"Part of the reason we find it so hard to let (the) Word reveal itself as it is rather than as we imagine it to be relates to the intellectual presuppositions that we have unwittingly inherited from our Western philosophical tradition, particularly in relation to our idea of truth."
"Within the church as much as within the academy, we have been deeply influenced by the idea that for something to be true, it must show itself in the world, opening itself up to contemplation in some way. Truth, including religious truth, is thus related to the world of objects, to the world of facts. The result is a belief that we can distill the truth of faith into various sacraments, creeds, doctrines, historical interpretations, and even scientific theories, all of which are able to do justice to the claims of these ancient writings. The Word is taken to be something (the words of scripture) that we can assess and interpret (stretching and distorting it until it becomes intelligible to us)."
"The net result is that we approach the Bible as something that can be analyzed and assessed..."
"If the claims of Christianity are not open to being assessed in this way, the only alternative would seem to involve rejecting them as meaningless, a view that was developed by the philosophical tradition called Logical Positivism... Logical Positivists would say that if someone claims that God exists but cannot be seen, heard, or experienced, then this is much like saying that pixies exist but cannot be seen, heard, or experienced, as statement that is not even worthy of being considered as true or false (for how would one go about proving or disproving it). While Logical Positivism as a philosophical system was short-lived, its influence continues to be felt everywhere we turn... It is precisely this approach to faith that postmodern religious thinkers question and critique as philosophically untenable, religiously problematic, and biblically unjustified."
As I see it, the insistence on turning the Bible into a book of facts that must be proved or disproved effectively kills our ability to have meaningful faith. The evidence of this is in dogma and absolutism that refuses to consider the possibility that another reading of the Word could have merit. It is a refusal to wrestle with, but rather an insistence on containing God.
I understand the appeal of containing God in words. I used to do it. But my heart and my faith tell me now that He cannot be contained and would much prefer that I wrestle with him over the truths I don't understand.
Why has the church so espoused a fear of wrestling with God while this concept is so deeply ingrained in the very Word we claim to have contained? And what can be done about it?
8 comments:
Good questions. Keep this series coming!
will do. I've really enjoyed this book.
Great stuff. Don't we wrestle with those we love? Don't we struggle to understand our spouse, our children, our parents? If we want to have a relationship with God, shouldn't we then wrestle with Him? After all, that's what all those folks in the Bible did, too.
Look at Jacob - quite literally wrestling with God.
What are the Psalms - especially those that David wrote? He is wrestling with the questions he has for God.
We grow in our faith and trust in God when we wrestle with the tough questions, and work to hear how He speaks to us. Otherwise it's a one way street and the "faith" becomes a checklist.
Living a checklist isn't freedom in Christ.
so Andy why do you think so many Christians spend so much time pounding out absolutes and "this is how it is there is no room for discussion..."?
Yep. I am so unable to get out of my habitually modernistic, western sense of the bible that I rarely read it anymore. There are too many voices in it besides Gods....that I can't even hear his.
Erin-
I struggle with that, too. And with being in rooms full of people who read what they want into the Bible yet have no idea they're doing it. That's a quandary that gives me no end of frustration. On many levels.
Cindy, to be honest, I don't think those folks actually know the Bible, and they probably haven't grown in their walk - or refuse to - or are simply regurgitating something that someone else told them (happens pretty frequently, I think).
I really believe that when someone actually takes the time to read, to ask the hard questions of God about His Word, THAT is when you grow.
I just think that a lot of American "Christians" are lukewarm and don't bother to actually know what God says, and completely take verses out of context, as well as refuse to, quite simply, look at the speck in their own eyes.
The lack of Biblical knowledge in this country, particularly among Christians, is appalling. And of those who may know stuff, how many of them have allowed what they know to move from their heads to their hearts?
Seems to me that in this country, "Christians" ignore loving God, ignore loving others, and certainly ignore Matt 28:19-20. Too many are focused on the "thou shalt nots" rather than on showing the love that's supposed to come out of an active relationship with Christ.
Anyway...just my measly two pennies...
"Seems to me that in this country, "Christians" ignore loving God, ignore loving others, and certainly ignore Matt 28:19-20. Too many are focused on the "thou shalt nots" rather than on showing the love that's supposed to come out of an active relationship with Christ."
That's my experience, too, Andy. I'm at a point where I'm running low on patience with it--which isn't very loving or christlike either... I long to find a good solid place where I can disagree and not become angry.
Post a Comment