Reverend Gomes's "Scandalous Gospel"

Could a person who believes in God but doesn't go to church win the presidency?
I don't know. That's above my pay grade; I can't tell. I don't think that alone would disqualify somebody for the presidency. It would have to be taken in balance with everything else going for and against that person. I don't think in the 21st century we would have an automatic bias against someone who is not conventionally religious.

You've been labeled "conservative," but a lot of what you're saying is quite radical.
I think the conservative label means next to nothing. I've never been sure what it means. I think a Christian is a rather radical person, someone who's prepared to do something that has never been demonstrated to work. Christianity has been around a long time, and the world is pretty much of a shambles. One can't say look at Christianity and say it certainly works. It hasn't … I do tend to be cautious and suspicious about the newest game in town, whatever that seems to be.

Is Jesus the only path to salvation?
For me, yes. I cannot answer whether that's true for everybody. All I can say is that I'm convinced that the God who Jesus knew on earth has a provision for everybody. What I find hard to reconcile myself to is that that very same God has forgotten somehow the two-thirds of the inhabitants of the earth who don't happen to be Christian. I refuse to accept that limit on God. Maybe a sharper way of putting it is, if my God is God in fact, then God has to be God of everybody. I'm not sure how God functions as God to everybody, but because I know how God functions as God to the Christian, I have to assume God has figured out how to function as God for the Buddhist, the Hindu, the Muslim, the Jew. That's where the modesty comes in.

What do you tell people who believe that the Bible is literally true?
It isn't. It can't be. The Bible speaks in many different languages in many different styles. It would be like saying every word in Shakespeare is literally true. It can't be, of course. There's metaphor, symbolism, poetic excess. You can't read the Bible as you would the telephone directory. The apostles themselves are always confused about the meanings of Jesus's parables. The literal reading of Scripture is the most unimaginative, uninteresting and unscriptural way of looking at Scripture.

What do you tell people who believe the Bible is a fairy tale?
I think some fairy tales are efficacious and helpful. One learns from fairy tales. I don't think the Bible is a fairy tale; I think it points to profound truths. But if someone wants to read it as a good fairy tale and enter into it, they might learn something, so I don't write them off completely. The Brothers Grimm have lasted a long time. They last for a reason.

© 2007