Let's read...
Reading for October 11
Jeremiah 16:16-18:23
God continues to be angry. No hope here.
1 Thessalonians 4:1-5:3
A glimpse of heaven. Our first physical glimpse in the Bible...
16For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18Therefore encourage each other with these words.
Psalm 81:1-16
Nothin here.
Proverbs 25:6-8
6 Do not exalt yourself in the king's presence,
and do not claim a place among great men;
7 it is better for him to say to you, "Come up here,"
than for him to humiliate you before a nobleman.
What you have seen with your eyes
8 do not bring [a] hastily to court,
for what will you do in the end
if your neighbor puts you to shame?
Faith -1
Reading the bible with out context or commentary is what is hurting you. Stop being so proud and ask for help.
ReplyDeleteHow much help should be required? It would be really easy to sit down with someone and just have tell you how to think. It is incredibly intellectually honest to do what Brandon is doing, and I give him mad props. If a reasonable person can't sit down and make sense of the bible, then so much the worse for the bible. Personally, I have heard a lot of the arguments, context, and various stories and still think the whole thing doesn't make sense. This is a perfectly reasonable position to hold. On the other hand, you might find these things more compelling and accept them, also an acceptable position even though I may not agree with you. Beliefs are not external facts to be rectified with others. They are unique to the individual.
ReplyDeleteyou'll get there. keep floating.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to agree with anonymous, all except the snarky pride bit. I think commentaries are valuable, and anyone reading the bible should consult a few. The bible is a complex document, with parts written over nearly three thousand years ago, by different authors in different locations and contexts. How can anyone imagine to read it and understand it, with out something to help aid in the context? Or with out a tool to help understand the composition of the text? A commentary doesn't tell you what to think, you make up your own mind. A commentary just helps set the text into the context in which it was written and originally received. To read the bible with out placing it in context is dangerous. I believe that interpreting the bible on your own, without any context, can be risky. It leads to things like godhatesfags.com and folks like Pat Robertson. But more importantly, in the case of B here, it can lead to loss of faith.
ReplyDeleteGod does not intend us to read the bible on our own. God intends us to read the bible in community and in conversation, for that is what the bible is in a nutshell. Different authors, across centuries, talking to one another in a single book.
Thanks for the comments, guys. I appreciate the insight and help.
ReplyDeleteIf your goal is to maintain faith, you will find a way to do it. You will find some story or way to interpret something so you can be ok with it. It is human nature to come up with explanations for everything. It actually takes tremendous restraint NOT to. From my perspective, it's just kind of strange to watch this process from the outside considering all of the "perspective" required to maintain these extremely old and contradictory ideas. How can anyone hope to understand it on their own? That is a predictable response. Again, I would tell you to look at our discussion regarding how crucial "mystery" is to religion.
ReplyDeletehttp://brandonsbibleadventure.blogspot.com/2010/10/reading-from-tuesday-september-28.html#comments
It's fairly convenient that the bible is so difficult and off limits to understanding on your own. You have to admit that it has other advantages to believe that other than just because its true. Also what is so dangerous about the possibility of changing your mind about something (in this case religion, but really anything)? On the contrary, it is the path of progress.
"When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?" - John Maynard Keynes
I am just saying to not be surprised when you succeed at convincing yourselves. The more valuable question isn't how can religion be true. It's easy to come up with a million reasons for that. It's how it could be false. How would the world have to look for you NOT to be believe in God or religion? Rich people pretty much control everything. Huge amounts of people suffer everyday. Earth is a completely isolated for ANY other remotely habitable planet. People are fighting non-stop wars and are in constant state of media perpetuated fear. We have made huge advancements in technology over the last few decades yet the middle class are still making crap basically. Are you guys holding out for something worse? Also, apologies to Brandon for including a quotation and relying on others for context :)
I'll put it to you this way, Human beings were made for community. Whenever we try to do something on our own, we are acting outside of our created purpose. The same is with the Bible. The Bible, to be properly understood, is not to be read in isolation, rather experienced, interpreted, and acted upon in a community of those who have faith that Jesus Christ is Lord. In other words, individual actors acting in concert together in a group setting. Salvation history as disclosed by Scripture is not the story of God and an individual. It is the story of God and God's people. Jesus died on the cross not to save a man, but to save all humans. The Christian faith must not become individualistic, for this dilutes the saving power of the Gospel message.
ReplyDelete