the BIBLE, what do I do with it?

Humanity has had a long standing fascination with sacred objects. Things that are considered and treated extra special due to their close association with the Divine.

The Bible is such an object that fits solidly into the lineup of sacred objects, particularly for the 3 sister monotheistic faiths (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam), so much so that it has garnered the title for many, The WORD of God.

It has been a key source of inspiration for both much evil done on our planet and much love and compassion.

To greater and lesser degrees, it has found itself in the crossfire of debate and war on how to interpret and understand it.

The book pictured here has been intriguing for me of late in my journey of searching for what to do with the Bible.

Yes, I know what many people do with the Bible.
I also know what many people SAY I should do with it.
But, I continue wrestling with what should "I" do with it.

I've found Karen Armstrong's Biography on the Bible very enlightening to discover more how the Bible has developed from antiquity and how people other than those in the last few hundred years have treated and used it.

Some of the particular insights from her work are:

• Interpreting Scripture very literally is a relatively recent development. History shows that it was often interpreted and developed in ways that were meaningful to the times, not necessarily true to an author's original intent. Indeed, much of the New Testament is a "wrestling" of Old Testament writings to help in dealing with the events at hand (i.e. how to relate to this self proclaimed Messiah and the subsequent stir that He caused).
• Many documents eventually became included in Scripture not because of noticing inspiration within them, but because of how they were treated by people (i.e. used in sacred ritual settings).
• Sacred writings (i.e. Scriptures) gradually replaced the Temple as the physical location for sensing the Divine.
  
• Through the millenia, Scripture was not so much a text, but an activity-a spiritual process that introduced people to a sense of God.
  
• Scripture is not a document on history as we consider history in modern times. Again, it was a process, (that most certainly reveals elements of factual history), that drew on historical events, ancient and current legends, and the ongoing "artwork" of interpreters to make it say something meaningful about current events.
  
• Charity must be the guiding principle in the exegesis (the art of interpreting and explaining Biblical text) of Scripture. Karen tells the story of a rabbi before the time of Jesus that was asked to recite the entire Torah while standing on one leg. The rabbi proceeded to state something to the effect, "Don't do to others what you would hate to have done to you. The rest is commentary, go and study it". Some parts of Scripture will naturally lead to lessons and inspiration on this point, others will take more digging, some will teach by contrast, and, yes, some will have to be "re-worked" to promote this timeless principle.
  

If I took the time to prepare my thoughts, I could say so much more, but the last point above is my big "takeaway" from the book, which I realize is nothing new.

So, this morning I turn to a passage of Scripture to practice appling the principle above and I land on the story in Judges 19. Go read it. It may stretch your ability to see Scripture as a commentary on the Golden Rule. But then again, it may enrich it.

Karen Armstrong in a presentation suggested that much of the hard parts of scripture are actually testing grounds for us in learning to apply the Golden Rule. In other words, if we can find ways to make the evil in Scripture teach us something about practicing the Golden Rule, then maybe we can actually find ways to implement the Golden Rule on the street with those that "test" us.

my recent reads

In the last couple of weeks, culminating in this past weekend, I've read through 4 books. This is somewhat out of the ordinary (ordinary being the trend of the last number of months) considering my shelf full of unread and partially read books. Some I will continue reading, some will be finished someday, and some may never be read.

Anyway, I'm sensing a theme that runs throughout the most recent reads.

As far as I can remember, the first book I completed was It's Really All About God by Samir Selmanovic.

My takeaway: God is bigger than any one "God management system", a phrase used by Samir to define how religions often posit themselves. In the end, no one really has God captured and figured out. God is a mystery. His presence is presented throughout His creation and His image is seen in every human. Thus, we can learn more about Him by being open to learning from each other, in every religion and tradition. This doesn't mean that there should be a great melting pot for religion, but that there is an opportunity to improve our world by respecting and listening the the various ways that God lets His presence mysteriously leak through a whole host of human diversity. Truth is not always learned through concrete certainty about who God is and what He does, but through the tensions that we often experience. Just such a tension is the pull between faith and doubt.

The second book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, written by a favorite author of mine, Donald Miller, was the second book I completed.

My takeaway: Our lives are opportunities to write good stories. Donald had felt his life slipping into meaninglessness after landing huge successes with his previous writings. He was approached with the offer to help write a movie about himself. Through this process he learned about what makes a movie a good movie (i.e. a meaningful story) and wondered if those same elements applied to making one's life meaningful. Indeed, for him, they did. The elements can be summed up like this-"A character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it". Naturally, the story is better if the the thing the character wants is for the good of others and has a relational aspect to it.

The third book, Speaking of Faith, written by Krista Tippet, host of the radio show by the same name, was a book I started on earlier this year. I have been blessed by her approach to matters of faith and spirituality on the show and knew I must read her book.

My takeaway: Religion is a topic that is well known to be divisive and polarizing. Often it's either manifest in the midst of debate and argument or in the context of proselytizing. For such reasons many want to dismiss it altogether. Krista argues that religion and faith, in spite of the persistent problems both with it and associated with it, hold much potential to improve our world. We need to find ways to "speak of faith" that don't create conflict and confrontation. She emphasizes that faith is more about mystery and questions than hard certainty.

The fourth book, Have a Little Faith, by Mitch Album, I just discovered recently and when I ran across it in Wal-Mart last Thursday, I purchased it on impulse. I sailed through it's easy read by Sunday. I have read several of Mitch's other books and, again, knew this must be read as well.

My takeaway: Mitch recounts the story of being asked by the rabbi of his childhood to present a eulogy upon the rabbi's death. Mitch agreed with the condition of being able to get to know the rabbi on a personal level. So began an 8 year journey that not only helped Mitch come to love and appreciate the rabbi, but also another clergyman from his own town. The lessons about faith were similiar, but the men from whom he learned, in this case, were vastly different. One a rabbi, the other an ex drug dealer poor Christian pastor.

Mitch was inspired to remember/notice that there is a Divine Spark implanted in each human soul.

All four books seemed to tie together in the sense of speaking about matters that truly bring meaning to life.

a mixed read

The authors of the book pictured here have co-written this book (with one voice) as a followup to their previous work, "If Grace is True". The previous book argues their belief in Universalism-the idea that God will eventually save every person. When I first read it several years ago it disturbed me. I attribute this to the fact that the book both deeply appealed to me and challenged some core Christian doctrines. Anyway, I had mixed feelings about reading the volume pictured here, "If God is Love".

This book basically describes what it could look like if we truly believed that God wasn't going to destroy any of His children, but ultimately bring ALL to salvation. The authors work through categories such as the home life, religion, Christianity, money and wealth, politics, and prayer. With each topic, they artistically narrate a vision for a gracious world.

I still have trouble with the idea of Universalism, not because I don't like it, but because I like it too much. I don't feel comfortable yet that it's true according to Scripture.

However, I can certainly agree that much of "Hell" is simply the result of ungracious living and that true salvation would be where people begin to live and care for the salvation of all peoples irregardless of class, religion, race, or current moral convictions.

I found myself longing to grow to be more gracious. To be saved from myself. To see grace not just as an idea that I believe will be my "fire insurance" for what comes after this life, but to see it become the power that changes my life now in such real places as the family and bank account.

I also long to learn to view and treat other peoples and religions not as things to fix, but as other members of God's family to love.

This book, while not leaving me with comfortable theological conclusions, certainly left me with some Holy tuggings. Oh that the picture these authors paint would become an increasing reality!

church as facebook

Recently I've attended frequent church social functions and been hit anew with a very positive aspect of my church life.

Church is a Facebook of sorts. In other words, it's a massive social networking site. Now, I know many would beg to differ based on their experience. I also recognize that being a pastor in my church gives me another level of automatic social connection that not everyone experiences.

However, it remains true for me, that my church gives me an instant social community wherever I go. No community is perfect and church community comes with its load of flaws. But, to be able to enter a new community, as I did last fall, and instantly be involved in countless BBQs, outings, home meal invitations, etc is a real privilege. Even the weekly meeting event called worship, although lacking greatly in being able to provide deep levels of friendship, still allows me to connect with people and build a social community very fast.

I don't know if this excuses institutional spirituality from some of it's other flaws, but it certainly is a benefit that I do well to appreciate.

Just some thoughts...

women in spiritual leadership

The book that I discussed in the last post uses women in spiritual leadership as a prime example of how to listen and discern the Bible as story.

Scot McKnight acknowledges that there are 2 main Biblical passages, by Paul, that speak about silencing women's voices in spiritual leadership. He also points out how the predominate societal culture for ages has NOT treated women as equal to men in value, giftings, and abilities. Then, he reminds the reader of the overarching Biblical narrative that God created humans to be one with Him and each other, as evidenced in the gift of marriage. Then, with the onset of sin, men and women began to fight to dominate each other. The purpose of the re-creative process is to restore the orignial oneness with God and each other including the equality oneness of men and women.

Scripture gives us glimpes throughout history, in both the old and New Testaments, of women in leadership and prominent roles in the story of God's work to redeem humanity (Miram, Deborah, Huldah, Esther, Mary, Phoebe, Junia, Priscilla). Scot explores that although these characters don't get much "space" in scripture, it really is profound the the level of recognition given to them if one pays attention to the stories (prophets, rulers, teachers, apostles). The profoundness of this recognition is further emphasized as you remember both the cultural views of women during these ancient times and the fact that Scripture was largely written by men.

He shows that the trend of these stories of women in scripture is in keeping with the trend of God's progressive work to redeem humanity back to oneness with each each other and Him, in spite of the persistent cultural work, through the ages, to repress women.

So then, what do we do with the 2 passages of Paul's where it seems like he's calling for a silencing women? We also have to remember that Paul made the profound statement that "in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ".

Scot suggests that those two passages are like "blue parakeets" (see the previous post) that seem to interupt the flow of the trend and story of Scripture. Thus, we need to look closer at the stories of these passages. If on greater examination, they fit with the overarching story, then great. If they're an unexplainable mystery of Paul's, then we have a choice. Are we going to listen to a couple of passages that go against the trend of scripture at face value for the basis of our doctrine and practice, or are we going to look at the larger picture and story of Scripture and let a mystery be a mystery? (I encourage you to read Scot's book to see his further explanations of those passages)

Here's a couple of concluding points on the topic from my perspective.

1. I find it ironic that Adventists (my Christian tribe) have such a hard time, generally speaking, with women in prominent spiritual leadership (i.e. ordination for pastoral ministry) when the person that they look to heavily for spiritual guidance (second only to the Bible) was a woman, Ellen G. White. How do they deal with that? I guess for some it has to do with the technicality that Ellen White is considered a prophet and scripture talks about women prophets and somehow the the distinction is made that prophets are different than ordained ministers. However, to my simple mind, prophets are on a higher plane that pastors. There was nothing silent about Ellen White in public gatherings. She was a preacher-plain and simple.

2. The church needs the voice of women (which it does actually have in many circles but doesn't always officially recognize)! For us to carry on dishonoring the gifts that God has blessed the church with in women spiritual leaders (by not ordaining [i.e. recognizing] ) is only shooting ourselves in the foot. What a beautiful day that will be when pastor's meetings are populated by a balance of women and men! We certainly recognize the extreme benefit of the balance of gender in the medical field. Let's have it in the spiritual too!

living the bible in our day

Well, here's what I'm exploring right now. I'm very interested in fresh approaches to how we deal with this complex book that we call the Bible. Scot McKnight points out how, as much as many people try to deny this, EVERYONE picks and chooses what they follow from the Bible and how they're going to follow it. Literally adhering to all of the Bible is impossible as evidenced by A.J. Jacobs in his Year of Living Biblically project. Thus, the question is, "how then do we live out the Bible?"

Scot tells the story how, as a birdwatcher, he observed a blue pet parakeet that had obviously escaped his cage and come and landed amongst the crowd of sparrows in his backyard. Initially, the sparrows were alarmed by this unwanted guest. Soon, however, they got accustomed to this parakeet and even seemed to like it. But, they didn't get him to become one of them. They couldn't tame him. He was simply an unusual intrusion to be lived with and observed.

Scot likens this example to the Bible. Often, we feel that we can make sense of much of the Bible until some "Blue Parakeet" passage pops in and seems to ruffle the understandings we've put together. So, what do we do? Do we tame the passage? Ignore it? Try to stuff it back into the cage of a predetermined theological system?

To begin, we have to recognize that the Bible is a story. This story reveals God creating, the fall, and the ensuing lengthy process of re-creation or new creation. God is seeking to restore oneness in His creation between each other and Him. As the story unfolds, we see God interacting with each person and group in their cultural ways. God talks to David in David's ways, Peter in Peter's ways, Paul in Paul's ways, and so on.

Our challenge is what to do with this Biblical collage. Do we return and retrieve the commands given to any particular Biblical character as literal for us?

Scot suggests that we need to start with LISTENING to the story. Then, we need to seek to DISCERN how to live out our lives now with the guidance of spiritual community, Holy Spirit, and also listening (not necessarily practicing verbatim) to the traditions of the forefathers of our faith. Ultimately, working within these parameters, we have to wrestle to work out what it means to live out God's story in our lives today!

I think I'm finding this perspective exciting and liberating.

However, I can hear voices (either in my head or anticipating what others may say) objecting to where will this approach end. Is there nothing absolute in scripture? Is this the beginning of the end of a denomination's theological belief system package?

Well, I don't know...

But, I do think we need to believe and rely more on the same Spirit that we believe inspired the Biblical process to also inspire the process of us continuing to live forward the story of God's redemptive work in our day and culture.

prayer-naming the heart stuff

The other day I was listening to a podcast from Speaking of Faith entitled "The Spirituality of Parenting". The host, Krista Tippett, was interviewing a rabbi on the above topic. In the course of the conversation, dealing with how children are naturally spiritual beings and how to nurture that side of them, the topic of prayer came up for a few minutes. I was impressed with how the rabbi defined prayer.

Prayer is NAMING your:

Hopes

Fears

Gratitude

Thus, prayer is more than just a religious exercise. A conversation can be a prayer. A thought can be a prayer. Prayer is where the deep stuff of the heart is identified and nurtured.
It's where these parts of our soul are offered to someone outside of ourselves.
To someone bigger.
To God.

For me, I find this a practical way to view prayer.