And She Replied . . .

The other day, I asked a woman if she went to church. She responded, “I’m a Bible-believing Christian!” It was an innocent question with an unexpectedly strong response.

Jesus taught me to ask a question when answering a question (he asked 307 questions), so I asked, “What do you believe about the Bible?” Here’s how the rest of our conversation went:

Her: “It’s the Word of God, written by God.”

Me: “Which God? The Jewish God? The Muslim God? The Christian God? My God?”

Her: “The Christian God, of course.”

Me: “I see! But remember, Jesus was born, lived, and died a Jew. He never heard the word ‘Christian.’ Why wasn’t it Jesus’s Jewish God who wrote the Bible?”

Her: “Why are you asking me all these silly questions?”

Me: “I am simply trying to understand what a ‘Bible-believing Christian’ believes. Do you mind if I ask you a few more questions?”

Her: “I guess not.”

Me: “First, was God a man or a woman?”

Her: “God is neither male nor female but a Spirit.”

Me: “Oh, so it wasn’t God who wrote the Bible but a Spirit, with a capital S?”

Her: “Yes, Spirit with a capital S.”

Me: “When did this Spirit start writing the Bible?”

Her: “The Spirit was really forty men who were chosen by God to write down His words. The Bible was written over about 1,600 years in three different languages.”

Me: “I’m sorry to appear so dense, but we started with God as the author, then Spirit, but now I’m hearing that it was men who wrote the Bible. Right?”

Her: “Yes, but men who were told by God what to write.”

Me: “Hm! I think I’m back to where I started. Anyway, in what language did God dictate the Bible?”

Her: “The Old Testament was written in Hebrew. The New Testament was written in Greek, and the first English translation was in the eighth century CE. [I had never heard that before.] But the best translation is the English King James version, written in 1611 CE.”

Me: “Interesting! That was over four hundred years ago, in a different world with lots of thees, thous, and –ths. Here’s my last question: I have found that the Bible contains many contradictions and is full of inaccuracies and misinformation, but when I share this with Bible-believing Christians, they tell me that the Bible is inerrant and not contradictory. Have you ever heard that?”

Her: “Yes, I have, but my answer is that what appears as contradictions are not really contradictions but instead are taken out of context. The Bible contains only truthful revelations from God.”

I had heard enough. The woman made no sense to me primarily because I am not a Bible-believing Christian. I am a Follower of Jesus. I have studied the Bible seriously for sixty-three years. I know that it contains religious history (versus historical history), is full of contradictions representing different points of view, and was written entirely by Jews or Jewish converts.

I also know that Gentiles who read the Bible literally miss so many of the great Truths that are found within the stories themselves.

I don’t consider the Bible sacred! The only sacred thing to me is Creation and my fellow human beings, whom I have to love unconditionally, forgive unsparingly, and care for to the best of my abilities.

Peace Love Joy Hope

 

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash