THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK.
Revd. Peter watches a TV programme.
Just the other day I stumbled across a TV programme presented by Sir Simon Schama. It presented a very young Simon in his first foray into Television presenting. Entitled ‘Landscapes and Memory’ it is based on his 1995 book. Simon Schama is a noted historian and his first programme in the series looked at Forests. Following this he looks at seas, rivers, and mountains
One trap he fell into talking about forests was a reference to the Fall of Mankind, saying this happened when Eve took the apple. The Genesis account makes no mention of what the fruit was – popular
thinking always states an apple.
Of course, in a way, it doesn’t really matter what the fruit was – Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Perhaps it was a fig tree -after all they covered themselves with fig leaves. Simon Schama refers to a mediaeval painting where Jesus is Crucified on an apple tree - thus putting right what Adam and Eve had so disastrously got wrong. Again, that artist painted what was never stated in Genesis. The cross was plain old cut wood.
There are other stories which folk down the centuries get wrong about Biblical facts. Take the case if Jonah. No whale is ever mentioned, but just a large fish.
What is important about these examples, and others I am sure, is that God is the Creator of all our World and it’s important to get the facts straight when we talk of what the Bible tells us. It’s a Fact that even TV historians sometimes get the Biblical facts wrong.
© Revd.Peter. 2024.
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