can i be a christian while not taking the bible literally? October 16, 2009
Posted by relsdork in God, bible, christian, religion, scripture, struggle.Tags: bible, christianity, faith, literalism, scripture
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I am living the Bible, but I am living it differently than many Christians. A lot of people create a false dichotomy between biblical literalism and humanism. I do not believe that the Bible is the Word of God in the sense that it is dictated either directly or indirectly to individuals from God. I do believe that the Bible is the Word of God in that it describes a history of people seeking God and describing their experience with God. I claim a profound connection with the Bible and find it to be the paramount scripture by which I can relate to God. However, it doesn’t mean that I think it inerrant or beyond critical inquiry. I don’t believe that God zipped God’s lip the day that the last book of the Bible was penned or that the Bible is homogeneous enough to somehow gain a definitive vision of God from its pages. It is because of the relative views of God presented by different authors in different books of the Bible that I don’t believe we can quote scripture in ways that many do, nor can we derive seemingly “If A + B then C” ideas from scripture… the Bible is too diverse to not be seen as a whole.
I believe that Jesus was more closely aligned with the Will of God than any other being who’s existed and therefore seek to understand his Life and ministry as best I can, since I believe his vision of God to be paramount to all others in the way that it compells me to live.
While I am slipping into a somewhat relativistic position by making these statements, I would suggest that all biblically derived beliefs are necessarily relativistic to some degree just by the very nature of the Bible, which is by no means completely uniform in its descriptions of God. I am not going to tell anyone that I am doing things right and that they are doing things wrong (thereby assuming that my interpretation is more in line with God’s will than others’), but I do have faith that that is so. I have faith that I am endeavoring to live out the Bible as best I can and that I share a connection with God and am working God’s will in the world. I also understand that other Christians believe this as well, but that we are cleary getting different things when we read the Bible.
I most certainly take the Bible more seriously than reducing it to a nice story or poems with morals– but obviously my approach to how I can best take the text seriously is different than many Christians’. My attempt is to learn the languages these texts were originally written in, learn about the historical backgrounds of the people described in the text, and seek to understand the many layers of meaning that are available through experiencing the Bible. In that sense, I am not at all trying to make the Bible say what I want it to be, but am trying to best understand what it meant to those who wrote it down and why it made sense to them, given their context. A lot of people don’t like to involve academics with their scripture, but I strongly believe in doing so. It is my belief that the Bible should be studied from every angle possible.
It is precisely my study of the Bible and my experience of God through study and worship that has brought me to the way that I live out my faith.
absolute truth claims August 15, 2009
Posted by relsdork in God, christian, religion.Tags: absolute truth, christianity, elective monotheism, evangelism, faith, God, missionary work, religion
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Humankind has endlessly been struggling to understand God, so I think it quite offensive and arrogant to shove one’s personal religion in the face of someone who is quite happy with their own. Really, if a Muslim came up to you and read you some stuff from the Quran and told you that you were stupid for being a Christian and that your morals were bankrupt and would land you in hell unless you were willing to claim Mohammad as the paramount prophet, how responsive would you be?
It’s ridiculously naive to think that any of us, especially those of us who are not fluent in the original languages of the Bible, can truly understand its message, especially now that we are some 3500 years after much of it was written and completely absent of the Bible’s original context. Of course we have endeavored to find the historical context of these writings, but so little is available to us. Even for those scholars who can read Koine Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic, it’s incredibly difficult to discern what kinds of intricacies and poetic structure was used in scripture, what kinds of allegory, puns, metaphors, etc. that simply don’t translate into English or the year 2008.
One of my goals as a Christian is to faithfully embrace the mystery that is God. While I seek to understand scripture as fully as I can (I am majoring in Comparative Religious Studies, learning Ancient Greek, and intend to enter seminary), I will never be able to define God or God’s will in any kind of certainty… I can only have faith. Therefore, I should be respectful of whatever faith claims other people have, so long as they are not damaging anyone, imposing themselves on others, or interfering with my faith practice.
what is religion? October 3, 2008
Posted by relsdork in God, christian, church, religion, struggle.Tags: christianity, faith, religion
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I would say that religion is a system of beliefs and values one has that are related to a history and, most often, a community of others who hold similar beliefs and values derived from that shared history. I would argue that religion is one’s dominant paradigm, whether or not that paradigm can be categorized under the traditional understanding of “religion” Therefore, political views, atheism, etc. can be considered religions. One’s religion is, more simply, whatever worldview most inspires one’s morality, values, beliefs, and practices.
did i seriously learn something from ‘hancock’? July 5, 2008
Posted by relsdork in christian, religion.Tags: christianity, eden, faith, hancock, jesus, potential, religion
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Imagine if in the Eden story, God had handed Adam the fruit and said, “You’re going to eat it anyway. Now get the hell out of here.”
Tonight I went to go see Hankcock with my dear Florencita. Honestly, the movie could have been better, though it was entertaining. The relevant part of my movie-viewing is something that kind of hit me as I was watching the movie. Just a look. A look someone can give you that says: you are not good enough.
Now, I come from a middle class white family, so I can’t even begin to understand how often other people in the world must get this look, but I think that this look is a sad deficiency of those who give it. Whatever insults people throw around, the look in your eyes will always mean more. It’s why saying “I love you” is of little value if your eyes don’t convey it honestly.
Hateful looks might be scary, but they are about the anger of those giving them. When you look at someone like “you are not a good enough person,” it’s a judgement. Who wants to get up in the morning knowing that people will look at them this way? Who wants to look in the mirror and know that the face they have to wear every day is one that people see only failure in?
This is both a flaw and strength of my character: I cannot believe that people are bad. I can’t. I can’t believe in evil. I can’t. I will never believe that if Osama bin Laden or Hitler had been raised in my family, had been given whatever therapy or medications they needed, they would not have turned out the way they did. I cannot believe that anyone is truly evil. I believe in people with disorders and problems; I believe in people who’ve been abused and mistreated; I believe in people who’ve suffered too much to be compassionate– I cannot believe in evil. I cannot believe that these people go through their lives feeling the way you or I do– I think these people carry enormous amounts of pain (whatever variations and forms these pains come in). While I realize that this results in a certain naivety (Joliene gets cheated on, Joliene gets hurt, Joliene gets lied to), I maintain that it makes me a better person, because I will never give anyone that look.
When you put trust in people, they are statistically more likely to behave more trustworthily. Why is this? It’s for the same reason people are more likely to steal from strangers or companies than their family– no one wants to betray an image of worth. Everyone likes feeling like a good person, right? The moment people start treating you like you’re not one, what do you have? I mean, if people think I’m a jerk, I might as well reap some of the benefits of “jerk.”
Just like animals can tell when you’re scared or angry, so can people read how you look at them. Eventually, just as an animal will believe that there is something to fear when you are scared, a person will start to believe the image you project onto them. How much more likely is a child to succeed in school if their parents say, “you can do it!” or help them, knowing they can do better– or even yell at them, insisting that they can do better, than if their parents tell them they’re stupid?
I believe in a God of process, and because of that, I believe that in any given moment, in any given person, there is a chance to be living better, more meaningfully, more in line with the dao. I believe that in any given moment, a person has potential for good. A goal I have for my life is to embody that– to treat others as shining visions of God. That begins with the way that I look at people. It begins with communicating that I see in them beauty and inviting them to feel comfort in the beauty of their skins and character.
Imagine if Jesus hadn’t died on the cross. Imagine if he’d said, “you’re all just going to keep killing each other anyway, I might as well go home.” If he’d defended himself that day, if Jesus hadn’t believed that people could be redeemed and died for that belief, no one would be talking about him. If Jesus hadn’t invited prostitutes and tax collectors to dinner, if he hadn’t called those who claimed piety hypocrites, his ministry wouldn’t have been radical. Redemption is not for the apocalypse. Redemption is now.
Our beliefs don’t move mountains literally, but they can completely change people. When I look into peoples’ eyes, my goal is to see my mother. If I can truly do that, I’ll never make anyone feel like they’re unworthy.
Jesus never treated anyone like they weren’t capable of being better, like they didn’t have a light to bring to the world.
He invited them to dinner.
