Well this week, we've got a pearly gates story.
Luke 16:19-31
And like a modern pearly gates story, it has elements of tradition about it, that don't necessarily fit in with what heaven is actually like.
I mean, I don't know about you, but I don't actually believe that St Peter stands at the pearly gates all day, interviewing people who want to get into heaven.
But there he is, in every joke you've ever heard on the subject, bumbling along, doing something daft to make us laugh. If he really was that stupid, surely God would have sent somebody else out to do the job by now.
So my first thoughts about this story are that it must be like that. It must have some traditional elements that everybody recognises, but which aren't necessarily true.
Such as Father Abraham.
Such as the fiery flames of hell.
I don't know exactly which ones are true and which belong to this glorious tradition, but it make me cautious about assuming that the afterlife is going to look like Jesus' description of it here.
That's how I get round the problem of not taking his words literally.
Now if you're a fundamentalist I expect I've upset you for ever.
If you're a secular sceptic you probably wonder why I'm even mentioning it.
But for me, it's part of taking the Bible seriously.
I need to work out what sort of text I've got, as a first step in interpreting it.
So I reckon we've got a traditional story, told not as a joke (though people might have found it funny back then) but told to make a point.
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