RethinkingOurStory

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When I was in seminary, I was taught the orthodox, party-line view of scripture.  The Bible is, one of the ancient Church councils told us, both “the word of God,” and “the words of man.”  The ancients had the insight that allowed for such a paradoxical view of this hodgepodge of documents from which we synthesize our Story of seeking for God.

But because we human beings so love a tidy world, we tend to dislike paradox.  Consequently, we vacillate between the two poles of this continuum.  In some traditions, some times in history, we have tended to think of the Bible primarily as God’s word, at other times, the words of men.  The former gives us a view of the Bible as a magic book, the timeless answer book we discussed last week.  The latter view tends to devalue the Divine gift the Bible can be, the ancient wisdom, insight, and profound spiritual guidance available in its pages.

To draw the spiritual benefit available to us in the pages of this special book, we need some interpretive guidelines (called our “hermeneutic”) that allows us to be both skeptical and receptive; skeptical of the historical, scientific, and ethical problems in the book, receptive to this book’s proven capacity to elevate our vision, stir and arouse us, rebuke, correct, and train us, and equip us to walk the journey awakened to the Divine life in each of us.

In addition to a hermeneutic of both skepticism and receptivity, let me suggest four principles that can guide our quest to draw spiritual benefit from the Bible.

Principle #1:  Come to the Bible listening for the Inner Voice

As we’ve said, it is problematic to think of the Bible as The Word of God (genocide, slavery, chauvinism, etc.).  However, that is not to say that we cannot find the Word of God in the Bible.  If we come to the scriptures with a listening heart, the Inner Divine Voice often awakens us to love, to kindness, to goodness and selflessness.  In the Story of our ancient ancestors seeking the Divine, the testimony of generations who have gone before us, is that if we listen to the Spirit of God within us while engaged with this book, it is common to sense an inner awakening to ancient Truth, a nudge to walk in virtue, a prompting to embrace Divine Life.  If we come to this book in a posture of listening for the Inner Divine Voice, our souls are strengthened for the spiritual life.

Principle #2:  Listen for the Story that unfolds in the Bible

Instead of studying the Bible to get our doctrines right, to make sure we assent to the proper creed, read the Bible as a Story of those who have gone before us; a Story of which we are very much a part.

In this Story, people rise above the base parts of themselves.  They rise above the dreary sameness of the lesser truths, lesser values and beliefs imposed on them by the culture they lived in.  In this Story, while we cannot define God with precision, like the wind that blows, we can sense Divine movement, and be carried by it.

A good goal for us if we would have our theology unfold in narrative, is to be able to tell the Story of the bible in 10-15 minutes.  Be able to recount what happened to the descendants of Abraham for the last 4000 years.  It is a Story of an ever changing experience of the Divine.  In the beginning, people’s understanding of God was as angry and punitive as the gods of the peoples around them.  But over time, the prophets, the sages, and Jesus kept pointing toward a deeper understanding of God.  God is Love (1 Jn. 4:8).

At another level, it is a universal Story of people overcoming the duality of their lives.  Stuck on a path that is beneath them, humanity finds in Divine resource, the capacity to rise above the false self, rise above the numbingly dead self, and begin the experience of being their truest, Divine selves.

And once we can tell the Story, we begin to see ourselves in it.  We see our own morphing, transforming experience of God.  We see our own lives overcoming and triumphing over the base parts of us.  We see our own lives moving from the punitive to the loving.

Principle #3:  Seek out your Mission on the earth

At the very beginning of the Story of the Bible, Abraham had a seminal experience.  He experienced the Word of God, telling him that the blessings he received, were for the express purpose of blessing all the nations of the earth (Gen. 12:3).  Sadly, we often overlook that defining and formative episode in our faith.

When we come to the Bible, the question that should always be in the back of our minds is this; “What is my Mission on the earth?” What is the contribution of kindness or goodness I am to make?  Where and when shall I give my gift of wisdom, or compassion, or service?  What is mine to do on this earth?  Where shall I contribute my life and gifts?

As we listen to the ancient stories, as we read the ancient letters and histories, we must be listening for the specifics of the Divine call upon our lives; the call to make things on earth, as they are in heaven; the call to contribute to the earth.

Principle #4:  To use the Bible well, we must be humble

Humble people always understand more than proud people.  Flexible people always discover more than rigid people.

In our community’s building, one of our members runs an Aikido dojo.  She always teaches her students to come to the martial art “with an empty cup.”  If we believe we know what we need to know, we cease being listeners and learners.

If we come to the bible only to confirm what we already know, we cease being listeners and learners.

Humility recognizes that the very foundation of the spiritual life is Mystery.  We would love to have our world be tidy and neat, with precise definitions and clear-cut truths.  However, the spiritual life is just not that way.  When we get to the weeks we talk about God, the very first thing we’ll learn is that God is ineffable, that is beyond our ability to grasp or understand.  We cannot know God, or even our own natures for that matter.

Consequently, we must come to the Bible with the humble understanding, that we will not understand it all.  In fact, we do well to question what we think we know already.  We may get some answers in the Bible, but we’ll surface even more questions.  Jesus often answered questions with questions.  On this un-pin-down-able spiritual journey we travel, a posture of humility is essential.

So there they are…
Four principles to complement a hermeneutic of skepticism and receptivity.

And if we come to the Bible with these four principles, history indicates generations have found it to be a source of Life and Light to our souls; a source of  Truth ad goodness, of Love and internal awakening.

It is a spiritual resource, less about getting right answers and more about helping us change as human beings; changing ourselves, changing the earth.

I enjoin you who have left the Bible to return to it.  Read it, mull it, ponder it, discuss it.  A better hermeneutic can avail us of this wonderful spiritual resource.

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Framing the Bible as a text book, an answer book, or as a fix-it manual leads us to use it in a way that reduces the spiritual benefits we can gain in it.  The primary danger we saw last week, is that we stop going to the Bible as detectives, seeking to ferret out a Story of The Way Things Are, and then finding ourselves in that Story.

When we see the Bible as an answer book, we tend to take the texts quite literally, and get ourselves into trouble.  In their book Adventures in Missing the Point, Tony Campolo and Brian McLaren recount this humorous letter written to Dr. Laura, the daytime radio program host…

Dear Dr Laura,

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God’s Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend homosexuality, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the other laws in Leviticus, and how to follow them.

Dr. Laura Schlessinger

a)  When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord (Lev. 11:9). The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

b)  I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21.7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

c)  Leviticus 25.44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can’t I own Canadians?d)  I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35.2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?

e)  Leviticus 21.20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20 or is there some wiggle room here?

f)  I know from Leviticus 11.6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

Thank you again for reminding us that God’s word is eternal and unchanging.

Yes, when we treat the Bible as an answer book, it can get us into trouble.

However, there are other ways to  frame the Bible in our minds.  We can see it as a collection of literary artifacts, written over 3000 years by people on a quest to experience the Divine.  We can acknowledge that it was written by people from many different cultures, many different worldviews.

And, we can see these literary artifacts (poems, letters, mini-histories, and some literary forms we don’t even use any more), as source material to ferret out a wonderful Story.  It is a Story of how men and women perceived God from the days of Abraham until about 1900 years ago.  It is the Story of people on a quest to more deeply resonate with the transcendent Reality that is in and around us.  Over the centuries, these people’s imagination of God shifted profoundly.  What Abraham thought of God was very different from what Moses thought, and both of them though of God differently from Jesus.

However, if we want to retain the spiritual benefits of the Bible to our souls, we cannot ignore the problems it presents.  Scientific, historical, and ethical difficulties abound in the Bible.  How could it be any different in a document compiled over 3000 years, coming from many different societies and worldviews?  So, if we wish to use the Bible effectively, and to avoid the troubles of the “answer-book” Bible, we must develop a hermeneutic of skepticism. We cannot ignore the difficulties the Bible has.

Viewing the Bible as source material for a Story allows us this latitude.  The Bible as authoritative answer-book does not.

However, skepticism is not a broad enough hermeneutic.  We also need to be come to the Bible with receptivity.  Some Truth, some wisdom, some inspiration, is bigger than culture, bigger than worldview, bigger than science, bigger than history.  Some Truth is transcendent.  The history of those who have used this book as part of their spiritual lives, is that it is full of these transcendent Truths.

To draw spiritual benefit from the Bible, we are well-served to have a hermeneutic of both skepticism and receptivity.

African American slaves refused to accept the authority of those teachings in the Bible that justified and condoned slavery, prejudice, or oppression.  They had a very receptive hermeneutic.  The Story of God was unequivocally their Story.  They were devoted to Jesus, devoted to God, devoted to the spiritual life.  However, they were also skeptical about those passages of scripture trumped by the Inner Light of Truth.

In the book, Re-Enchanting Christianity, Dave Tomlinson recounts the story of Howard Thurman, one-time dean of Howard University:

My regular chore was to do all of the reading for my grandmother – she could neither read nor write … With a feeling of great temerity I asked her one day why it was that she would not let me read any of the Pauline letters. What she told me I shall never forget. ‘During the days of slavery’, she said, ‘the master’s minister would occasionally hold services for the slaves … Always the white minister used as his text something from Paul. At least three or four times a year he used as a text: “Slaves be obedient to your masters … as unto Christ.” Then he would go on to show how, if we were good and happy slaves, God would bless us. I promised my Maker that if I ever learned to read and if freedom ever came, I would never read that part of the Bible.

The wisdom of this woman’s hermeneutic was in both her skepticism and her receptivity. Her internal sense of Divine Grace, was more authoritative than Paul’s historically-conditioned letter, or the preacher’s culturally-conditioned interpretations.

Next week, we’ll talk about how to use scripture with a hermeneutic of both receptivity and skepticism.

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We Christians have a high view of the Bible.

We call it “The Word of God.”

Some of us call it “inerrant,” others “infallible,” still others think of it as an inspired spiritual book. We have divergent views of what it is and how we should use it, but we all agree that it is somehow special.

However, if we don’t define carefully what we mean by “special,” we can get ourselves into trouble. Without a clear definition of what the Bible is and how we should use it, we begin to tell ourselves a distorted Story of The Way Things Are (see last week).

In the last several generations, we haven’t thought very clearly about the specialness of the Bible. Consequently, many of us have become arrogant. In our certitude that the Bible says this, or means that.  Many of us have sidestepped the humility so necessary for a healthy spiritual life.

I’ve heard Christian folk say some very hateful things with the certainty that they were speaking on behalf of God. Believing the Bible is special, and certain that they understood it, they were convinced that their hatefulness carried the authority of the Word of God. Several years ago an abortion-clinic bomber was interviewed who felt he had done a good thing, a holy thing, and pointed with certainty to the Bible as his justification.

Arrogance has no place on the spiritual journey, and we do well to be suspect of the certitude we carry in our hearts, especially about the Bible.

The second kind of trouble we get into when we don’t think clearly about the specialness of this book is the tendency to make this book into something it never claimed to be. Since the Enlightenment, Reformation, and Counter-Reformation, Western society has had a love-affair with certainty. We love understanding, knowledge, and the assurance that we have a firm grip on truth.

But in our rush to assurance, many have lumped the Bible in with other Enlightenment resources. Many have associated the Bible with other things we think are special. We love information, so we have tended to project onto the Bible the image of a text book or encyclopedia; a place to gather answers to life’s persistent questions.

Also, we value fix-it manuals. They help us fix our computer, cook a delicious meal, or assemble a desk. Consequently, it wasn’t much of a stretch for us to see the Bible this way. In my childhood I heard the Bible called Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth,” or “A Guidebook for Living Well.”

However, if we think the Bible is these things, and we interact with it as if it is… and if it turns out that it is not these things… well, that’s a problem.

But that is exactly what many Christians have done. We have associated the Bible with something we would like it to be, and we marketed it to one another as though it was.

That is not to say that the Bible does not answer questions, that it does not help us fix things in our lives, or that it does not help us understand “The Way Things Are.” If you have a long history with this book, you probably share my experience of the Bible as each of these.

However, there is a difference between experiencing the Bible in these ways, and defining it as these. It turns out, that it is much harder to pin down an accurate working definition of the Bible. Listen to a quote from Frederick Buechner, a man who loves, honors and teaches the Bible…

Frederick Buechner

The Bible is a disorderly collection of sixty-odd books written over a period of 3000 years or more. The text is often tedious, barbaric and obscure. It is full of contradictions and inconsistencies. It is a swarming compost of a book, an Irish stew of poetry and propaganda, law and legalism, myth and murk, history and hysteria. Over the centuries it has become hopelessly associated with tub-thumping evangelism and dreary piety, with superannuated (old-folk) superstition and blue-nosed moralizing, with ecclesiastical authoritarianism and crippling literalism. (Beyond Words:  Daily Readings in the ABC’s of Faith)

And this scholarly teacher of the Bible, loves this book!  But even so, sometimes the Bible bothers him deeply…

…the barbarities, the often fanatical nationalism, the passages where God is interested in other nations only to the degree that he can use them to whip Israel into line, the self-righteousness and self-pity of many of the Psalms, God hardening Pharaoh’s heart only to turn around clobber him for his hard-heartedness. (Footnote)

But Buechner reads the Bible, and is very receptive to its message. However, he is very careful in how he defines its “specialness.”

In the next few weeks, I’ll suggest that when we make the Bible something that it is not, we reduce it and diminish it, and in so doing, we reduce and diminish our spiritual lives. If we make the Bible into a fix-it manual, book, we reduce our lives to being problems that need to be solved. If we make the Bible a text book, or an encyclopedia, the spiritual life is reduced to a quest for knowledge and understanding. Again, I believe these are reductions of spirituality that harm us deeply.

Spirituality has to be more than solving problems in our lives, getting our dogma right, or defining the right belief system. Finding our place in the Story of The Way Things Are must inspire us to a higher life, a deeper life, a life that dances with the rhythm of the Divine that is in and all around us.

And critical to that experience, is a better understanding of what the Bible is, and how we can properly use it.

Next time.