Ok, I can probably take a crack at this, I am a non-literalist in that I do not view any particular copy of the Bible as Infallible, I view it as Sufficient.
As an example of that I might put forth the NIV translation of a particular scripture:
20 Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied,
“The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, 21 nor will people say,
‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
vs. the King James
20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come,
he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there!
for, behold, the kingdom of God is
within you. (emphasis mine)
These 2 translations render very different meanings. The first is sort of "ho-hum, here I am dummies, geez yer kind of blind". The second (for me) carries some personal and life changing implications when I think about it, especially when combined with the Lord's Prayer:
"Thy Kingdom Come (within me), (then) Thy Will (will) be Done, On Earth as it is in Heaven"
There are other things that I have noticed, apart from differing translations and I'm sure you are familiar with many of them. I think the different accounts of who went to the tomb first in some of the Gospels, how did Judas die, etc. I've heard these explained with some hand-waving from time to time by literalists. I'd rather do away with the hand waving, and stop attributing infallibility to it and simply ask the question - "is this Sufficient? For Me? Is it enough to make me look for God? Do I meet Him in these pages? Did He originate it? What was He trying to tell me?"
I am a literalist when it comes to the Resurrection, the Virgin Birth and the Nicene Creed. These things were preserved by the early Church whose Bishops were apostollically descended in direct line from the original Apostles and eventually assembled the stories into the Bible that we know (more or less) today.
So, for Biblical non-literalists, what makes the Bible special?
Similar life lessons and messages can be found in other fictional
or pseudo-fictional narratives and stories.
What makes it special... "Something" happened. Something happened to cause this book to be here now in my hands 2000 years later. This book tells the story of that Something that happened, and a little bit of what happened later. In the Old Testament, it tells the story of what went Before.
For us, it is a Historical happening. And everything happens for a reason.
It really comes down to, do you believe in the Resurrection? Because, if you do, you are living in a COMPLETELY different world from the one before. You are either living in a world where a man gets crucified and comes back to life 3 days later, or you are not. These are 2 different worlds.
And (spoiler alert) it wasn't just any man. In these 2 different worlds, in one of them, God is directly present for a specific purpose and sets something in motion. In the other, you have the world's largest hoax.
This book tells the stories of those that observed, and what they were told, and what happened after and it's enough to take you to that other world, if you want to go there, and if you are called to go there. It's a record of the contact between God and His Creation. And it's the best one we've got.
1 John 1:1-5
Is it infallible? Completely complete? Probably not. Jude 1:9 references a story, Satan contending for the body of Moses. That story isn't even in the Bible.
But is the Bible Sufficent? For me, yes. I traced it back to where it came from and found the Church that assembled it. I'm not certain it was meant to be used apart from them, I think they were meant to be used Together. So, more help. Suddenly I have the traditions and interpretations from the early Christians available to me. I can see what they thought about what they assembled. This is the path that I was guided to.
Jeremiah 29:13 "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart."
It got me seeking. It's the door to Christ and to faith. It is how we get to know Him. And, curiously enough, ourselves.
If a pastor took a non-Biblical work of fiction and used it to drive home a "biblical truth"
would that be acceptable?
It depends on the context. In my church I don't think that would ever be done, although my priest might make use of a cultural references in his sermons that most of the congregation would be familiar with? In general though, the Bible should be the one source of reference that the members of the Church are all familiar with (or getting familiar with). Services also are a form of Worship pointing to Christ so referencing something outside of Scripture or pointing elsewhere would be strange.
Outside of a formal church service, perhaps. There are many fundamental lessons that could be
drawn from other characters and novels but you have to keep in mind that for a Christian, Christ is the fullfillment of All. I think perhaps in talking with someone where a mutual cultural reference
was known, but the Gospels were not, you could point out within the cultural reference where
the attributes of Christ or biblical truth were present.
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde could be one example; it's a favorite of mine and
it contains 'truths' about moral character that I would say I learned the hard way. But I wouldn't present it in a Church sermon. If I had a friend who wouldn't read the Bible and didn't understand why I found God important in my life or why I stopped drinking, I might give it to them and say 'it was like this for me.' Jekyll never finds Christ though. It's a horror story that ends in a suicide. What he finds is that he is powerless to escape his own evil.
“And this again, that that insurgent horror was knit to him closer than a wife, closer than an eye; lay caged in his flesh, where he heard it mutter and felt it struggle to be born; and at every hour of weakness, and in the confidence of slumber, prevailed against him, and deposed him out of life.”
― Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The story though, can be a bridge
compare with
Romans 7:14-25
From other stories you could maybe make some better people, or you could make activists. You might even make fine upstanding citizens. But you need to understand that the goal of the Church is not to make better people, it is to make and strengthen Christians. You can't do that with stories of Harry Potter or Spider Man. They may be inspiring, but they will never be worshipped. They may have admirable characters, but they don't bring spiritual life. They may be heroes and emulating them to the degree that they are Christ-like may be a good thing... but why shoot near the mark when you can aim directly for it? Especially in a Church.
"With great power comes great responsibility" ~SpiderMan
"From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded" ~Luke 12:48 (partial)
Also, Spider-man didn't die on a cross 2000 years ago to get my attention and offer me redemption
from my own evil and his own Spirit instead of mine. He didn't influence 2000 years of history and
carry his Spirit forward in others to meet me. You need to understand that Christians, true Christians
are more than just 'followers of Christ'.
John 1:12-13
There was more on the table. And that's why the Bible was special, and fictional stories of other
characters won't do. We aren't trying to become 'good people'. We've given up on that. We are giving ourselves over to become something different entirely, to let Christ grow within us. We are handing over the keys to the Kingdom.
As far as To Kill a Mockingbird goes, it is a great movie and it illustrates the evils of racism. But all that is simply summed up in "Love thy neighbor as thyself," which will end racism once and
for all entirely, the day it is followed
Anyway, I do hope I've answered your question
