Bible Symbols in the Wild
The reason that so much of the Bible goes right over our heads is our inability to read the characters of its wonderful “language of light.”
In Steven Spielberg’s 1977 movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, after a run-in with a UFO on the road, electric lineman Roy Neary cannot get the image of the Devil’s Tower out of his mind.
Maddened by his new obsession with the striking, solitary, rock formation that looms above the surrounding countryside in north-east Wyoming, he distractedly uses a fork to recreate it out of mashed potatoes at the family dinner table.
Finally, he notices the distress that his behavior is causing to his wife and children, so he says, through some tears, “Well I guess you’ve noticed something’s a little strange with Dad. It’s OK. I’m still Dad. I can’t describe it, what I’m feeling, and what I’m thinking. This means something. This is important.” Roy has been “spoken to” about something that cannot be contained or explained in words, so his hands have to do the “talking.” He goes on to construct a much larger scale model that dominates the living room. Eventually, his feet get involved as well, and, along with many others who have been “called,” he makes the trip to the ominous granite “tower.”
In order to understand the Bible, we must learn God’s language.
Man makes symbols because Man was made in the image of God, and God makes symbols. God and Man both use symbols as a means of communication. This is why the Bible was not only written in the figures of human languages, but also conveys information in a visual or “cinematic” way that transcends the limits of speech.
