I feel compelled to write again, my last post seeming unfinished and, perhaps, misleading. I must stress that the issue of historical accuracy is a heavily debated issue, though perhaps not in the church. The church tends to only portray one view, and that is that the Bible is Holy and contains no error. But, many many scholars have found evidence to support both views and produce viable arguments. The only thing that anyone really knows is that no one really knows. But if we are to be honest we need to be willing to admit this. The issue that I want to address is whether or not historical and literary accuracy really matters to our faith.
The question that immediately rises to my mind is- Am I believing in something that may not be true? If I were placing my faith in the absolute truthfulness of the Bible, then the answer is yes, possibly. But I am not. My faith is in the God of the Bible, not the Bible itself. So the real question is- Does the Bible portray a God who is true? The answer to this question I firmly believe is YES.
I believe that all of Scripture is God-breathed and Spirit-inspired. God uses Scripture as his way of revealing himself to us, in a way that we can understand. John Burke, in chapter 7 of his book No Perfect People Allowed uses a good analogy to explain this.
Imagine if you as a three-dimensional creator created a two-dimensional world. You are Almighty Creator of Flatland! These two-dimensional people can move forward and back, left and right, but they have no comprehension of up or down. You can watch their every move from above, but they can't even comprehend you as a 3-D Creator 'above' watching in. You can do miracles in their world--your finger could appear and disappear. They can't imagine where it came from or where it went. Now, you could remain completely hidden, and they couldn't even comprehend your existence in another dimension. But what if you wanted to relate? If you wanted them to understand you--even love you? You would have to take the initiative to reveal yourself in 2-D descriptions, or in a form they could comprehend--because they cannot possibly 'see' you unless you pull them out of their two-dimensional world 'up' into your 3-D world. But you could penetrate their 2-D plane of existence, appearing as a flat, round, two-dimensional slice of your finger. In that form, you could help them see, not all of your 3-D splendor, but as much as is flatly possible for them to understand in two-dimensions.
Rob Bell also uses this analogy very well in his video Everything is Spiritual (definitely recommended).
Applying this analogy, it makes sense that God would use stories and writings to reveal himself. In the eras when the Pentateuch (first 5 books) and the rest of the Old Testament were being formed, the primary source of passing along information like this was through oral repetition of stories, chronologies, events, law codes and sayings. Legends and myths were also very important during this time, just as important as historical data is for us today. Cultures of this time used legends and myths to explain what they did not know (i.e. creation, formation of many languages, etc.). This explains why you can find many similar stories in different cultures and religions. It makes sense that God would also use legends to reveal himself to his people.
I also believe that God's hand orchestrated the creation of the Scripture writings. It is important to remember that God created the minds that imagined these stories, the mouths that told them, and the hands that wrote them. God's fingerprints were visible in the stories of ancient Israel. The scribes who wrote, translated, and re-wrote the Scriptures saw these fingerprints and were able to compile them into what is now the canon, so that God is revealed through the story of his people Israel. This was the purpose of writing the Scriptures.
The same can be said for the Gospels and the Epistles, though the historicity of these books is probably more accurate because their writers were much closer to the actual event. When Israel just wasn't getting it, God thrust his whole hand into our 2-D world and became one of us through Jesus Christ. The writers and editors of the Gospels then wrote how they saw God revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The writers and editors of the letters to the first-century churches were writing about how they saw God revealed in the life of the church, Christ incarnate.
The word used to describe the order of the books of the Bible, canon, means "reed" or "measuring stick". The Bible was not meant to be a chronological historical account of a nation. It was meant to be the theological story of God's love for his creation, us. All we have to do is look for His fingerprints.
1 comment:
You are wise! God is bigger than any particular theory of Biblical inspiration! As you read the works of various Bible scholars, remember that they have just as many biases and limitations as the writers of scripture. The world of academia rules out faith as an aid to understanding, but I feel that having a relationship with an author gives a huge advantage in truly understanding his work. Here are some books that I have found to be helpful: "Biblical Criticism in the Life of the Church" by Paul Zehr, "A New Kind of Christian" and "The Story We Find Ourselves In" by Brian McLaren, "Sabbath, Slavery, War and Women" by Willard Swartley, and "An Introduction to the New Testament" by Raymond Brown. Zehr and Swartley provide an Anabaptist perspective. McLaren, associated with the post-Evangelical emergent church, writes books that are hard to put down once you start reading, at least if you are a theology nut like me. Brown, a Roman Catholic, takes the work of modern Bible scholars seriously, but also sees God's hand directing every aspect of the formation of Scripture. His presentation helps us to see how the same God who worked through the experiences of the early church and can also reveal himself through the experience of our church today.
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