In my travels and speaking, people often ask me “what do we do with ______?” questions. The blank is most often filled in with a doctrinal issue like hell, creationism, original sin, inerrancy, atonement theory, and the like.
Metaphors are powerful, because they describe and prescribe our relationships with one another with so few words. Their power lies in their awesome capacity to evoke a world. Metaphors can manifest and deepen our sense of the Holy Mystery, or they can mask and distort. Oftentimes it is a mixture. But the difference is real, and it matters.