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| what do you believe about the Bible? |
The title of the column was "Too many turn the Bible into God." At face value, I agree with the title of his column but my agreement with his positions cited pretty much end there. We are not supposed to worship anything but God but I do agree that some elevate the Bible to be essentially a "god" in and of itself. I will not attempt to take a point / counterpoint approach to the various positions in his article.
Thompson states that he has never wavered from his belief in Jesus Christ. He further states that we must love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. No argument there. He goes on to say "However, we are also called to love our neighbor as we love ourselves." I'm not sure why he felt the need to include the word "however" unless he believes that somehow we are getting Part 1 right but not doing so well with Part 2. Better yet, Jesus himself called these "greatest commandment and second greatest commandment." I might argue that unless we are doing part 2, we are not really doing part 1 either. Maybe you could say that Part 1 is to tell God you love Him, Part 2 is to show God that you love Him...how? by loving others. I should point out that my only knowledge of Jesus' response to the question that generated the answer about loving God and loving others is what I read in the Bible so, is this point up for debate?
Three of his comments bothered me:
"It is a book about God that was written, translated, and canonized by the same men who in turn declared it to be the actual Word of God."
"Moreover, I believe that sometimes the Bible is wrong."
"I do, however, believe that in the end every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess. That, in essence, is universal salvation, but the very idea is offensive to so many in the church."
I do have some questions for Lt. Col. Thompson...maybe his answers would help me better understand some of the points he makes.
Do you believe...
That Jesus is God? Do you accept the traditional understanding of the Trinity?
What was the purpose of Christ's death on the cross? Was it to pay the penalty for my sin (and yours?)
Was there any significance to the shedding of His blood?
Was Jesus raised from the dead? How and why?
What is your definition of grace? of salvation?
What happens when we die?
How would you define the "kingdom of God?"
Do you believe that some part of us (our soul, spirit??) lives on for eternity?
What is your understanding of heaven?
Do you believe that there is an eternal "place" commonly referred to as hell?
If I "confess with my mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead"...what then? If I only do that after I die, what then?
If not the "Word of God", what then is the purpose (if any) of the Bible?
If not from Scripture, how do you know what you know about Christ and God's intent for our lives?
How do you interpret Christ's answer to Thomas "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" as recorded in John 14:6?
I probably have about 100 more questions but I'll start with these. One of the issues that I have with those that are critical of the more "traditional" understanding of what the Bible is, who wrote it, and the issue of its trustworthiness is that, after stating their position, they don't seem to go on with answering the question "what's your point?"
During my years as a youth Sunday School teacher, students would frequently say that they did not believe what a particular passage of scripture said. Doubting that the student was so proficient in either Greek or Hebrew and he/she was disagreeing because the English translation was not accurate, I would ask why the student didn't believe what it said. If it was a supernatural account, certainly it might be that the student didn't believe that the passage was to be taken literally. OK, why not? Do you think it is not possible that what was described could have occurred? If not a supernatural event, the most common answer I would receive is "I just don't think God would do that." Why not? Eventually it might just end with that same answer. The student's understanding of God, God's love or God's "fairness" would ultimately prevail for them and, if it was at odds with a particular passage, that passage may be "disregarded." OK...I understand. I believe that scripture should be viewed through the lens of Christ.
Some would argue that one of the reasons that the church has seen a decline in attendance and perceived relevance is fundamentalism...others would say liberalism. Yes, I agree.
I don't have all the answers. But I continue to seek them. What I do know is that I have a personal relationship with a person by the name of Jesus. He is my Lord. I trust in Him. He loves me and I love Him. I want to live my life in accordance to how He lived His and how He has told me to live. And I rely on prayer, reading the scriptures and the presence of the Holy Spirit to know how to live and love. And I believe those scriptures to be trustworthy. When Paul spoke to the people in Berea, the Bible says "now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." (emphasis mine) (Acts 17:11) Notice it wasn't the other way around. I think the Bereans got it right.
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