tulsa 2011
Member
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2010
- Messages
- 354
Consistent Scriptural Literalism and IQ Level By Denomination
See: Biblical literalism or low IQ: which came first? - Gene Expression
Biblical Literalism and IQ, By Razib Kahn
Razib Kahn, Ph.D. University of California, Davis, 2016 (expected), in Genetics.
"Razib at Gene Expression used data from the General Social Survey for certain religious denominations and compared them to the proportion of followers in that faith who believe the Bible should be interpreted literally.
He put IQ levels on the vertical axis and belief that the of belief that the Bible is literal on the horizontal axis."
The variation in IQ mean scores for this sample of different denominations shows a range of only about 93 to 110. With fairly large samples of people IQ averages tend to be close to the average IQ of around 100 or a bit above 100.
What is literal interpretation of scripture and what is non-lireral interpretation?
Origen (184–253 B.C) made use of broad allegory in interpreting Scripture, and
Augustine followed his lead, saying, for example,
the thousand year reign of Christ in Revelation 20: 1-8 is an allegory of all the church age. Catholics and some traditional Calvinists have followed the use of such broad sweeping allegorical interepretation of Bible prophecy.
In Augustine's interpretation of metaphors, visions, and symbols in the
Book of Revelation an event that is predicted to happen in the future
is made into a broad sweeping timeless allegory. In the Amillennial
view the sealing by the Lord of the 144,000 right before the "four
winds" are allowed to blow (Revelation 7: 1) is made to represent all
the saved people of all ages. So for Augustine,and Calvin following him,
followers the 144,000 can have no function
during the period Christ called the great tribulation in Matthew 24:
21.
The over-allegorization or amillennial view is an example of a non-literal kind of Bible interpretation.
As a kind of dialectic opposition to the Origen-Augustine over-allegorization of scripture, dispensationalism went to the opposite extreme and called for something like a consistent literalism in interpreting scripture.
"Not one instance exists of a 'spiritual' or figurative fulfilment of prophecy... Jerusalem is always Jerusalem, Israel is always Israel, Zion is always Zion... Prophecies may never be spiritualised, but are always literal." C.I. Scofield, Scofield Bible Correspondence Course (Chicago, Moody Bible Institute, 1907), pp. 45-46.
"To be sure, literal/historical/grammatical interpretation is not the sole possession or practice of dispensationalists, but the consistent use of it in all areas of biblical interpretation is." Charles C. Ryrie, Dispensationalism (Chicago, Moody Press, 1995), page 40.
Hal Lindsey, for example, makes use of the dispensationalist literalist
interpretation of prophecy by suggesting in his book, New World Coming
(1973), that the locusts of Revelation 9: 3, are an advanced
kind of helicopter. See page 8 and page 141 for a reference to
Lindsey's Cobra helicopters. Such a literal interpretation destroys the knowledge given
in the metaphors of Revelation 9: 3.
Lets look at a few examples of scripture to show literal and non-literal interpretations of scripture, other than the extremes of over-allegorization and dispensationalist consistent literalism.
"I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets." Hosea 12: 10
"All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:" Matthew 13: 34
"Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." I Corinthians 10: 11
See Isaiah 4: 1, which would seem to be a simple plain text:
"And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will
eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by
thy name, to take away our reproach."
Bread is a metaphor, meaning Christ is the bread of life" (John 6:35,41,48,51,58).
Bread represents the truth of the Gospel. Christ himself and his Gospel brings spiritual life. The women in Isaiah 4: 1 do not entirely accept the bread
- truth of his Gospel - as absolute truth which Christ brings, but they will follow
their own way. But they want to be called by His name. They want to be
called Christians, but they do not want to accept and follow all of his
Gospel. The metaphoric language makes a statement different from what
the literal and plain meaning of "we will eat our own bread" would be. Apparently dispensationalism would say that Isaiah 4: 1 says the seven women literally eat the bread they have baked and wear their own apparel, but that they take hold of one man and want to be called by his name. They may not even acknowledge that this one man is Jesus Christ.
Look at Zechariah 8: 23:
"Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass,
that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even
shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go
with you: for we have heard that God is with you."
The literal or plain meaning of Zechariah 8: 23 is that this is a prophecy for the time of the
New Covenant when Christians will take hold of a Jew and say "we will
go with you, for we have heard that God is with you" because Jews of the
flesh, by virtue of their DNA, are the chosen people. But if you know
and understand Romans 2: 17, 28-29, Romans 9: 6-8 and Galatians 3: 3, 16, 26-29, you will question this plain interpretation of Zechariah 8: 23. Instead, of being a literal Jew because he has the physical DNA from Abraham, this Jew is the inward Jew of Romans 2: 29, who is one in the Spirit and not of the letter, whose praise is not of men but of God.
Zechariah 8: 23, interpreted by the New Testament, is using Jew is a way different from the literal way Jew is usually used in scripture. In fact, dispensationalism teaches that the word Jew in scripture must always refer to a literal Jew whose identity is based on his physical DNA from Abraham. Likewise, for dispensationmalism, Israel must always be Old Covenant Israel of the flesh, not the Israel of God.
There is some heavier metaphoric language in prophecy, such as in Revelation 14: 4, "These are they which were not defined with women: for they are all virgins." The plain or literal meaning of Revelation 14: 4 says something quite different than its metaphoric meaning. The dispensationalistg literal meaning of Revelation 14: 4 is that all the members of the 144,000 are males who are physically virgins, who have nver had sex with women. And the metaphor is interpreted by another metaphor, found in Revelation 17: 1-6. Here a woman represents mystery Babylon, which is false religion.
Razib Kahn got his data on emphasis on literal interpretation of the Bible, by denomination, from here:
Religion, Mobilization, and Social Action - Google Books...
The book is "Religion, Mobilization and Social Action, Anson D. Shupe and others, 1998.
The data On "Membership Growth and Literal Interpretation of the Bible" is on page 57 and in Table 4.2.
The book says the source of this information is The Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches,. Stark, 1994.
For example, of more mainstream denominations, the United Pentecostal
Church had the highest growth rate, 120, and the highest rank in
Biblical Literalism.
Then came The Assemblies of God, with a growth rate of 112, and Biblical Literalism rate of 76,
The Southern Baptists, also now dominated by dispensationalism, had a growth rate of 32 and a Biblical Literal rate of 60.
On the other hand, the United Presbyterians had a Biblical Literal rate
of 28 (low) and a negative growth rate of -17. The Episcopals had a
Biblical Literalism rate of 15 (very low) and a negative growth rate of
-25.
He says he got the IQ scores, apparently by denomination, from the
General Social Survey as reported by The Inductivist. The site,
Indictivist is no longer in existence.
But - the data that Kahn shows has to be viewed within a Biblical perspective.
The non-literal interpretation of scripture by the Episcopals does not
necessarily mean that they have more of the truth or that they have
strong faith. You can use metaphorical or allegorical interpretation
just as well as you can use a consistent literalism to teach another
Gospel - or a luke-warm approach to Jesus Christ, which he spits out of
his mouth (Revelation 3: 15-16.
What is more important for Christians is the interpretation of the finding that denominations which are strongest in teaching a consistent literal view of scripture have
members whose average IQ level is a little lower than denominations who
do not teach a consistent literal view. The interesting thing is not
that the particular denominations that do not teach consistent
literalism have more of the truth and more faith. The interesting thing
is that consistent literalism is used by dispensationalism to promote
its main doctrine - that Old Covenant Israel of the flesh without Christ
are the chosen people. And the denominations that are strongest in
teaching dispensationalism - or consistent literalism - have members
who score a little lower on intelligence tests.
And the correlation found by Kahn suggests that
the way to grow your church membership among people with an average or
very slightly below average intelligence level is to teach consistent
literalism in interpretation of scripture.
See: http://www.stanfordbinet.net/.<wbr>........"The Stanford-Binet (SB) - the best and most popular intelligence test is a Cognitive ability assessment used to measure intelligence
(IQ). The Stanford-Binet measures five factors of cognitive ability:
Fluid Reasoning, Knowledge, Quantitative Reasoning, Visual-Spatial
Processing, and Working Memory. Each of these factors is tested in two
separate domains, verbal and nonverbal."
But there is still a discernment problem in those who promote a
consistent literalism.
And as in Daniel 12: 7 the spiritual and earthy power of the holy people is scattered, which means the spiritual power of the II Timothy 3: 2, 5, 7-8 church is diminished. The salt has lost its savour, as Matthew 5: 13
says, and the Greek word translated as savour is moraino. Strong's
says moraino, number 3471, is from moros, number 3474, which means "dull or stupid,.i.e, heedless, absurd, foolish." Moraino is a condition of loss of cognitive clarity.
There is another very important mindset - other than the
literal-non-literal opposition - which underlies a failure to develop
spiritual understanding according to the New Testament. This is the
Marxist version of the Hegelian dialectic, which sets up perceptions
into two opposing parts, and in the process argues against anything that
is absolute. The absolute truth of scripture is attacked, compromised
and argued against by those who have the dialectic mind set. The
dialectic mind set is widespread and it is all over this forum, since
its in the churches.
"In the eyes of the dialectical philosophy, nothing is established for
all time, nothing is absolute or sacred." (Karl Marx)
For Transformational Marxism and the dialectic mind there are no absolute truths and no absolute morals. Everything is relative and subject to dialogue within the dialectic process, with more emphasis on relationships and feelings than on truth or morals, though those
claiming to be Christians have to deal with scripture..
The present II Timothy type Christian community (II Timothy 3: 2, 5, 7-8)
does not follow Marx in his rejection of God, but it does make use of
the dialectic procedure from Hegel and Marx and refined by several
American psychologists in the Group Dynamics, Encounter Group and Self
Psychology movements back in the 20th century.
Not being born again (John 3: 1-7) is a main reason for accepting the consistent literal interpretation of the Bible, and also for making use of dialogue (arguments) in the
dialectic procedure of Karl Marx, which tries to compromise any absolute
truth or absolute moral.
See: Biblical literalism or low IQ: which came first? - Gene Expression
Biblical Literalism and IQ, By Razib Kahn
Razib Kahn, Ph.D. University of California, Davis, 2016 (expected), in Genetics.
"Razib at Gene Expression used data from the General Social Survey for certain religious denominations and compared them to the proportion of followers in that faith who believe the Bible should be interpreted literally.
He put IQ levels on the vertical axis and belief that the of belief that the Bible is literal on the horizontal axis."
The variation in IQ mean scores for this sample of different denominations shows a range of only about 93 to 110. With fairly large samples of people IQ averages tend to be close to the average IQ of around 100 or a bit above 100.
What is literal interpretation of scripture and what is non-lireral interpretation?
Origen (184–253 B.C) made use of broad allegory in interpreting Scripture, and
Augustine followed his lead, saying, for example,
the thousand year reign of Christ in Revelation 20: 1-8 is an allegory of all the church age. Catholics and some traditional Calvinists have followed the use of such broad sweeping allegorical interepretation of Bible prophecy.
In Augustine's interpretation of metaphors, visions, and symbols in the
Book of Revelation an event that is predicted to happen in the future
is made into a broad sweeping timeless allegory. In the Amillennial
view the sealing by the Lord of the 144,000 right before the "four
winds" are allowed to blow (Revelation 7: 1) is made to represent all
the saved people of all ages. So for Augustine,and Calvin following him,
followers the 144,000 can have no function
during the period Christ called the great tribulation in Matthew 24:
21.
The over-allegorization or amillennial view is an example of a non-literal kind of Bible interpretation.
As a kind of dialectic opposition to the Origen-Augustine over-allegorization of scripture, dispensationalism went to the opposite extreme and called for something like a consistent literalism in interpreting scripture.
"Not one instance exists of a 'spiritual' or figurative fulfilment of prophecy... Jerusalem is always Jerusalem, Israel is always Israel, Zion is always Zion... Prophecies may never be spiritualised, but are always literal." C.I. Scofield, Scofield Bible Correspondence Course (Chicago, Moody Bible Institute, 1907), pp. 45-46.
"To be sure, literal/historical/grammatical interpretation is not the sole possession or practice of dispensationalists, but the consistent use of it in all areas of biblical interpretation is." Charles C. Ryrie, Dispensationalism (Chicago, Moody Press, 1995), page 40.
Hal Lindsey, for example, makes use of the dispensationalist literalist
interpretation of prophecy by suggesting in his book, New World Coming
(1973), that the locusts of Revelation 9: 3, are an advanced
kind of helicopter. See page 8 and page 141 for a reference to
Lindsey's Cobra helicopters. Such a literal interpretation destroys the knowledge given
in the metaphors of Revelation 9: 3.
Lets look at a few examples of scripture to show literal and non-literal interpretations of scripture, other than the extremes of over-allegorization and dispensationalist consistent literalism.
"I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets." Hosea 12: 10
"All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:" Matthew 13: 34
"Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." I Corinthians 10: 11
See Isaiah 4: 1, which would seem to be a simple plain text:
"And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will
eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by
thy name, to take away our reproach."
Bread is a metaphor, meaning Christ is the bread of life" (John 6:35,41,48,51,58).
Bread represents the truth of the Gospel. Christ himself and his Gospel brings spiritual life. The women in Isaiah 4: 1 do not entirely accept the bread
- truth of his Gospel - as absolute truth which Christ brings, but they will follow
their own way. But they want to be called by His name. They want to be
called Christians, but they do not want to accept and follow all of his
Gospel. The metaphoric language makes a statement different from what
the literal and plain meaning of "we will eat our own bread" would be. Apparently dispensationalism would say that Isaiah 4: 1 says the seven women literally eat the bread they have baked and wear their own apparel, but that they take hold of one man and want to be called by his name. They may not even acknowledge that this one man is Jesus Christ.
Look at Zechariah 8: 23:
"Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass,
that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even
shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go
with you: for we have heard that God is with you."
The literal or plain meaning of Zechariah 8: 23 is that this is a prophecy for the time of the
New Covenant when Christians will take hold of a Jew and say "we will
go with you, for we have heard that God is with you" because Jews of the
flesh, by virtue of their DNA, are the chosen people. But if you know
and understand Romans 2: 17, 28-29, Romans 9: 6-8 and Galatians 3: 3, 16, 26-29, you will question this plain interpretation of Zechariah 8: 23. Instead, of being a literal Jew because he has the physical DNA from Abraham, this Jew is the inward Jew of Romans 2: 29, who is one in the Spirit and not of the letter, whose praise is not of men but of God.
Zechariah 8: 23, interpreted by the New Testament, is using Jew is a way different from the literal way Jew is usually used in scripture. In fact, dispensationalism teaches that the word Jew in scripture must always refer to a literal Jew whose identity is based on his physical DNA from Abraham. Likewise, for dispensationmalism, Israel must always be Old Covenant Israel of the flesh, not the Israel of God.
There is some heavier metaphoric language in prophecy, such as in Revelation 14: 4, "These are they which were not defined with women: for they are all virgins." The plain or literal meaning of Revelation 14: 4 says something quite different than its metaphoric meaning. The dispensationalistg literal meaning of Revelation 14: 4 is that all the members of the 144,000 are males who are physically virgins, who have nver had sex with women. And the metaphor is interpreted by another metaphor, found in Revelation 17: 1-6. Here a woman represents mystery Babylon, which is false religion.
Razib Kahn got his data on emphasis on literal interpretation of the Bible, by denomination, from here:
Religion, Mobilization, and Social Action - Google Books...
The book is "Religion, Mobilization and Social Action, Anson D. Shupe and others, 1998.
The data On "Membership Growth and Literal Interpretation of the Bible" is on page 57 and in Table 4.2.
The book says the source of this information is The Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches,. Stark, 1994.
For example, of more mainstream denominations, the United Pentecostal
Church had the highest growth rate, 120, and the highest rank in
Biblical Literalism.
Then came The Assemblies of God, with a growth rate of 112, and Biblical Literalism rate of 76,
The Southern Baptists, also now dominated by dispensationalism, had a growth rate of 32 and a Biblical Literal rate of 60.
On the other hand, the United Presbyterians had a Biblical Literal rate
of 28 (low) and a negative growth rate of -17. The Episcopals had a
Biblical Literalism rate of 15 (very low) and a negative growth rate of
-25.
He says he got the IQ scores, apparently by denomination, from the
General Social Survey as reported by The Inductivist. The site,
Indictivist is no longer in existence.
But - the data that Kahn shows has to be viewed within a Biblical perspective.
The non-literal interpretation of scripture by the Episcopals does not
necessarily mean that they have more of the truth or that they have
strong faith. You can use metaphorical or allegorical interpretation
just as well as you can use a consistent literalism to teach another
Gospel - or a luke-warm approach to Jesus Christ, which he spits out of
his mouth (Revelation 3: 15-16.
What is more important for Christians is the interpretation of the finding that denominations which are strongest in teaching a consistent literal view of scripture have
members whose average IQ level is a little lower than denominations who
do not teach a consistent literal view. The interesting thing is not
that the particular denominations that do not teach consistent
literalism have more of the truth and more faith. The interesting thing
is that consistent literalism is used by dispensationalism to promote
its main doctrine - that Old Covenant Israel of the flesh without Christ
are the chosen people. And the denominations that are strongest in
teaching dispensationalism - or consistent literalism - have members
who score a little lower on intelligence tests.
And the correlation found by Kahn suggests that
the way to grow your church membership among people with an average or
very slightly below average intelligence level is to teach consistent
literalism in interpretation of scripture.
See: http://www.stanfordbinet.net/.<wbr>........"The Stanford-Binet (SB) - the best and most popular intelligence test is a Cognitive ability assessment used to measure intelligence
(IQ). The Stanford-Binet measures five factors of cognitive ability:
Fluid Reasoning, Knowledge, Quantitative Reasoning, Visual-Spatial
Processing, and Working Memory. Each of these factors is tested in two
separate domains, verbal and nonverbal."
But there is still a discernment problem in those who promote a
consistent literalism.
And as in Daniel 12: 7 the spiritual and earthy power of the holy people is scattered, which means the spiritual power of the II Timothy 3: 2, 5, 7-8 church is diminished. The salt has lost its savour, as Matthew 5: 13
says, and the Greek word translated as savour is moraino. Strong's
says moraino, number 3471, is from moros, number 3474, which means "dull or stupid,.i.e, heedless, absurd, foolish." Moraino is a condition of loss of cognitive clarity.
There is another very important mindset - other than the
literal-non-literal opposition - which underlies a failure to develop
spiritual understanding according to the New Testament. This is the
Marxist version of the Hegelian dialectic, which sets up perceptions
into two opposing parts, and in the process argues against anything that
is absolute. The absolute truth of scripture is attacked, compromised
and argued against by those who have the dialectic mind set. The
dialectic mind set is widespread and it is all over this forum, since
its in the churches.
"In the eyes of the dialectical philosophy, nothing is established for
all time, nothing is absolute or sacred." (Karl Marx)
For Transformational Marxism and the dialectic mind there are no absolute truths and no absolute morals. Everything is relative and subject to dialogue within the dialectic process, with more emphasis on relationships and feelings than on truth or morals, though those
claiming to be Christians have to deal with scripture..
The present II Timothy type Christian community (II Timothy 3: 2, 5, 7-8)
does not follow Marx in his rejection of God, but it does make use of
the dialectic procedure from Hegel and Marx and refined by several
American psychologists in the Group Dynamics, Encounter Group and Self
Psychology movements back in the 20th century.
Not being born again (John 3: 1-7) is a main reason for accepting the consistent literal interpretation of the Bible, and also for making use of dialogue (arguments) in the
dialectic procedure of Karl Marx, which tries to compromise any absolute
truth or absolute moral.
Last edited:
