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.
2 comments:
Hi!
I was given your blog by a mutual friend of ours-Dave Long-do you know him? :O)
I want to engage in conversation regarding this post so I thank you for welcoming the comments. I want to engage in the conversation because you think differently than me…and I think there is strength in a dialogue being made even if consensus doesn’t come about.
I tried to keep it short as this is your blog not mine but it did not work.
I want to say I can answer your question as to what is truth? The answer is God-which means the trinity. Truth can only be defined by the all-encompassing idea of who God is. The great I am. I encourage you, to instead of pushing off the idea of knowing the fullness of truth, to pursue it relentlessly.
I would encourage you to pursue this truth not by returning to school or by reading others who are “more gifted writers and thinkers on the subject” but by being with people who are suffering. I think we often look to the wrong people to find the truth of God. We often look to the Donald Millers, Rob Bells, Greg Boyd, or C.S. Lewis’ of our time when the religious educators were one of the most chastised groups of people in the bible. The disciples’ surprised people when they spoke because they were not educated (Acts 4:13). That was part of the amazement of the Holy Spirit. He chooses the children, the uneducated, to be his voice.
And to make a point: I agree with you in the sense that the bible was written by men, in their context however I strongly disagree with the conclusion you draw from that. You see, the truth or how I like to explain it, the authority, comes from the source. You quoted the right verse in 2 Timothy 3:16 when it notes that “all scripture” is useful. That statement is very specific to me. I would suggest to not underestimate what Paul knew when he was writing as he knew some pretty amazing things which are noted from his writing. This fullness of a group of writings is why it is different than a Harry Potter or a work of art. I do believe other works of art and writings can be inspired by the breath of God but they are not all encompassed by His truth as is the bible. If you have experience in spiritual warfare you know when you quote scripture there is authority that the spiritual, and at times physical, must follow. When I quote a scripture the spiritual world follows the instruction however if I were to quote Mr. Harry Potter or part of that work-I have a feeling the spiritual world would have a different response. The bible is truth-it does not consist of truth. I think too often in our culture we mistake the emotional response for the movement of the Holy Spirit.
As Isaiah 55:11 states, “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve for the purpose for which I sent it”. That is why I believe the Proverbs are different from my fortune cookie at dinner last night, or Psalms is different from Eminem I like to listen too-although I am not a fan of his new stuff.
My opinion on what is happening with these cultural questions regarding hot topics of today like same sex marriages, abortion, or other extremely difficult questions, is we have allowed our culture to creep into our religious academia. We want to be able to accept the ways of this world because it is more uncomfortable not to and it feels good to be “like Jesus” and find a way to explain away hard answers. I believe where we are missing being “like Jesus” is saying the truth and stating it clearly, not discounting it, and then washing over a multiple of sins with love.
Again thanks for the post as it is much harder to be the one that posts than to be the critic. I would be interested in your response if you have a few minutes. Again thank you for your post! I will look forward to more. And I won’t give you long winded rebuttals every time :O)
Hi Anonymous - Wow! thanks for such a thoughtful and thought-provoking response! I hoped there was someone out there who might be stirred by the Spirit to reply. Thanks.
1- Agreed: God is truth and yes, I agree God is worth pursuing relentlessly...however, my fullness does not depend on knowing everything there is to know. Mystery is an important part of truth, and while God is truth, God is mystery too.
2- Agreed: By being with people who are suffering, we experience truth. I believe this because of my own experience with suffering and with others. It has truly been in these times I feel God is closest to us. God is always with us, but his presence is especially "intensified" during times of suffering.
3- In regards to Scriptural "authority" - we differ. Main point for me is that Jesus Christ is the Word and The Truth, capital W & T, and Jesus Christ is alive. God's Word, revealed in the person of Jesus then is Truth and Jesus is our "authority." The Bible is God's word, lower case w, as a library of books and letters assembled and written not by Jesus Christ, but by the church, some three hundred years after Jesus the person walked the earth. These words were passed orally through communities after Jesus rose from the dead, and no one, to my knowledge, not Paul or John or any biblical authors, interviewed Jesus face to face in the flesh. And while I have experienced some powerful things when quoting scripture, I believe the power lies in the name of Christ, the divine human, not in the name of the bible per se. The Bible is the manger is which we hold Jesus. Jesus is Truth, therefore, the bible is true - not the other way around. Jesus is alive, the Bible is not. Can the bible serve as God's living words to us? Yes. Do these living words occassionally contradict? Yes. Can the Bible still be true? Yes. Why? Because God is all in all and can stir, transform and create wherever and however God chooses - in words of scripture as well as in works of poetry, screenwriters and even Eminem. The Bible is an amazing collection of stories and events which have the ability to instruct and transform lives because God is Truth and God chose to reveal Godself through it. The important thing I want to stress is that I do not consider "truth" and "authority" to be interchangeable terms. So I do not consider Harry Potter authoritative, but I do see truth in the stories. I am concerned when people use the bible as The AUTHORITY to end conversations rather than as the TRUTH to grow and grapple together through our differences by allowing for contradictions and mysteries to co-exist. Isn't that what Paul was doing throughout much of his writing? Here's the truth of Jesus, and here's how Jesus intersects with your world which is similar and different...
4- How is it that "culture" is a bad thing? Did God not "so love the world that he came to save it versus condemning it?" If I remember correctly Jesus ate with sinners like us on a regular basis. He didn't quote the Torah or the 10 commandments, but invited himself over for dinner and embraced and accepted people in the most unconditional ways. If we truly are to live lives of truth in the authority of God's Word, Jesus Christ, then I believe we are called to find ways to embody him and his words of grace, hope and love by being with and alongside the world rather than above or apart from it. Scandalous, I know...but the Jesus I've come to know and love is more about love and acceptance than about condemnation and exclusion. Thanks for caring enough to discuss this with me!
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