Question, out of curiosity. Without agenda. Seriously wondering.
If you do, why do you believe what the Bible says? Or, why do you believe what the Bible says is true?
I've been thinking about scriptural authority, and how we use the Bible. I took a whole course, taught by the excellent Dr. Wesley Ariarajah, on 'The Authority of Scripture' in seminary, and it is a fascinating study. Today someone commented anonymously on my previous post about "in joy disbelieving," by saying only "james 1:2-8," which is a passage about joy and doubt and ends with "for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord."
Without any help from the commenter, I'm not sure what to think of the passage in the context of my post. But it did get me thinking about the nature of scripture. Thus, my question: why do you believe what the Bible says?
7 comments:
I could come up with a list of manuscript attestments that point to the authenticity of the Bible as we know it, but that really doesn't cut it for me.
Somewhere along the line, every person has to decide where they will find authority for their life. Many people choose themselves or human experience as that authority, thus the rise in moral relativism. I choose the Holy Scriptures as the authority over my life and submit myself to their teaching because "these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name." John 20:31
It is the stories of Jesus that set the Bible apart from all other sacred writings of all other religions and which give it its ultimate authority.
I believe the Bible because almost every time I study it, God opens up a new truth for me to know.
There is much in the bible that disturbs me: The account of Jephthah's daughter (Judges 11.30-40), Yahweh's denial of Korah's, Dathan's, and Abiram's doctrine of the priesthood of all believers (Numbers 16.3ff.), etc.
Yet taken as a whole, in a canonical context, the bible speaks to my deepest longings and assures me that God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Christ personifies this love, and the Spirit mysteriously communicates this love to me. There is a ring of truth about the canon as a whole, a truth that something deep within recognizes and embraces.
A child in the church once asked one of the senior members, a Sunday School teacher since way back when, "How much to I have to believe?"
The teacher replied, "As much as you can."
It comes from my faith in the God that I've heard speak to me so often while reading it. God called me to quit living a life for myself and begin living for Him while reading the Gospel of John one night. And you could say that I came back to God or that I was saved that night.
So my faith has led me to believe what's in this book to be the Word of God. I don't disbelieve any of it. I do think that we misinterpret a lot of it though.
For me the Bible is about the narrative. I think the truth of God's love is experienced in the lived question--questioning the story, who told it, and why...so I approach the Bible the same way I approach every conservation--in a state of questioning, and with an awareness of the grace of the Holy Spirit. I look for what this story, this collective narrative, reveals about God's dream for the world. And I recognize that as my reality is limited, my ability to ask the right questions will be also...so I seek to expand my reality by incorporating the realities and narratives of others.
The Bible is a very authentic book - how much authority we allow it to ahve over our lives is up to us.
1 Jn says we have seen, touched and know that it's true. The evidence of eye witnesses. I like that - it's as important as the oft quoted Heb 11 about faith being what we do not see
I am not a fan of the Bible is all that I need ... because for me the relationship with God is as important, and that includes meeting Him through other people.
But the Bible helps us know His character and if we allow it for us toget a little of his perspective.
Good stuff :)
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