Normally, when I start a new blog, I always do an introduction post first. I'm not going to do that this time. If you really want to find out about me, you can keep reading, and you'll learn everything you need to know. :)
Our church has a summer theme of BYOB (Bring Your Own Bible). Now, I personally think we should be doing that *anyways*, but Lutherans aren't typically known for doing so. So all summer long, they're combining the reading with Bible study. Personally, I don't like what they call "Bible study" (ok, seriously, it's still just a sermon), but I guess if they're going to get people to dust off their Bibles and bring them along, it's a step in the right direction (except that come September, those Bibles are going back on the shelf). And a lot of people....well, they just don't bother bringing one with. Why bring your own when there's one in the pew, right? And of those that do bring their own, many don't even actually open it during the service (*cough* guy in the pew in front of me, I'm looking at you *cough*). Ok, I know this might just seem like a high-and-mighty rant, but it really bothers me to see people that claim to be Christians, but they've never cracked open their Bible. How can you believe in something that you know little about? "Well, I believe in Jesus." I bet you do. But what do you believe about Him? Do you know what He spoke of during His life? Even Satan "believes" in Jesus.
Ok, so anyways, we didn't go last week to hear the first Sunday of BYOB summer, because we were out of town. This summer, we'll be focusing on creation, mainly of the Genesis type. Today specifically was about Adam and Eve. (Genesis 2:7, 18-25) Pastor Scott started out by talking about how many people take the creation story to either be historical or myth. He maintained that it's not technically either, but that it's meant to be more of a love story between God and man, and man and woman. Ok, I almost could buy that, except that I actually had my NKJV Bible open when he said that, and I could see the context around the verses that were printed in the bulletin. And my eyes fell on Gen 2:4 - "This is the history of the heavens and when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens"
Interesting. So I compared that to the NIV (the "official" ELCA translation), which was nearly the same, except it begins as such: "This is the account...." I'm not sure how to take this. I've always found myself as having issue with the fact that the ELCA maintains that while they do not believe the Bible is technically errant, they won't claim that it is inerrant. And of course, with all the different translations, there's bound to be some discrepancies. So I guess right now, I'm just perturbed by the whole thing. I do like that the Lutherans have no problem admitting when they just don't know something. And right now, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to say "I don't know". I don't know if Pastor Scott has the right idea, that it's more of a story than an actual history. I don't know if the Bible is in fact, inerrant. All I do know is that the Bible *is* the inspired word of God, and we can certainly take it as such.
Comments are welcome as to how you feel about this. There is a second part to this, which I will post about later, to keep posts short and readable, and to stick to one topic at a time.
Comments (10)
I came in here through the "Recent Posts" list on Revelife.
There's a whole field of Theology related to the translation of the Bible, far too in-depth and even more controversial to go into here. I wanted to comment on Christians and their "intimacy" with the Bible though.
IMO, if a person is a Christian; the fruits of their relationship with Christ is VERY evident. Among these fruits is Love for God (in fact, the greatest commandment). If a person Loves God, they will seek Him out in all ways and find every way possible to draw near and be intimate. After all, is this not the way humans practice love with other humans?
One of the ways most evident is in the way a person regards His Word in the Bible. In many ways, a person's relationship with God is like a long-distance relationship of Love. We can feel each others' presence, and we can communicate with each other and do things for each other, and we can read each others' words and become enriched in each other through these things. When a person truly Loves God, they are INSPIRED to WANT to read the Bible; just as they would be inspired to want to read letters from or stories about a human love. There is a definite parallel.
Besides this, as Christians we come under spiritual attack; and the closer we draw to God, the stronger the attacks are -- because then we are a threat. If we do not have a firm foundation in scripture, we have no ammunition. Knowledge of the Word is our defense against lies and deceit.
Context also plays a major role in the reason why we should open our Bibles in Church -- the Pastor may issue a line or two of scripture, and if we only absorb those couple of lines, we lose the context. It would be like looking at a beautiful cliff-side at the Grand Canyon through a paper tube -- the cliff is still beautiful, but removing the tube and experiencing the context in the grander scale is not only much more beautiful, but is also gives us context to understand the rest of the scene. Sometimes, what we have to learn; or the message that God has for us is hidden in the context or in the commentary instead of the actual issued scripture itself.
Wow, that was way longer than I thought it would be.
@archangel - I agree with everything you've said here. I grew up in a Catholic church, and I literally had no idea what was actually in the Bible, because we never opened it. My mom couldn't figure out why me and my sister actually wanted new Bibles as Christmas presents.
I'm far from being a Biblical scholar. I just got a new study Bible that I love to read. But boy, am I finding out just how much I don't know! I'm enjoying the learning process though. :)
(*note* I didn't read archangel's comment. I probably should, and probably will later but, for now, I'm a slacker commenter...sorry)
It really is hard to know exactly what the true meaning of each verse is, I've been reading this one book and it talks about how language is a barrier between us and reality(per David Hume) and the author who is commenting on Hume's thoughts states that really, there is no direct translation for what the Bible *originally* stated..and all the translations after give it a new spin kind of for the time that it's being translated....to really understand it means being in communication with Christ. That's exciting that you just got a new Bible...keep pouring into it, the thing with the Bible is that it's alive and speaks what is needed to us...I doubt I made any sense...sorry for the rambling...good thoughts, it was a good read... :)
@Wheresmywtrbfflo - You know, that's what is good and bad about all the different translations. It's so hard to figure out what is "right" in all of them. That's part of the reason I love biblegateway.com. You can compare several different translations with just a couple clicks. :) Personally, at my house, I've got a couple NKJV's, an NIV, a CEV NT, a New American for Catholics, and an HCSB. I really like that I have so many translations available at my fingertips to compare.
Oh, and if you have a chance, go ahead and read archangel's comment here, it's long, but worth the read. :) Thanks for the comment!
Regarding "discrepancies" in the Bible -- the best explaination I heard goes like this:
You have two cars travelling at an intersection, one with the green light, one with the red light. There's an accident. The police are called and take reports from four parties: the two drivers, a passenger, and a witness on the street.
The four parties all saw the same event (the accident), and all four give factual, inerrant accounts of what happened. But the four accounts are slightly different. Why is that? Because each party saw the same event from four different points of view.
Same with the Gospels. Four different accounts of the same Jesus and the things Jesus said and did. All of them factual and inerrant. But some things are left out of one that may be included in another. Why? Four different points of view, with each point of view giving a different emphasis to the people being addressed by the author.
Hope this helps.
@Wheresmywtrbfflo - I just wanted to add something real quick: Something I find very interesting is that beyond different English-language translations; when you go to OTHER foreign language translations of the Bible, although you get the gist of what the scripture is saying, when you understand the cultural contexts that the translation is written in/for, the scripture has THAT much more impact. Language is trippy in that way, that it's not only written word, but that it reflects a deeper sense in the human soul.
I've read bibles in three languages, and my father in seven, including early Hebrew texts, and what we get from all these different points of view adds so much to our experience of the Word.
@heyyoulady@xanga - Wow, that's a really great way to explain it. Thank you. :)
@pinksunfiredragon - Ok first of all, sorry for jacking your comment page :P
...but I wanted to say that I think Biblegateway is a tremendous blessing. It was a huge PITA to have to dig out multiple bound copies of the Bible to see what they said, now all we have to do is click on a pull-down menu and hit "submit" to see what different verses translate into in different versions (I always check KJV, NIV at the least now).
@archangel - You're more than welcome to overtake my comments. :) I always appreciate additional insight. Like I said above, I'm far from being a Biblical scholar, and in many ways, I'm still very much a "baby Christian".
"Bring Your Own Bible" should be a continual theme. Putting some emphasis on it is good though, and hopefully it will stick. Growing up, my dad always encouraged me to take my Bible to church, and to open it and follow along. And when he was a pastor, he continually emphasized that no one should ever assume that what he - or anyone else in the pulpit - was preaching from the Bible without following along for themselves. You do have to know what you believe, and while you may think of yourself in many ways as a "Baby Christian", I think that in your strength of conviction and your desire to learn, you're more mature than many I know. There's a big difference between knowing what you believe and "knowing it all". There are so many mysteries in the Bible, so many things we'll never fully understand in this lifetime, but that's okay. There's still a lot we can understand.
Eh, I got off on a tangent. I'm sure we'll talk about this more later.