well, that is a hard question, and something that i have been wrestling with since i have taken a few religious studies courses at university (all three were from pastors of a church, so they weren't atheists trying to change my mind, just presenting the facts, so here is what i've been thinking about for the last few years, a lot of it will be things that i learned in those courses, or read elsewhere)
the bible is a collection of stories, letters and other forms of prose that were obviously written thousands of years ago, so how do we make it fit into our lives in the present?
- in my opinion, maybe it should be treated as a love story (not a self help book). a love story about God loving us so intensely that he often goes to ridiculous lengths to show that to us. (i.e. Jesus death)
- i dont think it is a biography of Jesus life, or direct, exact recorded history as we have come to know in our textbooks in
the 21st century, it is more like a collecion of stories from communities that had been passed on through the generations.
in my church background i was taught (whether intentionally or not) that the Bible was infallible, and i still find peers that i kind of clash with on this opinion, but no matter how hard i try, i cannot convince myself that this book is without errors. countless times in my university courses, i was pointed to places that would have required us to bend over backwards to prove the infallibility of this book. men wrote it. of course it is full of mistakes. "well", you say, "God inspired it, so thats why it is infallible". and yes, i do believe that God was likely with these people as they wrote, but i dont think he controlled their hands, or their minds as they wrote. it was likely these guys writing down things that they had been told or they observed while with Jesus, or people that were with him. it was oral tradition finally being recorded some 30+ years after Jesus left.
how much of the bible should we take literally? (all of it, if you go by what i learned in sunday school)
-this is probably the question that i have struggled with the most. maybe the Job story is just that, a story, not literal historical facts; a metaphor if you will. but does that take any of the meaning or power away from it? i, personally, dont think so.
- or even the words Jesus was "quoted" as saying. if nothing was written down directly from his mouth, im sure a lot of the things he said were somewhat different when the authors of the gospels (whoever they were) finally penned them.
i could write more, but this is long enough...and
to some this may all sound like im totally rejecting my faith, like i have given up, maybe even heretical. i assure you that is not the case. i still believe the Bible is alive. that it holds stories of God's intense love for us that i have missed. i do believe it is an important book, but i wouldn't say that it alone can change my life. sure, God could use it as avenue to work in my heart, but i dont think the Bible alone is capable of that, without God still flowing through it.
please go check out some of the other, more intelligent, people that have written on the same thing, there is a list of them at
tim's blog. and please join in the discussion.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Good thoughts Jeremy. I agree. To answer your question - "if we found out Job never existed would the story cease to be less powerful?" I would also say no. If there's one thing the authors of scripture and even Jesus himself seemed to be big fans of it was story/and or narrative. They knew what we still know today that the best way to communicate difficult concepts and deep truth is through story. In fact, that is what myth is. Its mankind trying to deal with and explain the harsh realities of life in a way that offers hope and purpose to the reader. I think the bible contains some myth. Not myth in the "your full of crap" sense but myth in the "here's one way I the author am trying to explain the way of God." That being said, which parts of the bible are myth and which are fact. Who knows. In some ways, for me anyways, it doesn't matter. What matters is that we never sell out and just settle, convince ourselves that we have the bible all figured out and we can now put God in the box we've always wanted him in. The day we do that is the day our faith begins to die.
You're an encouragement to me Jeremy, your passion for life, you desire to feel alive, your love for things spiritual.
Thanks for that.
John
yea for you, my friend.
couldn't have said it better myself. that's why i didn't...so in your face, you pretty much did all the work for me...sucker!
Post a Comment