So any exam period here is incomplete here at college if there were no religious discussions. I would like it if there were days I could just kick back with a few people and talk about religion casually, but it seems stress brings out the religious aspect of people, or is that procrastination?
Eitherway, it seems that what is on a lot of people's mind lately is, how authentic is the Bible? Especially, with the new hullaballoo about The Da Vinci Code, lost gospels, dead sea scrolls, the gnostic scrolls et cetera et cetera. It seems everyone is convinced that Emperor Constantine and his priests decided to simply choose books that would suit their purposes and needs in that day and time therefore it is ridiculous for us to use this text as a holy text.
Well, I thought I'd just like to share maybe some things I've thought about these matters, since Mark thought one point rather interesting.
Firstly, Jesus once went up to the Pharisees and teachers of the law. And he told them, "You search and search through all the writings and scrolls of history and law, believing that within it you will find eternal life. But that is not where it is found". Now, I admit perhaps I'm taking this out of context. Then again, is that not what we are doing? We riffle through the huge quantities of texts, comparing one to the next, jumping in excitement on anything controversial, trying to elucidate the truth.
Now, don't get me wrong, I am not saying that the veracity of the Bible is not important. It is very important that we are not believing in a lie and that the Bible is authentic.
But let us be clear where our centre lies. Our faith is not in the Bible, our faith lies on Jesus. Our faith is that he is the Son of God and that he died so that our sins may be forgiven. Our faith is that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Only then from there, do we use that faith to read and pray for understanding while we read the Bible. Jesus is the capstone of our building, the centre or rock upon what our faith is built upon. If we replace him with the Bible, our faith will crumble. And for non believers looking in, that is what I fear of for them, that they do not look to Jesus as the centre but the Bible and thus do not make sense of it all.
Let me talk about the Bible as well. The Bible is not the centre of the religion. But it certainly is one of the pillars of our faith. I shall try explain what reading the Bible is to a Christian and what reading the Bible is like to an outsider. To an outsider, the Bible is a collection of historical or mythical facts. It is a compendium of knowledge about what Christianity is about. It can therefore be tested for its authencity since any historical book must be aligned and correct with history and the manner in which it was produced and written is key. However, to a Christian reading the Bible, it is not just a history book. When a Christian opens the Bible with faith and in prayer, the Bible seems to take on a life of its own - thus the living Word of God. God uses the phrases, uses the chapters and stories to speak into a person's life. Sometimes, it is an answer to a prayer. Other times it can be a warning, praise, advice, caution, amusement even humour. It is one of the very large ways of listening and speaking to God. The Bible, to a Christian, can read very differently each time. Personally, I have read the book over and over again for a good ten years now, and still I am learning new things from it.
My all time favourite, is the parable of the Prodigal's Son. It is about a son of a rich man who one day decides to go up to his father and asks for all the inheritance due to him. Now the father is not happy to let his son go, but he does so because the son wishes to leave. The son then makes his way to the city and lives a frivolous life of sex, booze and rock( well their version of partying). After a while his money runs out and all his friends disappear. He starts working as a pig feeder till he's so hungry he wants to eat the pig food. Then he remembers that in his father's place even the workers got a better pay than he was getting. So he goes back with the intention to return not as a son but as a worker to his father. But everyday the father has been sitting on top of a hill looking for the return of his son. The moment he sees the outline of his son on the horizon, he rushes and hugs his son pig feed, muck and all. The son says no I don't deserve this make me a mere worker. But his father says, forget it we are going to celebrate your homecoming. So they have a big party. When the elder brother comes back and finds them partying he gets angry. His father comes out to him and asks what's wrong. He goes damn it I've been working everyday for you and you never even let me have a small party with my friends, this idiot returns and you kill the fattened calf for a feast. The father says, look you are always with me and everything I have is already yours, but come celebrate for your brother who once was dead is alive again.
See, reading this. How many focal points are there in that story? I have read it again and again and yet different parts will suddeny make a sense at different points of time in my life. It is easy to gloss over it and say yeah yeah we get what you're trying to tell us. Look at it carefully again, I challenge you, there are many meanings within that story than just the obvious one.
This is but one parable. There are stories and examples abound in the Bible. It is not a static book. When read in faith and prayer and obedience it can translate the voice of God.
Now, about the historical authencity of the Bible. Things here are going to get controversial and I must say these are my own ideas and theories. Don't take them as a truth but just consider them.
Let us look back into history and how God treated his own Name and belief. Back in those days there were many kingdoms around Mesopotamia, and basically they all fought each other claiming land and space. Only the Israelites knew of God and even among them many other religions crept in and took hold. When the Babylonians came and vanquished them and took them back as slaves, their religion survived. In fact King Nebuchadnezzar finally himself took up the belief in God (as in Jehovah for them). Later the Israelites returned to their own place and hundreds of years later the Romans came and once again the Emperor Constantine took up Christianity as his official religion.
Perhaps Constantine was not acting in a Godly manner. Quite possibly there were political and economical reasons for doing so. But God does take into account human weakness and evil and work it into his plans. As is evident from the life and death of Jesus himself.
This may sound harsh for me to say and I know there will be many disconssonant voices but I think that even in the choosing of the books of the Bible and the way the word of God was spread across the earth, God was there, knowing it was going to happen. Yes people are going to ask about what was so right about conquering other countries and forcing your religion upon them, destroying cultures and the right and wrong of the Crusades, the inquisition etc etc. But I think that through it all, God looked after His own name.
To draw an example, is it fair to blame Terrorism upon Islam? So... are you going to blame Christianity for all the history of the Church? Men and religion will always fail. The question is do you believe God would fail?
So is the Bible real and true? I have faith that it is. I have enough faith that God would have more than enough strength to make sure that his own name and his message would remain true till the end of the earth. For Jesus said, heaven and earth will pass away, but my word will never die.
