by Mike Edwards
I am convinced there are beliefs claimed about God that lead to many tuning out God. Our relationship with God cannot exceed our understanding of God. I have written HERE how we can decide what God is really like. One’s interpretation of a Book may be the only reason to think human and godly perfection are different. When the Bible is said to be infallible or inspired by God, most assume every word penned comes from God. Why would a Creator not love us and others how we were seemingly created to love others?
The infallibility of the Bible is a non-starter.
We don’t have the original manuscripts. If infallibility was critical, why didn’t God find a way to preserve the original texts if God controlled the writers’ thoughts. The most common defense for arguing the Bible is inspired is to claim the biblical writers made such a claim. Such logic would not lead those same people to accept the Quran being infallible because it claims to be. God didn’t necessarily have in mind that recordings wouldn’t be questioned. Another view of the Bible is accepting as a document recording experiences of beginnings with God and Israel culminating with the life of Jesus that we don’t possess in any other documents. Such writings can keep us talking and reflecting what God is really like.
Did God really inspire genocide or marrying one’s rapist?
Did God really approve a woman being required to marry her rapist. Laws proclaimed by Moses supposedly came from God. Deut. 22: 28-29 says: If a man happens to meet a virgin…and rapes her…He must marry the young women, for he has violated her. The idea of a woman ever having to marry her rapist as a good thing hardly inspires many about God. I am convinced only humans thought this was a good law at that time, not God.
Did God really inspire acts or language of genocide? I Samuel 15:3 says God told Israel: “Now go, attack the Amalekites… put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.” Only evil dictators approve of such actions or talk during war. Hundreds of passages in the Old Testament advocate violence in God’s name. It isn’t irrational to ask if a good God would inspire or approve such thoughts or language.
An inspired Book leads down the slippery slope of inspired interpretations.
Most admit literature requires interpretation, thus why biblical scholars often disagree about the meaning of the same passage. It is seldom voiced one’s view about God according to their interpretation could be wrong. Such an admission would encourage different views standing side by side as we continually evaluate the most loving approach, rather than forcing opinions on others in the name of God.
An inspired Book has led to justifying violence in the name of God.
The possibility of an infallible or inspired Book has led down the slippery slope of assuming God’s views on morality only come from a Book such as the Bible or Koran. Not questioning if writers always understood God perfectly has led to justifying slavery, killing infidels, and other atrocities in the name of God. Interpretations must be questioned by our moral consciences.
An inspired Book leads to declaring God mysterious, thus less knowable or relatable.
God is said to be a mystery beyond human comprehension because one’s interpretation clashes with common human moral sense. When assuming the writers understood God perfectly, we often search for ways to rationalize our interpretations. How can one understand a God who created us to know and hate evil, if their evil in our eyes is supposedly good sometimes?
People may be rejecting God for the wrong reasons.
Two plausible interpretations exist on most major issues when speaking of God’s character. Many defend that the Bible teaches that God proclaims women cannot be in authority over men in roles such as a priest or pastor. Women can rightly feel disrespected and confused why a supposedly loving God would put men in leadership position over women which has encouraged dominance on the man’s part leading to atrocities women face at the hands of men. People condemn gays, despite their heart saying otherwise, because God supposedly rejects same gender loving relationships according to a Book.
It is dangerous to value right beliefs or interpretations at the expense of loving others.
Those not growing up in church don’t understand all the fuss. Who thinks literature subject to interpretation should be read so dogmatically? A fallible Book can lead to listening to different opinions as we continually evaluate the most loving approach. God doesn’t get enough credit for communicating through our moral senses how we ought to treat others. The Bible wouldn’t be God’s main communication anyway, because the majority born into this world never had a copy.
Many Christians are rightly accused to be judgmental when they in the name of God condemn gays, prohibits women from serving as pastors or priests, and judge others based on religion when the religion the majority adhere to depends where born. Their heart often tells them differently. There is likely more harm done when declaring certainty than uncertainty about God. It prevents conversations looking for areas we agree, respecting the opinions or others, and committing to growing in understanding.
Again in John 1:14 we read ‘The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth’. The written words of the Bible did not become flesh and dwell among us, only Jesus fulfilled that verse.