Revelation and "Sunrise"

Maybe God teaches the human race in something like the way our parents taught each of us -- gradually, in an on-going process.

Consider how we first learned about night and day as children. Adults, of course, know how that actually works: The earth rotates in space, and consequently any given area of the planet moves in and out of sunlight on a 24-hour cycle.

But is that what our parents first taught us when we were toddlers? I doubt it. No, our parents probably used more "developmentally appropriate" language -- they told us that the sun comes up in the morning and goes down at night. Then later, when we were more capable of understanding, our parents and teachers explained to us what really happens.

* * *

If you want to be technical about it, our parents were deceiving us. After all, we've known for hundreds of years that the sun neither rises nor sets.

But does anyone get upset about the deception? I doubt that too. Toddlers are just too young to understand the astronomical truth, so parents initially explain it to them in terms they'll understand.

And let's not forget that we still use expressions such as "just as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow." Such language indeed expresses truth. Technically it's incorrect, but it's perfectly acceptable as a figure of speech -- as long as we don't forget there's more to it than meets the eye.

Maybe at any given time, God reveals only a selected portion of truth to us, just as our parents did. Those who are gifted with his revelation express it as best they can, using language of their time and place.

So perhaps some of the expressions in Scripture and the creeds are in the same category as "just as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow."