God bless my parents for reading books. Not just because it fostered in me a love for the written word, not just because reading leads to understanding more of how people behave, feel, and think, but because reading made my parents good teachers. Both of my parents teach inside and outside of the church, so throughout my life I would hear them quote from the books piled up on the sofa end table. I made this connection early, "Reading makes you smart. Smart enough to tell other people stuff they don't know. Stuff they want to know. And when you know stuff they want to know, they'll listen to you. They'll like you." And of course, most of our lives are spent trying to get people to like us...
But really, I'm glad my parents read because I could never buy all of those books on my own. Every time I visit Michigan, some of their books vanish while others mysteriously reappear where mom kept looking all those months. During one visit, I thumbed through a book called "A Third Testament" by Malcolm Muggeridge. He covered writings from several respected Christian authors and gave it this hilariously exaggerated title. I wonder what Lewis or Bonhoeffer would have thought about it...
But I'm getting off topic, and Sarah won't read anything too long on here. The point is, I think my mom bought the book because it contained selected writings of Soren Kierkegaard. That guy wrote more in his life than most people read, so I can understand why mom wanted bite-sized portions. Admittedly, the only Kierkegaard I know I first heard from a Swedish girl commenting on Jon Acuff's Blog. But seriously guys, read this slowly, openly, and questioningly:
"The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obligated to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world?
"Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church's prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close."
It's almost disheartening to think about how true those words are, isn't it? So I wonder, does the underlying motivation of Christians to deny Biblical authority and inerrancy come from the fear Kierkegaard describes? What does that say about us as Christians if we tell people, "Read the Bible, but don't take it too seriously"?
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6 comments:
Or ... you redefine the Word to fit what you want it to be thus re-painting yourself into a corner without walls. Nice post Isaiah.
Great post. But I would personally replace the word "inerrant" with "infallible". I find the scriptures authoritative and the gospel message infallible. But I certainly don't find it inerrant
Great post though. I lovE your writing.
Hey Collin!
You're saying something I've heard from a number of people. But so far none of them have explained two things to me, so maybe you can fill me in.
First, why "infallible" but not "inerrant"? Second, why would the difference make you a stronger believer in who God is and follower of what He said with the Bible?
They're genuine questions. I'm not looking for a debate. I actually need you to tell me your perspective on this.
Thanks for saying something, dude.
I don't think everyone who rejects the notion of an inerrant Bible does so to avoid living up to the standards it represents. You don't have to believe that everything the Bible says is true in order to believe in God or to try to live according to God's will. Perhaps the reason I don't believe everything in the Bible is necessarily true is that the people who cling strongest to the concept of Biblical inerrancy tend to be the people who are least living up to God's command to love their neighbor, especially if their neighbor is an atheist.
And really, most (not all) of the people who claim the Bible to be inerrant haven't actually read it, and are really only interested in calling out things they don't like as sin because of this verse someone told them about over a round of BLTs.
It saddens me that some reject the Bible entirely so they don't feel the need to live up to its standards and others accept the Bible wholeheartedly but use it to ignore the two greatest commands, "Love God" and "Love your Neighbor."
Paul uses the metaphor of Truth as a belt. The Bible is truth, I'm sick of people using that truth to whip people with while their pants are falling down, metaphorically speaking.
Matt, you're a gem.
You can comment on here as much or as little as you like. But I hope it's much.
What do you think about the occasional Christian who believes in the inerrancy of the Bible and also reads the thing and tries to love God and others? I'd say someone who really believes in the authority of the book would give themselves to what it teaches, studying and applying every day. Giving room for grace, of course.
Would the existence of such people affect how you view the discussion?
"When men and women come into contact with the living God, the last thing they do is condemn only other people's sins." - Don Carson
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