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Otago Daily Times
22-07-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Beyond the fence: on reading the Bible in this secular age
How should we read the Bible in the 21st century, Graham Redding asks. For many people, the Bible is outdated, even dangerous — fuel for fundamentalism or a dusty relic of a bygone age. But for those still curious, or tentatively open, the question of how to approach such a text matters. And the metaphors we use to describe that approach matter even more. Consider four metaphors: the fence, the instruction manual, the cave, and the garden. Each offers a distinct picture of what the Bible is and how it might be used. The fence metaphor sees the Bible as a boundary-setter. It marks out who is in and who is out — doctrine as gate, morality as barbed wire. This is the Bible as rulebook or creed-enforcer, where certain interpretations are fenced in as "orthodox" and others left out in the theological cold. Fences provide security, yes, but they also restrict movement. The danger of this model is that it transforms the Bible into a tool of control, shutting down conversation and excluding those who ask difficult questions or arrive at uncomfortable conclusions. This approach is all too familiar in religious communities that have wielded the Bible as a weapon against women, LGBTQ+ people, or those who diverge from the party line. It is no wonder that many outside such communities want nothing to do with a text so frequently associated with misogyny and exclusion. Closely related is the instruction manual metaphor. Here the Bible is treated as a how-to guide for life: clear, concise, step-by-step. Want a better marriage? Proverbs has you covered. Struggling with grief? Turn to the Psalms. Need direction in life? Jeremiah 29:11 is the divine GPS. This metaphor appeals to a modern, utilitarian mindset. It assumes that the Bible offers clear answers to modern problems, if only we read it correctly. But the Bible isn't a single, tidy manual. It's a sprawling collection of stories, laws, poems, laments, and letters, written by dozens of authors over centuries. Much of it resists easy application. The instruction-manual metaphor flattens the complexity of Scripture, silencing voices of protest, ambiguity, and paradox. Taken together, the fence and manual metaphors foster a brittle kind of faith — one that cannot withstand the pressures of moral complexity or existential doubt. Enter the metaphor of the cave. Here, the Bible becomes a place of mystery and depth, an ancient cavern to be explored with curiosity and humility. Like explorers lowering themselves into a vast cave system, readers enter the text not to master it but to discover forgotten chambers of wisdom, veins of poetry, and inscriptions from past generations. This metaphor recognises the historical and literary complexity of the Bible. It allows for darkness and ambiguity. It honours the voices of lament and protest — Job's cry against unjust suffering, Ecclesiastes' bewildered musings on meaninglessness, Jesus' own cry of abandonment on the cross. In the cave, we do not find tidy answers. But we may encounter something more valuable: echoes of our own questions, whispered across time, calling us to a more authentic form of living. Finally, the garden metaphor. Here the Bible is less a site to be explored than a plot to be cultivated. We return to it again and again — not because it gives instant answers, but because it yields nourishment over time. In this metaphor we bring ourselves to the text — our experience, our questions, our wounds — and we let it work on us. Not every seed will sprout. Not every passage will bear fruit. But over time, with sun and rain and pruning, the garden grows. It may even surprise us with unexpected blossoms. This metaphor invites communal engagement. Gardens are meant to be shared. Biblical interpretation becomes not an individual act of mastery, but a communal practice of tending a garden together, learning from those who have gone before, and passing the harvest on to those who come after. Metaphors shape expectations. If we see the Bible as a fence, we will patrol it. If we see it as a manual, we will seek quick fixes. But if we approach it as a cave or a garden, we step into a different posture — one of openness, reverence, and transformation. For those who have been harmed by rigid interpretations of Scripture, or who see the Bible as irrelevant in a secular age, these alternative metaphors offer a way back in. Not to naive certainty or uncritical belief, but to a more human, more honest engagement with one of the world's most influential texts. So let us set down our fences. Let us put away our manuals. Let us take up our lanterns, and step into the cave. Let us roll up our sleeves and tend the garden. Who knows what we might find? Or what might grow. • Dr Graham Redding is the Douglas Goodfellow lecturer in chaplaincy studies at the University of Otago.
UAE Moments
19-07-2025
- Business
- UAE Moments
Your Daily Career Tarot Card Reading for July 19th, 2025
19.7.25 The Wheel of Fortune: Change is in the air, and you likely feel it already. If you're feeling restless at work or find that your job isn't bringing you the satisfaction it used to then you may be ready for something different. While it's not a good idea to act on impulse, this can be a good time to research your options and to prepare for a new beginning.
Sydney Morning Herald
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
God is a literary snob. I'll have the scar to prove it
Job 20:27: And the Heavens will expose his iniquity, and the Earth will rise up against him. In the Kimberley, the red battlements overhanging Australia's prettiest waterfall are decorated with Gwion art tens of thousands of years old, most of it depicting people amid lively ceremony. The falling water fans out into a long semicircular fringe of white with outlying strands decorating the cliff face for hundreds of metres. Below the falls is a stretch of dark river where massive crocodiles make patient ambush. Above, there are only freshwater crocs and there, we swam away the inherent aches of this hard country. The far side of this remote river is Indigenous land, empty now. The side we were walking was a cattle station, a couple of million acres, but the cattle were gone or gone wild. We camped on a rock shelf a kilometre above the falls and as the sun went down, I wrote a poem in my notebook. Roads and years give out short of here Where clear water runs chasms of red stone. No man-made proof of man, no inkling of sapiens Save arrangements of blood and sap on sheltered rock, Revellers and warriors daubed by bygones, Dressed to the nines and dancing evermore, Beseeching their gods, soundlessly, endlessly, Uselessly, as it turns out. Dark fish hover atop their shadows, Crocodiles poise in runnels like statuary Of bronze batters awaiting the pitch. The sun lifts leaden from the chasm's eastern lip Noon landing on its west and exiting Like the show's star, raising shade in its wake. Loading Bird noise falls from the nectar-fields of the plateau Through the blue cleft of sky To this gorge bottomed with beaches Filigreed by paw track. Rocks heated by the patter of rays Leach warmth to the night Recharging reptiles to skitter and slip their rounds. Elsewhere, while these fish hover for morsel, Senators veined with zealotry shriek soundbites. Elsewhere, while these dingoes sniff for heartbeat, Women poise over Send buttons at laptops in cafes. Elsewhere, while these stoney lizards surveil flies, Elevators raise and lower mirrored folk. Here elsewhere is so elsewhere as to be nowhere, Here is what was and will be – The unenamored Earth staunchly oblivious To her main monkey's many antics. Though reading your poetry to friends is as wantonly self-indulgent as taking a guitar to a sleepover to strum a half-arsed Desperado, I liked the poem the way writers generally like the thing just written, still steaming and fragrant from the oven of the brain. Sitting around the campfire in the dark, I read it to my three travelling companions. And was leaning back listening to the last stanza ring in the quartet of our minds when the Earth rose up against me.
The Age
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
God is a literary snob. I'll have the scar to prove it
Job 20:27: And the Heavens will expose his iniquity, and the Earth will rise up against him. In the Kimberley, the red battlements overhanging Australia's prettiest waterfall are decorated with Gwion art tens of thousands of years old, most of it depicting people amid lively ceremony. The falling water fans out into a long semicircular fringe of white with outlying strands decorating the cliff face for hundreds of metres. Below the falls is a stretch of dark river where massive crocodiles make patient ambush. Above, there are only freshwater crocs and there, we swam away the inherent aches of this hard country. The far side of this remote river is Indigenous land, empty now. The side we were walking was a cattle station, a couple of million acres, but the cattle were gone or gone wild. We camped on a rock shelf a kilometre above the falls and as the sun went down, I wrote a poem in my notebook. Roads and years give out short of here Where clear water runs chasms of red stone. No man-made proof of man, no inkling of sapiens Save arrangements of blood and sap on sheltered rock, Revellers and warriors daubed by bygones, Dressed to the nines and dancing evermore, Beseeching their gods, soundlessly, endlessly, Uselessly, as it turns out. Dark fish hover atop their shadows, Crocodiles poise in runnels like statuary Of bronze batters awaiting the pitch. The sun lifts leaden from the chasm's eastern lip Noon landing on its west and exiting Like the show's star, raising shade in its wake. Loading Bird noise falls from the nectar-fields of the plateau Through the blue cleft of sky To this gorge bottomed with beaches Filigreed by paw track. Rocks heated by the patter of rays Leach warmth to the night Recharging reptiles to skitter and slip their rounds. Elsewhere, while these fish hover for morsel, Senators veined with zealotry shriek soundbites. Elsewhere, while these dingoes sniff for heartbeat, Women poise over Send buttons at laptops in cafes. Elsewhere, while these stoney lizards surveil flies, Elevators raise and lower mirrored folk. Here elsewhere is so elsewhere as to be nowhere, Here is what was and will be – The unenamored Earth staunchly oblivious To her main monkey's many antics. Though reading your poetry to friends is as wantonly self-indulgent as taking a guitar to a sleepover to strum a half-arsed Desperado, I liked the poem the way writers generally like the thing just written, still steaming and fragrant from the oven of the brain. Sitting around the campfire in the dark, I read it to my three travelling companions. And was leaning back listening to the last stanza ring in the quartet of our minds when the Earth rose up against me.
Barnama
17-07-2025
- Business
- Barnama
KESUMA Moves To Amend Act 652, Elevate High-level TVET To Meet Industry Demands
Minister of Human Resources Steven Sim speaks during an opening ceremony of Workshop Empowering Job Seekers, Digital Platform Best Practices from OIC Member Countries at a hotel today. -- fotoBERNAMA (2025) COPYRIGT RESERVED KUALA LUMPUR, July 17 (Bernama) -- The Human Resources Ministry (KESUMA) is amending the National Skills Development Act 2006 (Act 652) to enable the recruitment of trainees and workers with Malaysian Skills Certificates (SKM) at Levels 6, 7, and 8. Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong said the current legislation only allows for the hiring of individuals with SKM qualifications up to Level 5. He said the amendment is essential to elevate the standing of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and to boost Malaysia's skills-based industries. 'We hope the bill can be tabled in Parliament this year,' he said during his speech at the National Economic Forum 2025 here today. In September last year, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced the government's in-principle agreement to recognise SKM Levels 6 to 8 as equivalent to a bachelor's degree. In a move to demonstrate that TVET is on par with other forms of tertiary education, Sim also announced that he will personally undergo SKM training in the Industrial Training Institute (ILP), Melaka. "I want to show that TVET is a viable option. Now imagine if leaders like you, corporate leaders and employers understand how TVET works because you've experienced it yourselves. 'You will likely take more graduates from the TVET stream after learning about how it works,' he said, inviting public and private sector individuals to join his initiative. Sim noted that the government spends about RM6 billion to RM7 billion annually on TVET education, and when combined with contributions from the Human Resource Development (HRD) levy, the total outlay could reach nearly RM10 billion a year.
