge number of authors of the Bible, as Pagel also notes, it is impossible to resolve all the contradictions in it such that it is in-errant... without error (contradiction being considered such a huge logical error). Recently, on the Clemson campus, a group offering free Bibles set up a tent near the Student Union. As I neared their space, I noticed some of them were standing quietly offering to talk to students, but not aggressively approaching them. Simply waiting to be approached. One person, however, was pacing back and forth in front of them and jumped in my path and said, "Can I show you how the Bible is full of violence and contradictions?" I ignored him and looked at the Bible-giver and said, "Looks like you have some competition." He smiled and said, "We don't think so."

The question for me is whether the Bible offers comfort and spiritual guidance, not whether it is contradictory, metaphorical, violent, true, or whatever. Any time language is involved, the ineffable is present. My favorite Gnostic Gospel is one that you never hear about because the author is unknown, but it is widely believed to be written from a feminine perspective/deity. It's called Thunder, Perfect Mind. It is, in my view, about the ineffable nature of the divine and the need to embrace contra/diction.