Metaphor

Recently, I made my way through Battlestar Galactica on Netflix. I’ve never seen the show before, and I’ve become fascinated by the science fiction show’s exploration of religion, theology, government, morality, and more. One of the big theological twists of the show is that the polytheistic humans are in a war with the monotheistic Cylons (supposedly machines).

One particular scene n the episode “Faith” intrigued me. Laura Roslyn, the President, is battling cancer, and is undergoing medical treatments. She engages a bedside neighbor, Emily, and discovers that she is a believer in the Cylon god.

Emily tells her, “If he’s the one true god, he’s the god of everybody. Otherwise, he’s not that much of a god, is he?”

“Exactly.” Laura counters, “He isn’t much of a god, he’s a fantasy.”

“Oh, Laura. And the Lords of Kobol are real?” Laura lets out a small laugh. The woman continues, “Reigning from a metaphysical mountain top in those silly outfits. Zeus, handing out fates out of an urn like they were lottery tickets. You’re going to work on a Tylium ship. You’re going to be an admiral. You’re going to be evaporated in an attack on the colonies, but you’ll survive for three more years in a moldy compartment on a freighter till your body starts to eat itself up alive. Those are the gods you worship. Capricious. Vindictive.”

Laua pauses, then says, “But they aren’t meant to be taken literally. They’re metaphor’s Emily.”



Is this perhaps how many people see the Holy Scriptures—as metaphor? We care little about whether Jonah really was in the belly of a big fish, whether God really formed the Earth in six days, whether Jesus really multiplied the loaves and fishes, or even whether He really died and rose from the dead. Many remain skeptical and give little thought to the evidence, because frankly, we do not care about the God who did it all. We care only about how we can utilize this information for our own gain. If I can just understand the laws of the universe, I can strategically play the game of life and win. If I learn to “love” other people and treat them how they would want to be treated, I can manipulate circumstances to my favor. If I can only apply these principles to my business, my job, my money, my kids, or my marriage, I’ll be a success.

Even if we believe the events of the Bible are historical events, we certainly don’t emphasize this truth as important. We are willing to concede the facts for the sake of the “greater truth.” But if the most important part of the “stories” is what they mean in my life, then the Bible is ultimately about Me.

But how can the creation be greater than the Creator? I am not the source of my own purpose or even my own life, for I depend on God for my very existence. Not just food and water for my daily survival, but oxygen for my next minute of life. Not to mention He was the very one who formed my in the womb. But if the ends of those blessings were to prove MY importance, then I would be greater than God. And even though few would be so bold as to proclaim this, we all tend to live as if this were true.

Christ and His church is not just some metaphor for our marriages, rather we are to model the greater thing: Christ’s love for His Church. God’s methods of discipline and long suffering towards his children is not a metaphor for us as to parent our children, but rather we are to model in our parenting the greater thing: God’s love for His children. We don’t forgive because Christ demonstrated us forgiveness on the cross, but rather we forgive our debtors because of the greater truth: God forgave us of our larger debt.

Paul understood that Christ IS the greater truth. He tells us in his first letter to the Corinthians, “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in you sins […and] we are of all people most to be pitied.”

I conclude that material blessings, pleasure, and happiness are ultimately not ends to themselves, but their purpose is to exalt their creator and draw us closer to Him. And as we are also part of His creation, we are also symbolic representations of the greater reality. We are to live in such a way as to point others to our creator and draw them closer to Him. WE are the metaphor.