'Hedging in arguments means sheltering behind ambiguous meanings so that the sense can be changed later.' (120).
To paraphrase the author's example:
We stated we did not want a full-fledged war in the Middle East; that is still the position, we entered into limited war. (120).
This type of argumentation allows for a 'definitional retreat.' (120).
'Hedging is fallacious because it puts two or more different statements under the guise of one'. (120).
It is a semantic game in parsing the difference between a 'limited war' and a 'full-fledged' war. Is any war 'full-fledged' without nuclear weapons?
Hedging hopes that the reviewer of argumentation, will not know better (120); the information presented becomes useless because it is not presented accurately. (120).
To avoid hedging one could state:
'We are entering into war; we are committed.'
Or:
'We are not entering into war, because the risks are too great.'
Hedging again...
We stated we did not want to colonize Mars, that is still the position, but we have several Mars space missions planned.
Interestingly, Pirie indicates that Nostradamus used hedging to make obscure predictions. (121). The author reasons that observers look for what they want to see as far as what has already occurred and apply what Nostradamus predicted. This does not assist in making accurate predictions. (121).
'The central message of the letter is that redemption must be applied to everyday situations.' (50). This calls for a new Holy Spirit led life for the Christian believer. (50). The righteousness of Jesus Christ is imputed to believers through the atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and Christians are to live as such. Notably in First Corinthians this means that sexual immorality should be avoided. (50-51).
First Corinthians 6: 9-11 is notable is this regard.
New American Standard Version
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor [f]effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
This is a key section of Scripture that both Christian conservatives and Christian liberals should heed.
Neither fornication from heterosexuals, nor homosexuality as practices are acceptable within the Kingdom of God, in this realm or the next. This is not a fundamentalistic perspective, but a Biblical, New Testament one.
In humanity, universally, as almost every human being struggles with some form (s) of sexual sin, the need for forgiveness and restoration with God in the gospel, is apparent.
Fee
Gordon Fee provides a 'proposed reconstruction'. He writes that the 'historical situation in the Corinth was one of conflict between the church and its founder.' (6). However, it is also true that the church in Corinth was 'experiencing internal strife.' (6). There was a division between the Apostle Paul and some in Corinth in regard to what was considered 'spiritual.' (6). One of the notable problems being sexual immorality. (6). It can be reasoned that the spirituality of sexuality was under discussion.
Marsh
Marsh opines there were two factors that led to the Apostle Paul writing First Corinthians. (1) Reports of church dissension. These dissensions could lead to the destruction of the church at Corinth. (1348). (2) The Apostle answered a variety of key questions, including on the resurrection. (1348). First Corinthians 15 being essential text in regard to the future resurrection of those in Jesus Christ.
Courson
The church at Corinth was 'divided, defiled and defamed'. (1011). Therefore the Apostle Paul instructs the Corinthian church in regard to effective ministry, true unity, Christian charity, spiritual maturity, liberty, conduct, spiritual gifts, and the resurrection of the dead. (1011). This review is consistent with the others I have presented, dealing with divisions, immorality and theological confusion.
Elwell and Yarbrough
'The Corinthian church holds the dubious distinction of being the most confused congregation, or group of congregations, that Paul addressed.' (270). The Corinthian letters were written to provide spiritual guidance in a 'religiously turbulent era.' (270). Paul deals with the issue of church division (273), and that teachings of wisdom, philosophy and the law, were preferred in the Corinthian church to the gospel and God in Christ. (273).
The Corinthians departed from Paul's teaching, because 'in their own social setting' certain ideas made more sense to them. (274). This is an approach often seen within today's modern, western, Christian Church. In regard to ethics, dating, marriage and lifestyle, the Bible is often negated in favour of secular cultural views and/or less commonly, Pharisaical, Christian cultural views.
Perhaps God, willingly allows these views, leading to acts and actions, to override a more culturally risky, closer obedience to the Holy Spirit, because of the hardness of human hearts? This similar to when Jesus Christ spoke of divorce in Matthew 19 and Mark 10.
I think so.
Gundry
'Theme: the problems in the church in Corinth and their solutions.' (269). This included the problem of divisions, and weak leadership versus the enlightened understanding of the New Testament gospel. (269). Problems in regards to lawsuits and immorality were also addressed by the Apostle Paul. (269).
COURSON, JON (2005) Application Commentary, Thomas Nelson, Nashville.
ELWELL, WALTER AND YARBROUGH, ROBERT W., Third Edition (2013) Encountering The New Testament, Grand Rapids, Baker Academic.
DUNNETT, WALTER M. (2001) Exploring The New Testament, Wheaton, Crossway Books.
FEE, GORDON D. (1987) The First Epistle To The Corinthians, Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
GUNDRY, ROBERT (1981) A Survey of the New Testament, Grand Rapids, Zondervan.
MARSH, PAUL, W. (1986) ‘1 Corinthians’, in F.F. Bruce, (ed.), The International Bible Commentary, Grand Rapids, Marshall Pickering/Zondervan.
Miss Gina has requested my assistance with a First Corinthians course she has originated and is teaching within the Vancouver Christian singles community.
Gordon Fee explains that Paul left Corinth sometime in AD 51-52, and that the writing of First Corinthians took place approximately three years later. (4). This makes the date approximately 54-55 AD.
Elwell and Yarbrough
First Corinthians 55 AD (273).
(Second Corinthians 56 AD) (276).
--- Authorship and Location
Scholarly consensus from sources is that First Corinthians is of Pauline authorship.
'The First Epistle to the Corinthians (Ancient Greek: Α΄ Επιστολή προς Κορινθίους), usually referred to simply as First Corinthians and often written 1 Corinthians, is one of the Pauline epistles of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle says that Paul the Apostle and "Sosthenes our brother" wrote it to "the church of God which is at Corinth" 1Cor.1:1–2 although the scholarly consensus holds that Sosthenes was the amanuensis who write down the text of the letter at Paul's direction.[1]'
I have noted on my websites that a scribe at times, may have written parts the New Testament, via the words of an Apostle or disciple. This may impact some that hold to a fundamentalistic type of dictation theory, allowing for no third party, but within a biblical theory of inspiration, certainly the Holy Spirit can inspire, for example, the Apostle Paul that then accurately dictates to a scribe. Further, we do not possess original biblical autographs and we are dependent on post apostolic scribal accuracy.
Scholarly consensus is that the First Corinthians was written in Ephesus. Dunnett (49).
Cited
'Paul's authorship of 1 Corinthians (see 1 Cor 1;1) is virtually undisputed in ancient and modern times. (273). Elwell and Yarbrough provide the theory that there is an initial letter to the Corinthians, now lost. 1 Cor 5:9.' (272). This is a well-known concept within scholarship.
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
9 I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people;
Elwell and Yarbrough note, that First and Second Corinthians...'are only two of a larger collection of writings that passed between the apostle and the church.' (272).
Before one objects to the possibility of this view in haste; is it to be understood that everything the Apostle Paul or an Apostle wrote within the New Testament era was Holy Spirit inspired Scripture?
Did not the Apostle Paul correct as in error the Apostle Peter in Galatians 2?
An Apostle in the New Testament was not necessarily always inspired in writing and action by the Holy Spirit, but was Holy Spirit inspired in the transmission of Scripture. (2 Timothy 3).
Not to venture into the ridiculous, but hypothetically, if the Apostle Paul wrote a note for a servant and disciple to fetch two chickens, and this note also contained the words of Jesus Christ as theological encouragement in service, it does not mean the note is inspired Scripture. It is rather Holy Spirit guided non-Scripture.
There appears to be consensus that Second Corinthians was written in Macedonia. Both Corinthians widely reasoned to be written during Paul's third missionary journey.
ELWELL, WALTER AND YARBROUGH, ROBERT W., Third Edition (2013) Encountering The New Testament, Grand Rapids, Baker Academic.
DUNNETT, WALTER M. (2001) Exploring The New Testament, Wheaton, Crossway Books.
FEE, GORDON D. (1987) The First Epistle To The Corinthians, Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
GUNDRY, ROBERT (1981) A Survey of the New Testament, Grand Rapids, Zondervan.
MARSH, PAUL, W. (1986) ‘1 Corinthians’, in F.F. Bruce, (ed.), The International Bible Commentary, Grand Rapids, Marshall Pickering/Zondervan.
'The Shack is a novel by Canadian author William P. Young, a former office manager and hotel night clerk, with no theological experience; published in 2007.[1]'
Cited
'The title of the book is a metaphor for "the house you build out of your own pain", as Young explained in a telephone interview.[5]'
Cited
'The main character is Mackenzie Allen Phillips...'
Cited
'Two of his children are playing in a canoe when it flips and almost drowns Mack's son. Mack is able to save his son by rushing to the water and freeing him from the canoe's webbing, but unintentionally leaves his youngest daughter Missy alone at their campsite. After Mack returns, he sees that Missy is missing. The police are called, and the family discovers that Missy has been abducted and murdered by a serial killer known as the "Little Ladykiller". The police find an abandoned shack in the woods where Missy was taken. Her bloodied clothing is found, but her body is not located. Mack's life sinks into what he calls "The Great Sadness".'
Cited
'Mack's family leaves to visit relatives and he goes alone to the shack, unsure of what he will see there. He arrives and initially finds nothing, but as he is leaving, the shack and its surroundings are supernaturally transformed into a lush and inviting scene. He enters the shack and encounters manifestations of the three persons of the Trinity. God the Father takes the form of an African American woman who calls herself Elousia and Papa (Papa is also the name of the mother goddess in Polynesian mythology); Jesus Christ is a Middle-Eastern carpenter; and the Holy Spirit physically manifests as an Asian woman named Sarayu.'
'The bulk of the book narrates Mack's conversations with Papa, Jesus, and Sarayu as he comes to terms with Missy's death and his relationship with the three of them. Mack also has various experiences with each of them. Mack walks across a lake with Jesus, sees an image of his father in Heaven with Sarayu, and has a conversation with Sophia, the personification of God's wisdom. At the end of his visit, Mack goes on a hike with Papa, now appearing as an older white male, who shows him where Missy's body was left in a cave.'
Cited
'Mars Hill Church pastor Mark Driscoll criticized The Shack, saying "it misrepresents God"[12] and called William P. Young "a heretic".[13]
Evangelical author Chuck Colson wrote a review called "Stay Out of The Shack," in which he criticizes the attribution of "silly lines" to characters representing the three Persons of the Trinity, and the author's "low view of scripture".[14] R. Albert Mohler, Jr. called The Shack "deeply troubling" on his radio show, saying that it "includes undiluted heresy".[15] Apologists author Norman Geisler and William C. Roach published a critique in 2012 detailing their 14 points of theological disagreement with the book (including "unorthodox", "false", "classic heresy", "non-rational", "psychologically helpful ... doctrinally harmful", and "very dangerous").[16]'
'Theologian Randal Rauser has written a generally sympathetic guide to The Shack in his companion volume Finding God in the Shack (Paternoster, 2009). In the book Rauser responds to many of the objections raised by critics like Colson and Mohler.'
'The tragedy shatters Mack's faith and life until he receives a mysterious telegram signed by "Papa" (which is Nan's name for God) inviting him to come to the cabin. Reluctantly accepting, Mack travels there and is overcome with rage and suicidal thoughts, until he meets a mysterious trio of strangers who seek to help him understand, heal and forgive. In the book, Missy's kidnapper is caught. In the movie, he is not. There also is a opening scene showing the father's horrid abuse of the family when Mack is a boy, thus giving us an idea of how the story started.'
---
I have discussed online fictional themes and the problem of evil in other entries. However, it is not an academic focus and in the case of The Shack, the unorthodox Trinity, will confuse many persons. This is more troubling than for example, the problem of evil discussion from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice where there is no attempt at Christian theology.
DC/Time Warner
BOICE, JAMES, MONTGOMERY (1981) Foundations of the Christian Faith, Downers Grove, IVP Press.
ERICKSON, MILLARD (1994) Christian Theology, Grand Rapids, Baker Book House.
FEINBERG, JOHN S. (1994) The Many Faces of Evil, Grand Rapids, Zondervan Publishing House.
