There are more gifted writers and thinkers on the subject of the Bible than me (most notably what Donald Miller and Rob Bell have shared the last two days from their blogs). If you read those articles, you'll know where I stand, too. I've been thinking about what I believe about the Bible on and off for the last 15 years. I was just about to write it all out when I stumbled upon Miller and Bell's posts, so I am including a few quotes that struck a chord. As for me, well, here are my two cents on the topic (which will most likely keep changing over the next 15 years.)
1- I believe that the Bible is contextual; I don't think it was written with the 21st century in mind.
Rob Bell: "These writers, it's important to point out, were real people living in real places at real times. And their purposes and intents and agendas were shaped by their times and places and contexts and economies and politics and religion and technology and countless other factors."
Donald Miller: "These essays, letters, plays and poems were written to cultures that would have read and understood them very differently than the way you and I understand them today."
2- I believe the Bible is inspired by God, but so is Harry Potter and the Sistine Chapel.
Donald Miller: "2 Timothy 3:16 says all scripture is given by God/is God-breathed/is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness...and yet it's doubtful Paul knew when he wrote these words, or any of the other words he wrote, that they would some day be considered Scripture themselves. And to assume he did is to assume something the Bible doesn't clearly state."
I think the term "God-inspired/God-breathed" is very confusing and has been wildly misinterpreted. At one point I thought that this meant that it was like God hired some ghost-writers to pen his thoughts into a book. Nope, I don't think that way anymore. I agree with Miller and Bell, the Bible was written by real people, a long long time ago, with their own purposes, intents and agendas flowing out in their writing in intentional and unintentional ways. I think to assume they spoke for God is very dangerous and foolish. They wrote about their present day circumstances and issues and not with ours in mind. Therefore, I am struggling to see how we can use their values to determine ours. I am most concerned with how we as people of faith/religious institutions choose to make decisions about present day issues like marriage rights, ethics and the role of the church of which the Bible is either silent or speaks about from an entirely different time and place. I believe that the words of scripture are inspired by God and have the ability to guide and empower people from all walks of life, but I do not believe the Bible was the last medium in which God channeled God's inspiration. I think J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series was inspired by God, so was the Sistine Chapel and the movie Good Will Hunting. God inspires countless other contributions by human beings who use their gifts and passions to inform, enlighten and empower people. To my knowledge, none of them wrote any portion of the Bible. The key difference then is that when it comes to knowing, enjoying and getting to know the character of God, one of the best places to do so is in the pages of the Bible. It's not the only place, but it has a proven track-record of changing lives for the better. Personally speaking, as much as I question its authority, I cannot and will not doubt the power of the scriptures for they have changed my life and continue to guide, comfort and sustain my existence and contributions in this world. But what we seek to gain from the Bible is based largely on what questions we ask of it when immersing ourselves within it. I've found the following to hit the nail on the head:
What does this passage/story/poem/verse/book tell us about how people understood who they were and who God is at that time? (Bell)
What's the story that's unfolding here and why did these people think it was the story worth telling? (Bell)
Donald Miller: "I miss studying the Bible as a wonderful piece of God-breathed literature. I think when we turned it into a book of rules, facts and absolutes, we killed its beauty. We killed something that was once alive so we could control it and make it serve our will."
3- I believe the Bible consists of Truth, not necessarily facts.
Ultimately, I think it matters what we think of the Bible, and how we 'use' it to live our lives (I really, really do.) I care about how we treat one another, especially when we call ourselves 'spiritual' or 'believers' or 'disciples' or 'Christians.' But just because we claim the Bible as holy, I am not convinced that we have a right to make it into something more than what it was intended to be. There is nothing holy about using the Bible as a basis to judge, condemn or exclude others. When we do so, I think we've entirely missed the point and squandered the message Jesus was trying to make when he lived and died among human beings during an actual part of our history. To me, the good news of Jesus is far more important than the Bible (in other words, the focus of our worship ought to be Jesus not the Bible.) I believe as people of faith we are called to worship Jesus as the Word of God and to live out the ideals to which he taught - and not just taught, but died for (more on this in the next installment.) Jesus lived and died for a way of life which included acceptance (we exclude), humility (we're entitled) and justice (we neglect) for 'the other.'
For me, the Bible was never meant to be a fact-book or science manual or even a biography of Jesus. The Bible is a collection of 'truth-telling' literature intended to communicate/question/wonder about and create meaning out of the world. Some events really happened, and some didn't. Truth allows for contradictions, and those are okay, too. It doesn't really matter to me. What matters is how we understand what these stories convey about God and how this might help us uphold and carry out the greatest commandment to love one another with grace and humility.
I believe each person's life has the potential to be a mirror of the Gospel. Our life experiences, personality and choices all are opportunities to point to the goodness of our Creator. How we do or don't do this is up to us. Ultimately, I believe that we are in many ways God's living word(s) to one another. We are God's original masterpieces (see video below), whose experiences, intellect, actions and desires are all God-breathed and all have the potential to point towards and carry out the transformational love of Jesus.
But I could be wrong.
Comments welcome!
Up next: The meaning of Jesus' death.
