Is the Bible about Truth?

In my last blog, I set out my belief that it was God who caused the Bible to be written. He did this in order to explain something of Himself, his method of dealing with men (and women), and to use it as a vehicle through which He can speak to us individually (even if I do not understand how this works).

Towards the end of this blog, I said that there was one element that I had left out. I pointed out that I did not use the word “Truth”. I added that the Bible is used to support various contradictory views and doctrines.

What are we to make of the fact that God inserts stories in the Bible that provoke disagreement (English newspapers would say “controversy”).

Consider the story of Adam and Eve in the early Chapters of Genesis, right at the beginning of the Bible. Was the world was created in seven days, and Adam and Eve the first people, or is it an allegory? I chose this this example because it arouses debate in some places, but is less contentious than it once was. (I have decided that I do not have an opinion on this, but can imagine either to be true.)

Closer to home, the differences in doctrine within the protestant Church concerning Baptism (child or adult) is a matter of conviction to Church-going insiders and completely baffling to outsiders. What is clear is that any one party will be able to demonstrate that their belief is consistent with the Bible and can be derived from it.

More contentious at the present time is the matter of women priests and bishops. This is a serious practical matter. If it can be put as a matter of “Sides” (like a football match), one “Side” looks to the literal writings of the Bible and the other “Side” would say that the Bible should be interpreted in the light of modern day practice and custom. (A bit more complicated than that, I know, but it will do for an 800 word blog). Again, as a practical matter and moving away from the main plot, the outside world looks on and regards the whole thing as slightly bizarre.

Whether it is “Adam and Eve”, “Infant or Adult Baptism” or “Women Priests”, “Pre-destination or Freewill” (to mention another question) or any other belief, they are discussed by the respective parties as matters of Truth. I use the word “Truth” with a pinch of irony. It is inherent in the way that we approach questions to look for the “Truth”. When we have found the “Truth”, we regard its opposite as “Not True”. (I share Martin Mosse’s view on this point – see footnote). Whether or not this is a “Western” or cultural thing, I do not know.

As if to reinforce this approach, we think of Truth as being “Carved in Stone”. One can use this expression to describe the fact that a “Truth” is eternal and unchanging. However, we often use it to express the sentiment that there is no disagreement to be had with this.

The Bible is not a series of individually true statements, which stand alone and are eternally applicable. It is not a book of beliefs and doctrines. Neither is it a book of rules and regulations, whose main purpose is to tell us what we must do and what others must do.

It is something more personal than all these things. It is a vehicle through which God speaks to us about Himself and ourselves. In John 5.39, Jesus says that the Bible speaks about Him. Click here for Link.

It speaks to us personally about God, as well as our relationship to God and our response to Him. In our concern for Truth and correct doctrine, we can easily lose sight of the fact that, if this existence of ours has any eternal meaning, then it is primarily about our own standing and relationship before God. We will not be judged on whether or not we have correct doctrine or know the “Truth”, but whether we have listened to God’s voice in our daily lives.

Finally, I refer you to Martin Mosse’s website “Brainwaves”. http://www.brainwaves.org.uk/ “Brainwaves” is a series of articles and papers, on both religious and secular topics, designed to encourage people to approach questions from alternative points of view to those conventionally followed.

In January 2009, he wrote a paper, Healing of the Church. (click on link)  

Amongst other themes, he considers some of the apparently conflicting views of the Catholic and Protestant church. This is in itself an interesting theme. What readers might also find interesting, as I did, is the proposition that opposites might both be true.

God gave us the Bible – Key Belief Number 10

This entry starts with a bold and unsubstantiated assertion. God gave us the Bible. It is often described as the “Word of God” and amongst Christians, this is one of the less disputed statements.

Exactly what the expression “Word of God” means is altogether another question, but that it is inspired by God is generally not disputed.

Amongst non-Christians, and non-religious people, the opposite is true. It is just a book. It might be regarded as a moral and good book, or on the other hand, as something designed to mislead people away from their own self-directed destiny.

However, I doubt that most non-Christians have even read the Bible. It is, after all, a very long book. (Actually, many Christians have not read the whole of Bible. Although I do not know what the percentage is, my expectation is that it is more than 50 per cent). My version of the Bible is 1,885 pages. That is a lot of pages, especially if you are really not very interested in the subject matter (and much of it is very puzzling).

It is not my intention to debate these views. That has already been done better by others, and I do not suppose that I can add anything to this. The purpose of this Key Belief 10 is for me to describe my views (without, I should add, having to justify them).

Firstly, God tells us about Himself through the Bible. We can understand something of His Power just by looking at the world and what we know of the Universe, but the Bible tells something about the character of God. This can also be a puzzle, as the Old and the New Testaments describe different aspects of God’s character that can appear to be in contradiction. But we’ll leave that question for the moment.

Secondly, the Bible teaches us about God’s dealing with men, both individually and collectively. The Old Testament, in particular, is almost one long story of God’s dealings with the People of Israel and how cared for them, despite their faithlessness towards Him. Some of these dealings are fairly harsh, and certainly uncompromising. The New Testament, however, emphasises God’s love for his People, and shows God reaching out to individuals.

For example, if we read Isaiah 36 – 39, we can see God’s dealing with King Hezekiah, when he laid a problem before God. Click for Link   (This whole story is one of the great stories of the Old Testament and I could not resist including it).

These two statements are fine, as far as they go. However, they could both be taken in an academic sense. One could study the Bible and write theses and academic papers (both of which are worthy tasks) or just acquire knowledge.  But is this not enough?

This leads me to my third statement that the Bible is intended to speak to our hearts, as well as our minds. (I use the word “heart” very loosely here). The Bible is intended to show us how we should respond and behave personally towards God, and in doing so, to change us. It was given as a vehicle for God to speak to us individually. I am not sure whether this is an undisputed statement or not and I certainly do not know how God speaks to us in this way.

Fourthly, through the Bible (and the New Testament, particular), God teaches us how we are to behave towards each other. One famous example is the story of the Good Samaritan (Go to the bottom of the class if you do not know this). Luke 10.29 - 37. Click forLink

Lastly, and therefore fifthly, the writers of the Bible frequently encourage us to read and absorb the stories and writings of the Bible. Its teaching should become embedded in our minds and souls. In Joshua 1.7 - 9 [Click for Link]  (Joshua is the 6^th Book in the Bible), God encourages Joshua, the newly appointed leader of the people of Israel, to read, learn and meditate on the “Book of the Law” (for “Then you will be prosperous and successful….)

As an afterthought, you may realise that I have left out one element in all this. Over the centuries, the Bible has been used to support a multitude of statements and doctrines, by different parts and sections of the Church. Many of these are contradictory. I do not intend in this blog to discuss how these views and opinions are to be reconciled. However, if I can get my head around the subject, I will have an attempt at this in a later blog.

Was Lack of Faith Rewarded?

In recent years, I have become less certain that I understand the point of the story of Jesus calming the storm. The bible story is well known enough and is repeated in all three gospels. I will use the story as described in Mark 4.35. (click here)

In summary, the disciples are in the boat with Jesus, when a storm brews up. Jesus is asleep, and they wake him up, demanding to know whether He is going to let them die. Jesus calms the storm and criticises them for their lack of faith. 

I am intrigued by a number of points in this story, but I will try to keep to just one of these. This question could be represented by “Were they rewarded for their lack of faith?” After all, by generally panicking, Jesus saved them; If was not the appropriate response, what should their response have been? How would Moses, for example, have reacted if he had been on the boat?

One of the lessons that is typically given from this story is that we should have more faith and trust in God. This is a good lesson. When things get tough, we should turn to God, but not in a desperate panic like the disciples “Are you going to let us die?”

One possible implication of Jesus’ criticism is that the response should have been to wake up Jesus, but in faith.  Would Moses even have bothered to wake up Jesus? The answer based on this line of thinking is “yes”.

I put forward five possible responses, including the response shown by the disciples:

1. Prayer with panic and lack of faith.

This is the response of the disciple and Jesus rebukes them for this. However, it is considerably better than nothing, has the benefit of being generally effective and has plenty of examples in the Old Testament, when the People of Israel “Cried to the Lord”, usually when they were being disciplined or punished for turning away from God.

2. Prayer with a request. This might be described as “I trust you, Lord, but I don’t like it and want to get out of here”

This has the benefit of honesty, even if the starting point is ourselves and what we want. This has a good biblical precedent in Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane “Lord, deliver me. But not my will, but Yours.”

3. Prayer with acceptance. This is trusting and also active. The question “Lord, do you want us to drown?” could be asked as a genuine and neutral question. i.e. “If the answer is yes, then that is fine.”

This is not a common experience among Christians that I know, although not unknown. Also I could not find any good examples of this in the Bible. However, I could imagine that sometimes it is the only way that we can deal with extremely difficult circumstances. 

4. “God, I do not know what is happening. What are you saying to me here? What should my response be?

That God uses difficult circumstances to challenge us and speak to us is probably a generally accepted truth. However again, the Bible does not give us many examples, so we should be cautious about this. The one example that does come to mind is from the “Book of Job”, and explained in the last 4 Chapters.

5. No response, not even a prayer, with complete acceptance. “Lord, I can accept whatever you want and whatever you do to me”. In this scenario, we do not even wake Jesus up, in which case, I guess, we drown. We don’t like this, as it is completely passive.

This is an interesting one and has the appearance of spirituality. It may have its place on some occasions, but examples of this in the Bible are in short supply. The only one that I could think of that supports this is one of the most famous verses from Psalm 23. “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” God’s presence is sufficient.

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Note: Other points which are worth some thought are:

- The disciples were experienced sailors. Why were they afraid? Whatever the answer is to this, what is the lesson?

- Did Jesus calm the storm to show his power? What is the purpose of this “Showing off”?

- Is the panic amongst the disciples significant?

- What happened to the boats that accompanied them? (Mark 4.36) (My son-in-law’s point)

He is a Jealous God (and He feels the pain)

Just in case you have been following the overall storyline, this is Key Belief Number 9.

I remember going to church as an 11 or 12 year old. Dragged might have been a better word. Our Sunday morning visit to the 10.30 service and then quickly back home for Sunday lunch, usually with plenty of shouting and screaming, probably from me.

My weekly visits to church service were disconnected from anything else that went on in my life. In fact, at the end of the service, to the extent that I prayed at all, I would say “See you the same time, next week, God”. It seems rather humorous or ridiculous in retrospect.   

But the absurdity of the statement was not at all obvious to me at the time. Actually, I do not know how it could have been obvious. Church was a compulsory event, like Latin and History. They had to be fitted into the diary, and dealt with before I could do the things that I wanted to do, such as watch television or play cricket. It was an obligation, which was dropped at the first opportunity.

And I do not suppose for one moment, that I was unique in this respect. What God made of all this, I have no idea. It could be patronising amusement, indifference or anger at the whole charade. I have no idea whether I ever learned something. I do not remember anything at all from this, although some chants from the “Sung Eucharist” still go through my head, when recalled from deep memory.

The whole thing had about as much to do with God, at least for me, as a game of cricket. God was remote and of no practical relevance. It had no relevance to either of us, I guess.

We could have had a fairly comfortable co-existence, God and I. Going to church on a Sunday these days is no longer “de rigor” from a social point of view, so I am not so sure what the benefit to me would have been. But God would have had another public supporter.

Of course, the whole thing is quite absurd. God has no interest in such a relationship. Neither would another person. “See you next week”, indeed. On the other hand, perhaps it is not so absurd, or at least many people might not feel that it is absurd. Perhaps that is how they live, in so far as God ever has a place in their lives.

It is one of my themes in these blogs that people, to the extent that they think of God at all, think of him as a kind of Father Christmas. He should do nice things generally and in particular do nice things for us. To the extent that he does not do this, then the response is “I could not believe in a God, who …..”

The Bible describes another side to God. He wants us for Himself, full-time, not part-time. The concept is not so strange, although people may find it difficult to conceive this in the context of God. The concept of jealousy in an established relationship, whether in marriage or in a partnership, is well understood and experienced by most adults. Marriage, in particular, is centred on faithfulness, rights and exclusiveness, at least as far as many aspects of the relationship as concerned. No one else, other than the one person in question has these rights.

When this relationship breaks down or one side is let down by the other side, the feelings of jealousy on the other side are easily aroused.

We don’t think of God as being jealous. I am not sure why not, but I can imagine that the word has overtones with which many people are uncomfortable. I described separately in an earlier blog, the thought that God requires us to obey him. Click here for Link.

The act of obedience can be seen in Father / Child relationship; or Employer / Employee relationship. The relationship here may be “I say; you do” and need not involve anything emotional.

But Jealousy is altogether different. God wants us for himself. This is not ownership of a thing, in the sense of “This is my car”, but in the sense of “This is my wife / husband”, together with the emotional pain when this is not returned. God feels the pain.

He wants our hearts. He wants it all. He insists on it. The Old Testament records God’s statement to the people of Israel and is the 2^nd of the 10 Commandments. Exodus20. 4-5. (Click for link). "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God."

It doesn’t get much clearer than that.

Where is the Voice?

In September, last year, I wrote a blog about the Book of Nahum and God’s judgement on the city of Nineveh. See Link  I noted that the judgement was carried out without any additional warning, and was total. I could have added that the instrument of the destruction of Nineveh was an external cause or force, as opposed to internal decline.

In that blog, I concluded that if we are still standing, and have a dispute with God, then there continues to be time to put this right. However, when God says that it is the end, then it is too late.

But how do we know if we have a dispute with God? We do not even think about Him most of the time. In fact, we may deny his existence or if we accept that there is a possibility of his existence, then He is too remote to be of relevance in our daily lives.

If this is the case, it is for God to make the move, to indicate that all is not well. How exactly He might do this could be a subject of another blog. Grumpy’s brother first blog had a crack at this, March last year, entitled the “The CommunicationQuestion” See link.   

The Old Testament also records that He sent His Prophets to tell them that what the people of Israel were doing was bad and why, what was going to happen to them and what they needed to do. What was going to happen to them was usually bad, unless they changed their ways.

Of course, it was usual to ignore these Prophets. They usually dressed strangely, behaved oddly, and told people all kinds of things that were at least inconvenient and what they certainly did not want to do. Therefore in the Old Testament, the usual response was for the People of Israel to imprison them, beat them up or even kill them, after which Israel wondered why their enemies defeated and conquered them. (Those of you who read Deuteronomy 28 will recognise this pattern.) Start at verse 15 and just keep going. See Link  

In my search on Old Testament themes, I was looking around for a prophet in today’s world. I am not thinking of those who tell us that the Eurozone is going to collapse into recession tomorrow and that more money is needed, which at the moment is everyone and every day. Rather the people who say that this is happening because God is speaking to us, and demands something from us, that this or that needs to change in the way we behave towards God and to each other.

Acually there are plenty of people telling that we are doing things wrong, and what we need to do, but few (if any) who connect this to a demand from God and spell out consequences that God will inflict if such changes do not happen.

Having said that, there are plenty of websites and TV channels devoted to Religion generally, and Christianity in particular, including messages of impending disaster. Not all are credible, but more importantly, none are read or watched by those for whom the message is needed. The Prophets of the Old Testament were public and well-known figures. The People of Israel may not have been interested in what they were saying, but they heard it and were in no doubt about what they were saying.

I am not sure if we would recognise these prophets if we were to see and hear them today. How could we? What do they look like? I don’t think that ordinary people listen to the church generally, and if they did, would they hear a clear message. Anyway, the church these days has not found a way of reaching the general public in a credible way, other than through its leaders on some occasions. Even then the message, at least as it is reported, tends to be of a social, rather than spiritual message. (The most recent Queen’s Christmas message was an exception). See Link

Who do I think these modern Prophets might be? Where might they come from? I am into highly speculative territory here. However, to speculate further for a moment, the Old Testament suggests that this would come from a well-known and respected religious organisation e.g. from the senior hierarchy of the Church of England, and would make themselves a nuisance, through persistence and consistency in the clarity of the message.

They would not be popular.

We should Obey Him

“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one God. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6.4)

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In my blog, “Trusting God”, I had tried to link “Trust and Obey” as one item, but I failed. Nevertheless, in the previous blog, I tried to deal with some aspects of “Trusting God”. In this current blog, I wanted to continue the theme by looking at the some of the meanings of Obedience to God (which, by the way, is Key Belief Number 8).

I found describing this topic more difficult than I had expected. The references to obedience to God are numerous. Furthermore, they do not all point in a single direction and many are either difficult to take at face value in terms of our daily lives, difficult to interpret or difficult to tie up with other references. Whatever they are, we have to make sense of them in our daily lives, in some way.

Jesus appears to set the standard very high. I give three examples.

“Follow me and I will make you Fishers of Men”, caused his disciples to leave what they were doing and to follow Jesus. (Matthew 4.19). [Click for link] 

In Matthew 8.18 (and following) Jesus reminds people what is involved in following Him and this does not seem to be easy either. [Click for link] 

A rich young ruler wanted to obtain eternal life and was told that he needed to give away all he owned. (Mark 10.17) [Click for link]

These references lay importance on some form of personal sacrifice and is a theme emphasised by the some sections of the church.

I will contrast this to some parts of the Old Testament. The Book of Leviticus (third book of the Bible) lays down detailed regulations for the People of Israel concerning ceremonial matters, sacrificing, cleanliness, various rules about food, what can and cannot be eaten and regulations. While perhaps of interest, these are not regarded by the Christian Church, as having any practical significance, but were taken seriously by the people of Israel then, and in the present day in some parts of the Jewish faith.

These are the two ends of obedience: self-sacrifice in following God / Jesus, or an adherence to a set of detailed set of regulations.

Bridging the Gap

In the Old Testament, the prophets make an attempt to bridge this gap or at least give a way of interpreting these. They stated that these are incomplete and that on their own, neither is completely correct. They argued that God’s commands are not difficult to follow and that a correct attitude of the heart towards God is more important than the act itself. They argued that what God required was our hearts. The action itself was not as important as the attitude of our heart towards God.

There are several such references. I will make reference to just two examples. From Hosea (Chap 6.6) [Click for Link].  Hosea argues that God desires mercy and love; the acknowledgement of God, rather than a daily ritual of sacrifice (“burnt offerings”).

Micah argues (in Chap 6.6 to 8) in a similar vein. [Click for link]. He asks a question and gives the answer: “What does the LORD require of you? It is to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

(I have added a short list of other relevant quotes from the Old Testament at the end of this blog.)

Jesus uses a combination of both of these quotes in Matthew 9.13 [Click for link], when He addresses the religious leaders of the day. One of the major themes of the Gospels is Jesus’ dispute with the religious leaders of the day, and their obsessive adherence to rules and regulations, while ignoring the important aspects of their faith, such as love and knowing God.

Jesus has a more rewarding conversation with another religious teacher in Mark 12.28 [Click for link]. Jesus states that the most important commandment is “The Lord, your God, is one God, and you shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind and all your strength.” And he adds: “And you shall love your neighbour as yourself.” The teacher agreed and Jesus said that he was not far from the Kingdom of God.

In my opening paragraph, I used the first one of these two commands. God’s first command to his people was always that we should to acknowledge Him in our hearts, as the one true God.

Perhaps this is the heart of Obedience.

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Note: Here are some other relevant Old Testament References.

Isaiah 1.11 to 17 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%201&version=NIV

Jer 7.21 and following  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah%207&version=NIV

Amos 5.21 and following  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=amos%205&version=NIV

 Ps 51.17 (sacrifice of a broken heart)  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2051&version=NIV

Personal Encounter with God

In my earlier blogs, I tried to draw a distinction between the different ways in which we can know things, whether knowing is intellectual or personal.

In “Acknowledge What WeAre” (Click for link), I finished on the note that knowing God was like knowing a person and involved a personal encounter. It may start as theoretical knowledge, something interesting, but distant or remote. It may even be knowledge that is nearer to home, but not necessarily affecting anything that we do in our lives.

When we meet someone for the first time, it is not usually possible to remember who spoke to whom first. It doesn’t really matter, unless the circumstances are awkward, embarrassing or contrived in some way. Perhaps they were accidental, like a chance encounter in a lift or on the street. However it is done, normally someone has to go first.

Initially, of course, we must talk to God. I am not sure of all different the reasons why we might do this. It might, at some point in our lives, just seem a very natural thing to do. For example, for those in a family, who go to church, it may just be something that they do as a matter of course.

Alternatively someone might suggest talking to God as an idea or a solution to a situation or problem. For example, faced with a serious problem, such an actual or potential unemployment or an important and difficult decision, a friend might suggest that praying to God for help can at least have no downside. I don’t suppose that this happens very often.   

But what about most cases, where people have no contact with someone who believes in God. In this case, the act of talking to God must either be spontaneous, perhaps self-motivated or motivated by something external.

I can suggest two ways in which this might happen.

When Good Things Happen

Something very good might happen, whether expected, like the birth of a child or an unexpected kindness, a piece of good fortune or an accident or problem avoided, because of someone or something else. In these circumstances, we might feel a sense of thankfulness, even the thought “There is a God, after all”, not in an ironic sense, but genuine gratitude.

These circumstances provide a brief period, if only felt for a fleeting moment or a few hours or even a number of days when God is not hidden from us. It might be like the parting of dark curtains or like the sun briefly appearing in the crack in the clouds. In this moment, God reveals something about himself to us, if only his existence or presence. However, in most cases, we do not consider how we should respond to this and such moments are all too brief and quickly forgotten.

When Bad Things Happen

However, in most cases, we do not recognise God’s hand in these ordinary daily events. To be honest, we generally consider someone a bit mad, if they start to see ordinary good things that happen to them as something from God. Such thoughts are generally regarded as bordering on the superstitious. God may speak gently and kindly to us, and we ignore him.

This therefore leads then into my second idea on how God might speak to us. He is left with more direct methods. I am not talking here about a punishment from God, but ways in which He can get our attention. Perhaps for years, we have had a good and sufficiently successful life. How often have we thanked God for this, or asked Him what we should do in response? The answer most likely is never or at least very rarely. One should reflect on this before complaining that God causes events to occur that we find painful.

In, “Where Would You TurnTo” (Click for link),  I thought that some great need might drive us to look for God’s help. This seems to me a very sensible response by us. This turning to God in a time of trouble is also one of the great themes of the Bible. In moments of extreme need, we are meant to turn to God. Perhaps God has even made these circumstances come about to encourage us to talk to Him. We can become resentful and angry or we can respond like the writer of Psalm 31, who cries to God for help. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2031&version=NIV

Although it seems very harsh, when God takes the carpet from beneath our feet, He will at last have our attention. We cannot have it both ways. We cannot ignore God in the good times and then complain that He has caused things to go wrong.