Do you remember when you were young, and your teacher was preparing to hand out one of those standard tests, and she urged you that if you did not know an answer to leave it blank and move on to the next question, because it was better to miss one than every other problem that came after it. The teacher would always say to “come back to it” if we had time after we completed our work. It seems that this lesson in common sense is very relevant in many different avenues of life but today I am going to speak about one in particular. Does it not stand to reason that everything under the sun has some purpose to it. Let me take the Bible for instance. It must have a purpose but that purpose may be something different depending on how you believe. Now it has become apparent to me that most of the Old Testament books are heavily influenced by the reign of the king at the time, and the cultural influences in or around Israel. You find this in how they treat their children, and women, and the literary style with which it is written. All of these things reflect cultural influence. Then where is the divinity in it? I know that it is said by some that the word of God (scripture) is the inspired Word of God, and that every syllable was spoken by God and transmitted through his Holy Spirit (like the telephone game in school). Now as inspiring as that sounds I would like to point out the obvious conclusion for the sake of factual evidence. Firstly the books were not compiled by the men and women whose names adorn each book title. They were usually historically proven to have been written by many different authors who had placed their own individual ‘swing’ on what was going on in their version of salvation history at that time. Secondly, God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient therefore he does not need to telephone game a message in order for it to be written in a book. Third, the Old Testament wasn’t written down as it was happening, and most usually did not get scribed until some centuries after the fact. The final piece of evidence that I would like to bring to the table deserves a paragraph all to itself. Many say that they believe the scriptures to be the infallible word of God. Well what does the first paragraph in the opening to the Gospel of St. John Say? It states that Jesus Christ was the word of God incarnate that dwelt among us, making every word that came forward from his mouth the word of God. But, we must now take into account the many years, and transcribers that have been between then and now. Let it be identified first that it was the Roman Catholic Church, the mother of the faith, that transcribed the scriptures originally. This means that what was included, where it was included, and how it was worded was chosen by the Roman Catholic Church. Their decisions shaped the scriptures for the rest of Christendom. Aside from the Roman Church the Bible has now been translated several hundred times into many different tongues all across the world. Now let’s revisit the telephone game, how does that work in the end? Is it not that in the end the last Person hears a message that was nothing like what the first person originally transmitted? So then do we follow blind faith on following these words that may or may not be revealed truths from God untainted by human hands, use them as a basis to strip the rights of human beings, and then make ourselves immune to the many punishments we throw around like a twisted political swing dance? Now, I am not stating that the Bible reveals nothing about God, I am stating that it reveals more about us. Just because everything that is contained in the Bible is in there because God wanted it in there, does not mean that it is in there because God said it himself. Even throughout the Old Testament, often through the mouths of the prophets, love and compassion that we know so well of our God shine forth, even if in please to repentance. The God we know as Christians is present throughout the whole of scripture, in many places he is drowned out by the actions of the human race though. And then when bad things happen because of what we have done, we make sure to ask the question why. Having asked the question why we are sure that the punishment has come from God. This speaks novels of our race. That we must always ask why? But as I said before, much of what is in the scriptures points to us, our reasons, our logic, how we have tried to reconcile divine revelation with human logic through the years, because even as a writer I must admit, one cannot write in a book what they do not understand, and expect that message to reach anyone well. Therefore, we have placed ourselves as a louder voice in much of the scriptures, laid our cultural influences bare within them, and given them human context and significance. Does this mean that God said everything we wrote, no! Does it mean that the author(s) may have made it look like God said these things because this is how they would have understood the truth in their time in history? Perhaps. Therefore, nothing but the basics are infallible. That which is the same across the board, because in order to be infallible, a thing must be unquestionable by anyone. And the first is that God is love. The second that he came to dwell among us, not simply to bare the price for our sins, but also to experience human life, and understand what it was to be human. The third that through this sacrifice paradise was opened, and that through faith in the risen Christ new life was given to those who would believe. Is all else not fallible? Can we say under penalty of God that all else is infallibly true and from the words of God? Here is the truth I have learned. God is a God of love and compassion, who desires that all men be brought to himself although they are broken vessels from the fall. Man in his vain pride developed his own political and personal agendas. These agendas made it into the scriptures and the translations of them leaving footprints in the scriptural sand that show us what has happened and why. This gives us a clear picture of ourselves, and what happens to true faith and true love when it is used to complete an agenda or political pull. Therefore, the scriptures are not infallibly the words spoken by God, they are infallibly a picture of ourselves, our nature, and where God has fit himself into it amidst our humanness. So stop throwing hate verses around to push your hateful (Christian) agendas. Be it anti-gay, anti-feminist, whatever it may be, because I am willing to wager you do not know if the one who said it was God, or man inspired by personal agenda. Mislead and fumbling through the motions just like everyone else. If we are all looking through the glass darkly at truth, then how did the saints who wrote scripture see clearer than us? Food for thought.
Posted on: Thu, 21 Nov 2013 02:07:56 +0000
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