“A Biblical Naturalist”

Pastor Wilson provides a helpful distinction between “literal” and “natural” when it comes to how we read, understand, and apply the Scriptures to our lives.

I heard this in a recent interview with one of my favorite authors, pastors, and cultural commentators — Doug Wilson.

I’m a Biblical absolutist. Some people would call me a fundamentalist, [as in], “I take everything in the Bible literally.”

[But,] when Jesus says, “I’m the door.” You don’t look for a doorknob. You don’t have to lie down in a green pasture to be a good Christian. So I don’t take the Bible literally.

I take the Bible naturally, the way it presents itself to be taken.

Poetry is poetry,
vision is vision,
history is history.

But I’m a Biblical absolutist. So what the Bible says, I just take to the bank.

That’s a really, really helpful distinction, and would save many Christians a great deal of angst, anxiety, and arguments if they pondered it just a little bit.