Answers
08 June 2006
I had a good chat to a mate today. Here's my Q & A
Can the Bible apply universally for all time?
Christians believe that the Bible is God’s word. That is it was divinely inspired by God as he spoke to people and so applies for all people for all time. The words they wrote down they claimed came from God and applied universally for all time (understood in their correct context of course). Of course these divinely inspired texts have a degree to which the author’s style is obvious too. This however has little effect on whether the text is perceived to be true or not.
Is the Bible reliable?
I would want to argue yes. There are many ways you can use to test a text to see if it is true or not. I’d encourage you to read the scriptures for yourself and test them to see if they are true or not. I know in the last 7 years of reading the Bible I’m yet to find a place where it has holes mistakes contradictions etc. Further more I’d want to argue that the Bible is a much more reliable text than many of our so called historical texts.
Aren’t all religions the same?
Again I argue practically that this simply not true. Looking at Christianity and say Islam. Islam says that Jesus was just a prophet. Islam says Jesus died, Christianity says he died and rose from the dead furthermore that he was the Son of God and that if he didn’t rise we’ve wasted our time for the last 2000 years. This is a fundamental difference. Hold these in tension? It’s illogical not to mention patronizing to the particular religions themselves.
What essentially you end up looking at is a plethora of different explanations about the world and universe. I’d encourage you to look carefully at each and decide which is true and follow it whole heartedly. Not the one the suits rather the one that is true. How can you know truth? I’d argue the same way you can know anything to be true through carefully weighing the evidence and having an open mind.tags christian, friends, ministry, thinking
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A couple of clarifying points re our conversation:
1. The fact that a text is divinely inspired does not necessarily make it free of human interference, or free of cultural influence. A case in point: the ten commandments and the scriptures written by the prophets were also the word of God, but Jesus challenged the orthodox interpretation of the scriptures by the elders of his time and brought renewed meaning to those willing to listen.
2. To ignore the context in which the gospels were written, refined and collated is to discount the possiblity of any human influence, prevailing cultural norms, overbearing personalities etc. How often in any meeting of minds does only one perspective prevail beyond reproach? Politics and social engineering are present in any process. As George Orwell wrote, "He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future."
3. It is obvious to anyone who cares to look that all religions are not the same. I do not dispute this and once again, if I may clarify my point: assuming that Mohammed and Jesus and Mike Jolly all had the exact same experience, of divinity, and each was asked to record their experience, each record would have some fundamental similarities but also some marked differences based on factors such as each writer's existing religious and spiritual beliefs, their cultural upbringing and their background education (to name a few). This is not to say that all prophets and spiritual leaders do, or have, had the same experience of divinity.
3. There may be a universal truth, but no individual human will ever know it. They may believe it, and what they believe will again be shaped by environmental factors including what they do know. That is the essence of faith. But those who do not open their mind to the possiblity of difference, refuse discourse, and impose belief as truth, mistake guidance by God for guidance by belief. Think of all the people even today who are silenced in the name of truth. Any person who says that there is only one path to God, and they know what it is, is speaking from belief, not truth.
If I may jump in, michael s...
1. I don’t there is conflict between something being divinely inspired and free of cultural influence. God uses human culture. However Jesus did more then challenge, he turned the whole OT on its head by saying he was the fulfilment of the OT. You’ve also got to remember that the ‘orthodox’ Judaism of Jesus time was not the ‘orthodox’ Judaism of Moses time.
2. Yes I agree you should read the Bible while being aware of it’s context. That’s the incredible beauty of the Bible that, principles, themes and commands can be discerned despite the human authors and their contexts.
3a. In this case I’d say the differences are more important then the similarities. If you were a detective looking to solve a crime the similarities between two things would be very important but someone searching for truth needs to pay attention to differences because truth by nature is exclusive. Only one thing can be called true. Therefore finding that truth is crucial.
3b. Be careful not to put too much emphasis on environmental factors. What makes the idea that universal truth is only understood according to individual experience more important then the idea that individuals can understand universal truth regardless of their individual experience?
--Luke