For example, they misread Revelation 19:15, where Jesus, in a blood-stained robe, "strikes down the nations" using a sword; they fail to notice that the sword comes out of his mouth--a rather unmistakable case of symbolism to a reasonable adult reader, I would think, unless he imagines Jesus actually thrashing his head around, slinging a sword between his teeth like a giant cigar of mass destruction.
...Jesus' "striking down the nations" with a sword "coming out of his mouth" has a different meaning. Jesus' word--the unarmed truth of the gospel of the kingdom--is the force that overcomes the "kingdom of this world", the dominant system, the suicide machine. It conquers not with physical weapons but with the message of justice (Revelation 19:11), and the blood on Jesus' robe is not the blood of his enemies, but his own blood (12:11, cf. 5:6).
Now, read the passage for yourself.
19:11 And I saw the heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and he that sat thereon called Faithful and True; and in righteous he doth judge and make war.
19:12 And his eyes [are] a flame of fire, and upon his head [are] many diadems; and he hath a name written which no one knoweth but he himself.
19:13 And he [is] arrayed in a garment sprinkled with blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
19:14 And the armies which are in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white [and] pure.
19:15 And out of his mouth proceedeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty.
19:16 And he hath on his garment and on his thigh a name written, KINGS OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
19:17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in mid heaven, Come [and] be gathered together unto the great supper of God;
19:18 that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and of them that sit thereon, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, and small and great.
19:19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat upon the horse, and against his army.
19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought the signs in his sight, wherewith he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and them that worshipped his image: they two were cast alive into the lake of fire that burneth with brimstone:
19:21 and the rest were killed with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, [even the sword] which came forth out of his mouth: and all the birds were filled with their flesh.
How...unlike...the McLaren jesus is the Jesus we are shown in this passage. And I hope I may be excused from being "a reasonable adult reader", but I don't think that one can cry "Symbolism!!!" over all of that.
I have to admit, it takes some...audacity (not an accidental word)...to try to spin this verse here...
19:15 And out of his mouth proceedeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty.
...to mean what he wants it to mean. I mean, really, rod of iron, treading out the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God, whodathunk all that really means...
...we have a poetic description of the way the gentle First Coming Jesus powerfully overcomes through his nonviolent "weakness" (cf. I Corinthians 1:18-25), a prince of peace whose word of reconciliation is truly mightier than Caesar's sword.
Or even how this verse...
19:11 And I saw the heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and he that sat thereon called Faithful and True; and in righteous he doth judge and make war.
...could come to mean, in his mind, this...
It conquers not with physical weapons but with the message of justice (Revelation 19:11)
..., but maybe that's his way of dealing with the idea that anyone, even Christ, can "...in righteousness...make war." He would, after all, have to try to explain it away, to preserve his ideas about such things being evil and wrong and how Jesus really doesn't do that type of thing, or at least his jesus.
Because aren't those ideas more important then what the Bible really teaches?
I can't say what it will look like that Jesus has a sword come out of His mouth. Even given that the sword comes from His mouth, that may not mean it stays there, but He takes it in hand for combat. At any rate, McLaren's reinterpretation, basically an attempt to make the text say the exact opposite of what it's saying, doesn't hold. To make a passage about God's wrath and judgment try to mean some kind of "poetic description..." is funny, but rather nonsensical.
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