Friday, October 26, 2012

Flawlessly Relevant

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17

This week was frustrating for me, because I was to doubting the validity of the bible.  I have realized that I've misinterpreted the bible at times, and that many of the older folks who taught me had done the same thing.  As these frustrations began to build, I wondered how much we have gotten wrong and whether or not we needed to rewrite our textbooks.  Is it really true that ALL scripture is inspired by God (2 Tim 3:16-17)?

I do believe that to be the truth, but it's interesting that I am wrestling with these thoughts while attending seminary.  I mean here I am, surrounded by smart men and women who have studied the bible for decades and believe it to be the authority in their lives, but I'm more skeptical than ever before.  What is going on?

It was explained to me last week that seminary isn't a "special time" where Christians are safe from the schemes of Satan.  Instead, many seminary students are plagued by more doubts and more temptations than ever before, partly because its hard to read the bible as a text book and maintain its authority in your life.  I mean, isn't the point of higher education to question the current paradigms?  Aren't college students taught to examine and then critique their textbooks?  Don't teachers encourage students to "think outside the box" and reach for greater truths?   I know my undergraduate professors did.

I was a chemistry major as a college student.  We knew that certain parts of our textbook were out of date.  We knew that scientific advances would soon cause other parts of our textbook to be inaccurate as well.  Science isn't perfect, and needs to be refined.  The point of chemistry was to learn from the current information so we could refine and perfect it.  But how can you refine and perfect the bible?  Isn't it the perfect book?

That's the problem with my thinking.  I'm learning that seminary isn't intended to refine and perfect the bible:  it's intended to refine the perfect the student (although we won't be perfect until we reach heaven).  It's true that "refinement of the student" is the point of science as well, but there is also the hope that we will discover something new that will rewrite our textbooks.  But unlike scientists, a biblical scholars will never unlock some "new mystery" that will allow us to rewrite our theology. The bible is complete as it is.

While most people don't go to seminary, I still think everybody deals with these doubts at times.  Humans spend so much time trying to learn from the faults of others and questioning the practices of our leaders, that we find ourselves doing the same thing with Jesus.  We begin to question the authority and validity of His story, believing that it's a flawed book that is irrelevant to today.  But that's not true.

The bible is both flawless and relevant.  The bible flawlessly shows the fact that God is perfect in love and justice, and it shows that mankind is sinful and corrupt.  The bible relevantly shows how sinful people can relate to and be in relationship with a perfect God.

So let me ask you a question: if there is a God, and if that God created everything, and if we will spend eternity either with or without that God, what could be more important and relevant than knowing how to relate to Him?

I believe in God, and I believe He is the only flawless and truly relevant thing in my life.  Do you?  Why?

No comments:

Post a Comment