Of course, Tom - the rivers of Genesis are not found, literally or symbolically, in the Ozarks, nor would anyone accept a claim by Jack the Ripper to be acting under orders from God.

It doesn't help to use absurdity to make the argument of "limits," which, I believe, can't be maintained at all. History is full of such claims of one group or another to have found the meaning, the limit, the reality, of Scripture, but the continuing debate among millions and billions of Christians as to what it all precisely means belies the claim: kill Gays in Uganda or oppose the war in Afghanistan or support national health care or go for a privatized system of social security or speak ecstatically in worship or be immersed or sprinkled, sing hymns or praise songs, use a bulletin or not, an organ or a band and so on ad infinitum.

Sadly, what turns out to be one person's limit is often a prison for another, and a lot depends, as it always does, on those who hold ecclesiastical power.

There are limits and we find them in study and reflection as God's Spirit works out the salvation of Christ in our lives, but often such limits have a lot to do with our own personal needs and spiritual convictions. Try as we will, we cannot find the unassailable limit as to what the text means.

Sure, those who claim a flat earth or an early date for the universe have their own limits, and most of us realize the absurdity of their claims, but try and convince them otherwise.

Simply put, we bring a lot to the text, more than we like to admit, and while we might be seeking limits because we find someone else's interpretation unnerving, Scripture itself might be pushing our limits into new realms. I think that's what the Reformation was all about: Luther found the limits imposed upon him to be unacceptable. It's a fluid process, and I thank God for that. It keeps us on our toes, it keeps us humble, and it keeps us pushing ahead to the Promised Land, which might just be in Northern California somewhere east of Sacramento.