It doesn’t matter if some medieval monk made up the whole thing from notes he took on the back of a napkin after getting drunk on the communion wine.

Gordon B. Hinckley said it in General Conference.

That makes it scripture. ;)

I wouldn’t let it bother you. Much of the scriptures that we have did not start in the form they are in. Heck, the entire Book of Mormon was heavily edited (by Mormon). No one complains about that.

A very good antedote to that circumstance is the chapter on “The Horrible Miracle of Apollonius of Tyana” in Rene Girard’s I See Satan Fall Like Lightening. Girard describes an account of the horrible miracle, which involved Apollonions getting a crowd to stone to death an outcast beggar, and then claiming that the beggar was a demon who was responsible for the troubles of the city. In direct contrast, Girard says “Saving the adulterous woman from being stoned, as Jesus does means that he prevents the violent contagion from getting started. Another contagion in the reverse direction us set off, however, a contagion of nonviolence. From the moment the first individual gives up stoning the adulterous woman, he becomes a model who is imitated more and more until finallu all the group, guided by Jesus, abandons is plans to stone the woman.”
“Our two texts are as opposed to one another as possible in spirit, and yet they resemble each other since they are examples of mimetic escalation. Their independent origin makes this resemblence very significant. The texts help us better understand the dynamic of crowds that must be defined, not primarily by violence or by nonviolence, but by imitation, by contagious imitation.” (Girard, 57)

Girard continues to refer to the overwhelming significance this story has for the Western culture, just via the presence of a simeple phrase, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” Because of the story, we hesitate to condemn because we reflect on our own guilts; we are more inclined to be merciful.

Reading Girard convinced me that even if the story was not originally in the text (something of which I am not convinced), it unquestionably belongs there. It’s not a trivial story, but one of profound significance.

Kevin Christensen
Bethel Park, PA

My question is: is this the scripture that has best helped you understand Christ? If so then I don’t really see the problem. If your answer were Song of Solomon then maybe I’d have a different answer.