I am going to be posting about my individual perspective on topics too deep to confine to one post. I want to state a few things beforehand so no one is confused or gets caught up in something minor. While these are my views, I have been influenced by many individuals and while you might disagree, I see my views as compatible with Christianity of which there are many different traditions and translations. I am writing this series for many reasons, but mostly to clarify my beliefs for myself, and to explain why I differ from more evangelical (for lack of a better word) expressions of Christianity if I do. In the age of "hot takes" and divisiveness when it comes to opinion, I hope to write in a way that doesn't demean those who believe and/or feel differently. If you should read this and feel I misrepresent something, please leave a comment or if you know me feel free to discuss via social media. I do not see my views as absolutely true necessarily: I could be wrong. Only God knows all and my intention is to characterize myself and my perspective as humbly as possible. End long intro rant.
Part One: The Bible
I could have started this series many different ways, but ultimately whether you decide to identify as a Christian or not depends a lot on how seriously you take the Bible to be. I don't care to go into a deep history on how the Bible was formed into what it is today, but suffice it to say while there is disagreement on the authorship of many books of the Bible and the authority the Bible has, people seem to recognize that the Bible wasn't written all at one time and that the books come from different eras, cultures and places, etc.
How you interpret the text says everything about what you believe about the Bible. Some people dismiss it completely and don't believe God had anything to do with it and on top of that believe there is little to draw from historically. Some believe that we can learn about the cultures and civilizations and eras that the Bible emerged from, but treat scripture largely as myth. On the other end of the scale there are those that believe scripture is "God breathed," a literal history of the world and every verse is to be taken seriously. Then there are those who feel the Bible is "perfect in its purpose," but since there isn't consensus on the Bible's purpose, I've heard this said by many different people who would hardly agree on the purpose of the Bible. The Bible may indeed be perfect in its purpose, but sometimes we say this to keep from addressing the parts of the Bible we don't like or that challenge us.
So what do I believe about the Bible? I believe the Bible is about human kind's relationship with God. Furthermore, scripture is unique to me because of the story of Jesus: His life, death, and resurrection.
I do not believe everything in the Bible happened literally. I do not think that the historicity of ancient narratives or the lack thereof diminishes from the greater truth behind those narratives. Let me clarify on this with a couple examples: I do not believe the earth was created in 6 literal days. When it comes to Genesis, the creation narrative, and Adam and Eve, I don't believe these things had to literally happen to diminish from the truth that is in the stories. What is that truth? The origins of the universe, the world, and humankind go back to a divine creator, and the creator is interested in a relationship with us. Some would disagree heavily with that point of view, but in my view the origins of Genesis are oral traditions written down by people who were more concerned with the truth of a story than of its historical accuracy. I believe no one knows how the earth was created, and to say you do is blasphemous.
The other example is that of Jesus in scripture. I believe that Jesus existed literally and historically. I believe that the gospels are generally true, but again context is crucial: The people who wrote the gospels were not as concerned with accuracy as we are today, thousands of years later. I'm not saying it isn't legit to wrestle with the Bible and ask if Jesus really said this verbatim, or did this event happen exactly in this way, but I find it absurd that for some it undoes their whole worldview to take even one verse in a non-literal way.
To sum things up, I think the Bible says as much, if not more, about the authors of the Bible and the world that they live in as it does about God. I don't read the Bible giving equal authority to all parts: I think Jesus' life and teachings are most important when I wrestle with certain parts of scripture and I give more authority to the New Testament than the Old. I do not think God has changed, but the view of God and our understanding of God and dare I say our relationship with and to God have all changed because humans have changed.
I do want to add one caveat in conclusion: While I call these "my" views, I have not come to these conclusions on my own. One critique of "my" position is that I am "recreating God and scripture in my own image." I want to respond by saying that I am indeed guilty of this; we all are! I am no doubt off the mark to varying degrees with many of my viewpoints, but I believe it to be blasphemous to claim to know exactly how the earth was created and where we go when we die and to judge people by our own litmus set of beliefs and to claim it is God. Life would be so much easier if we would approach the Bible and our beliefs humbly no matter how strongly we feel about our own interpretations of scripture. And that goes for everyone, because I've seen superiority complexes in all beliefs. A safe rule might be to not substitute knowing for believing.
God bless and please let me know where I went wrong,
adieu until Part 2!
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