So says Steve Tilley in one of his blog posts.
The reality is (as RevSimmy comments) that "Much of the Bible does not provide "concise, simple statements of truth" as such. Rather, it uses narrative which has to be worked at to uncover truth and which may be quite ambiguous, especially when we do subject them to rigorous scrutiny. Even the teaching of Jesus is rarely as simple as we would sometimes wish to make it.
The problem is that we make so many issues 'Christian' and, I'm sorry to say, that some of these don't help the Christian cause very much at all, but then again, we change the 'Christian' viewpoint on so many things that constancy and consistency go out of the window.
It is obvious that our faith will determine how we think about some (all?) issues and we can see how the Bible, when it speaks explicitly on a subject makes our position obvious and(dare I say) immoveable! We can decide that some issues are a matter of opinion, but what does this mean for those who seek to be orthodox when truth is a changing quantity?
In his blog, Steve says three interesting things, which he knows will shock:
1. I don't believe what it says in the Bible
2. What it says in the Bible is wrong
3. God is a liar
Of course with his first statement - he speaks of divorce and the permitting of it in church now. Problem is that permitting divorce might say this on the surface but when one studies the issue it is obvious that the whole point of a bill of divorce was to 'permit' marriage. But superficial reading causes problems (the person who told me they needed no Bible education or theology, they could suss it all was a complete nightmare).
I'd say of the second statement, that when people prooftext (i.e. take a bit of Bible and read it/quote it to make their point, even when the piece is out of context) they face the danger of making the Bible appear such that "What it says," is wrong!
Statement three relates to the fact that Adam and Eve ate the fruit and did not die. Therefore, Steve says, God is a liar! But death did become a reality for them and so it is not merely a metaphor (a smug way of often saying it's something other than what it is) but a true statement. God didn't say they would drop dead, He said they would die - that is lead to certain death.
So strike three - you're out, has to be the response to the three statements.
BUT
They highlight something very important about understanding God, His Word and how we make our choices and decide what is a 'Christian' issue though.
All food for thought!
(and that's not the end) - off to do school Christingle,
Pax
2 comments:
The Bible as we have it is a collection of texts written over a period of at least 600 years, and maybe as much as 2,000 years. Some of the texts need to be read in the light of others in order to make a consistent point of view. In other words, we all tend to find one text or set of texts which then controls how we read and interpret the others. If you take a different control, then the sense of the rest changes, perhaps ever so subtly. Most of us read the scriptures as part of a tradition - Catholic, Evangelical, Liberal etc. Each takes different texts to control their reading of the others. There is a danger that we take our own tradition and reading as the only "right" one(THE Christian position), and ignore the blind spots (and perhaps the inconsistencies too) of our own position.
With regard to your explanation of ST's point 2, I think it is much more subtle than that. Steve is pointing out that much of what Job's "comforters" tell him is quite consistent with the teaching of Deuteronomy (I don't think this is simply a scriptural example of proof-texting) - blessing and curses for obeying or disobeying the covenant. Yet the author of Job depicts God saying that this is a wrong view. What do we really make of it?
Thanks for the post - I really enjoyed ST's blog piece (obviously) and find myself in agreement with him, and see other reflections.
For me the key to reading the Bible is to expect something unexpected and to read it as if it were the first time and without baggage. Tough, but when I can do that I am sometimes amazed at the stuff it yields (and shocked by how extra-Biblical, and/or contrary to my own beliefs and the like, it might be too!).
I have real problems who open their Bibles and see rules 1 - 1,000 neatly listed - mine never works like that. I'm more sad at those who can ignore galatians six and condemn themselves by their attempts at 'correction' too!
Pax
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