I must begin this post by saying that my own views regarding how the Bible should be viewed have been moving back and forth for some time now. Coming from a more conservative Southern Baptist upbringing I had always been, and still am, told that the Bible is the inherent word of God. Beyond this there was never any real explanation as to how or why it is the word of God, and as I grew older and progressed in my public education the idea of a book written by many different authors, including books whose authors are unknown, being the ultimate written expression of God, seemed both highly improbable and illogical. Add onto this the fact that it was put together some 300 years after Jesus Christ was crucified and it posed quite the intellectual problem for my faith. As I moved past the basic historical issues and discovered that realm of Christian Apologia, I was then forced to ask myself a question that to this day I have only begun to answer: Is the Bible inherent, and where does it fit into my faith? To most traditional Christians this would seem a question not worth asking because it is just simple fact that the Bible is breathed of God quite literally and is God's instruction manual, answer book, and road map to life. . . I think however that those Christians who would offer such a response have neither proper understanding of what scripture is, or what they are even saying when they use the terms inherent and God's word.
I do not know if what I will offer will be of any value, but I sincerely hope that you will read, critique, and contribute to this important conversation, as it is an issue which I am positive we can always learn more. Until tomorrow!
- Luke
13 comments:
Blah, blah, blah. You do not need to include that you are a 19 yr old college student. Your unsustantial double-speak and elitest view tells us that. Your comments also indicate that you are extremely full of yourself and your parents have indulged you to the point where you believe your pathetic 19 years of life experiences qualify you to make the judgements on todays Church that you do. Do more listening and less preaching until you have some real life experience to base your philosophy on. Good writing though.
And your comments indicate that you have nothing of value to contribute. Unsubstantial double double-speak? Maybe list examples along with your accusations before you step into the ring and try to argue. As far my life experience goes, I am the first to admit that I have none, but clearly your views regarding my youth prove that you have no clear cultural perspective or biblical perspective for that matter. I have made no judgments against the church and have only offered positive remarks about where I think the church might go in relation to my generation. And honestly, your comments are far more elitest than anything I have wrote since I am urging open and honest discussion, and not tearing apart a random blogger's biography. Thanks for that comment though, If you ever want to seriously discuss things, and not just ramble on in a condescending tone then please leave another. Otherwise, please refrain from talking out of your rear end without contributing anything.
First off, let me guess... wannabe emo haircut, skateboarder, Starbucks groupie, macbook, live at home/college, no job, dont pay your own bills, a couple of lame tattoos.... How many did I get wrong?
I have nothing of value to contribute??? But you said there is no real truth today "in this postmodern context there is no truth, just perspectives", so who are you to judge my truth and whether or not it is of value? You mentioned a condescending tone, a condescending tone would insinuate that I actually care what you think. I don't. I just enjoy sitting under the teaching of a highly educated scholar such as yourself, and then giving them some feedback when there is no substance to what they are saying. It's all a bunch of big words strung together in an attempt to sound like a thoughtful writer. By the way, you might want to look up the definition of the word perspective since you accuse me of not having one. It means a point of view. It should be clear to a great thinker such as yourself that I clearly do have a perspective. You just do not like my perspective because it forces you to consider that possibly, just possibly, there might be some validity in my opinion that until you actually have some real life experiences, you should do more listening and learning and less philosophizing and bloviating. As far as you passing judgement, let me quote you...
"as I continue to research and discover new truths and expose false ones,"
"I began to see that the things people want or expect from a church, in actuality, contradict what most churches claim to and should exist for. The purpose of being a hospital for the spiritually sick, a safe haven for the beaten, and a school for those who seek truth should be the foremost principles for both churches and Christians in general. Over time I have come to understand these principles, but the one that has impacted me the most along my spiritual journey comes as the third principle or rather the part about seeking truth. As inconsistencies began to appear, I realized that a regular Sunday routine could not satisfy my hungry soul. Doubts and needs grew, unattended, and both my heart and mind screamed for something more.. Just as Relient K states in their song "Let it All Out" I, or rather my soul, cried out for consistency. My search for truth and authentic Christianity began when I admitted to these unmet needs and started to seek out a God of authenticity and consistency. It seemed most modern Christians had fallen into following the false idol of self righteous routine and regulation. At this point that I realized what Christianity was not. Authentic Christianity was never a result of a superficial God "experience" that a person can have through a robotic routine. Christ existed as, along with everything else, an unpredictable revolutionary whose passion to love people and help them find the truth of his love led to his death on the a cross in the barren place of Golgotha. This fact alone leads me to ask, how can people who claim to follow such a being, prescribe to a set religion that offers endless repetition with no real growth in understanding or real outreach? The honest answer manifests itself with a stunning echo: they cannot.
To call oneself a true believer in Christ one must step out of the ordinary routine, and embrace a real relationship with God. Like any other relationship this will require some work, but the end result will exist in real truth and salvation that cannot be achieved by the current standard of American Christianity.
My life has been molded by many different experiences, but what I have just described remains the most profound. My spiritual quest for truth has lead me to a real Christianity: lost so long ago under the weight of tradition and good intentions gone horribly wrong."
"Coming from a more conservative Southern Baptist upbringing I had always been, and still am, told that the Bible is the inherent word of God. Beyond this there was never any real explanation as to how or why it is the word of God, and as I grew older and progressed in my public education the idea of a book written by many different authors, including books whose authors are unknown, being the ultimate written expression of God, seemed both highly improbable and illogical. Add onto this the fact that it was put together some 300 years after Jesus Christ was crucified and it posed quite the intellectual problem for my faith. As I moved past the basic historical issues and discovered that realm of Christian Apologia, I was then forced to ask myself a question that to this day I have only begun to answer: Is the Bible inherent, and where does it fit into my faith? To most traditional Christians this would seem a question not worth asking because it is just simple fact that the Bible is breathed of God quite literally and is God's instruction manual, answer book, and road map to life. . . I think however that those Christians who would offer such a response have neither proper understanding of what scripture is, or what they are even saying when they use the terms inherent and God's word."
Did I mis-quote you? Do you begin to see at all how you sound? Do you care? By the way, this is a play pen, not a ring. Your turn...
Well I see that you have mastered cutting and pasting but let me address the "truth" issue. I was employing what some have come to call sarcasm. Make no mistake my friend. To be a Christian is to hold absolute truth. I serve the true living God who does not exist in ambiguity. As far as your so called "perspective" goes I still have not heard it. As far as I know you have absolutely nothing to say except condescending remarks and cheap attacks on my haircut. All I am doing is writing out my viewpoint and trying to see how people respond to it. I do not claim to be a scholar, or to have all the answers. I do know this though, your attacks show a complete disregard for brotherly Christian love. If you truly had a problem with my views on the church then why not rebuke me in love? You are the worst kind of Christian as far as I can tell, and it is people like you who are responsible for my generation wanting nothing to do with the church. All I see is someone who is content to sit back, criticize, and never enter the conversation. I would really love to hear your views but as you have made clear you do not care what I have to say so I won't hold my breath for a mature response.
Nice call on the Starbucks thing though. . .but really, who doesn't enjoy starbucks?
Who said I was a Christian? Do I have to be a Christian to have an opinion on a blog? Do I have to agree with you in order to not be considered condescending? Do you think I care that your generation is comprised of millions of spoiled brats that my generation created? A generation of selfish, myopic lay-abouts that don't really care about anything or anyone but themselves? A generation which sits around drinking coffee and smoking clove cigarettes instead of paying their way in life. Do you think I care that your worthless generation wants nothing to do with the Church today? Why would I care? Your generation does not want to really contribute anything to "the village" anyway. You want to whine and complain about it. You want the village to be remodeled to fit your comfortable life style. I also attended the ETS conference, but as a reporter and not a "Christian reporter". My experience was totally different. I was overwhelmed by the love and compassion I felt from everyone. I was blown away by these men and women who care enough to spend there time as under paid servants when they clearly could be doing other things more materially rewarding. So you see, I do have a perspective. It just hurts you to hear me pass judgement on you, the way you do on your fellow Christians. Don't feel too bad though. I hold out some hope for you, at least you seem to care. Once you have real responsibilities, and have to hold down a job with no one to catch you when you fall, you will come around. Wait until you actually have to pay taxes instead of getting it all back. Wait until you can sit around at Starbucks and pay for it with money you actually earned yourself. Afterall, who doesn't like Starbucks.
p.s. I guess it was a good call on the skateboard, tattoos, macbook, etc.
Nice blogging with you. Keep it up.
I really do appreciate you concern but I stand by what I said about ETS. I am trying to judge them or their motives, in fact I will be lucky if I am half as smart or as loving as those men an women are. The point I was trying to make was that amidst all the amazing scholars it was hard for me to see how they could relate it all to the generations that are rising up. I heard a lot of mazing lectures but I heard almost no passion or excitement. You will get no argument from me about my generation, in fact the John Mayer song Waiting on the World to Change sums my generation up. Keep this in mind though. That is not what I'm about. Not only have I worked since I was 16 but the last job i worked consisted of 12 hours days for 6 days a week. You attack me and stereotype me when really you have no idea who I am or where I come from. I would love to give you encouragement but prideful people who blindly strike out without any investigation are not deserving of it and I doubt you would take it seriously. I wish you the best, and hope you will learn, although since you claim to be a journalist you should already know about this, to take things in context and how to engage another person without stereotypes or generalizations. As far as I can tell you are no better than my peers who sit back without trying to fix anything.
P.S. I don't have tattoos nor do I skateboard. And I have paid taxes the last three years. Once again you have demonstrated irresponsible writing at its finest.
BTW, I will never become angry when someone disagrees with me. I respect your concern, but as I said before you have been irresponsible and irrelevant in your critique and have shown a complete lack of respect. It was nice blogging with you too. I hope you will continue to engage my thoughts and maybe direct me to some of yours.
Hey Luke. I really liked reading this. I think you bring up a good point about kids being raised in the church just always "knowing" that the Bible is God's inerrant Word. And I still hold that it is. You have challenged me to do more research, though, as to why I hold that belief. However, we must not forget II Timothy 3:16-17 which says, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." This tells us that Scripture IS His Word. But I still enjoy reading what you're saying. You have good points. Keep up the good work, and hey, if you really want to read Confessions, you can borrow it. I'm about 1/2 through and plan to be done by the end of break. :)
p.s. I guess by your blog (which I just re-read to make sure I got it all) I might be one of those Christians...but honestly, I believe there is solid proof that God's Word IS inerrant AND HIS WORD. :) I'll go do some research...I think we've got a good discussion coming up.
Becca! I am definitely going to take you up on that offer to borrow confessions : ) I think what I am trying to question is not IS scripture inherent, but how do we define inherent? Literally spoken by God? Inspired by the spirit? And beyond this I wonder are some parts more authoritative than others such as Jesus' words vs. Paul's? After talking to Dr. Mooney I am beginning to form a better position but I'm not quite there. I would love to continue this conversation with you =)
You bet! :) Dr. Mooney's amazing, isn't he? I go to his church. Anyway, that's beside the point. We will definitely continue this. Like I said, I think you've got some good thoughts. It's good to work through these subjects and truly know where we stand so, when questioned, we can give a solid, Biblical answer. You definitely raise some great challenges. :)
Well i definitely appreciate your positive feedback. Im looking forward to out continued conversation : )
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