About the Dinosuar Bones

Today's question is: When did you first notice the tension between faith and science? How have you resolved that tension?

This kid named Chris was in my 7th grade science class. One day, he raised his hand and asked, "What if God put dinosaur skeletons in the ground to give us something to do?" Obviously, this kid took the Creation story literally. He was implying that during the Creation week, when God was forming the earth, God thought, "Hmm....I bet they'll get bored. Why don't I take some huge bones and bury them. These humans will dig them up and concoct stories about amazing beasts that used to roam the earth...yup, that'll be fun!"

I remember thinking about the implications of his question and getting a big headache. It sort of made my brain twist around in funny ways. By the time middle school rolled around, I'm fairly certain that I didn't take the Creation stories literally. I knew what I didn't believe. But, I wasn't sure what I did believe about those stories.

The tension got resolved through a lot of conversation, wrestling, paying attention and prayer.

Not a Ouija Board....

How might Borg’s historical-metaphorical approach help you interpret a passage of scripture? How is it different than the way you have interpreted scripture in the past?

First, let's clarify what Borg means by historical-metaphorical approach to reading scripture. When taking a historical approach, we should ask the question, "What did this text mean in the ancient historical setting in which it was written?" When taking a metaphorical approach, we should ask the question, "What does this story mean as a story, independent of its historical factuality?"

When we are taking a historical-metaphorical approach to scripture, we ask both questions. This is very different than how I used to read the Bible. I used to read the Bible wondering, "What is God saying to me, today, through these words, about this particular situation in which I find myself...?"

And, yes, the Spirit may add understanding to our reading of scripture, but, we should not confuse cracking open our Bible with cracking open a fortune cookie. See, the problem with my old approach is that I was treating the Bible like one of those fortune telling machines you find in arcades. Furthermore, the Bible is not a Ouija Board - we can't ask a question, randomly open the book and expect to find an answer. (Actually, we shouldn't expect to be able to do that with a Ouija Board either...but that's another story for another blog entry.

The Bible is a relevant tool we can and should employ to navigate faithful lives. But, we must do so knowing what this tool will and won't do. Using the historical-metaphorical approach to reading scripture and avoiding reading the Bible like a our daily horoscope will help. Using this approach helps us utilize the Bible appropriately.

Sacred Contextual Texts

Today's question is: Does scripture ever function as a sacrament in your life? What helps you listen for the Spirit of God speaking through the words of the biblical text?

Have you ever been driving along, listening to the radio and, all of a sudden, the perfect song comes on? The song seems to fit the exact moment of life you are living in, as if some divine intervention was at work when the DJ picked the next tune. It's like those words were written just for you. When that happens with scripture, that's when the text becomes sacramental for me.

In order to listen for the Spirit of God speaking through the words of the biblical text, I have to start new every time. I have to stop thinking that I know what this particular passage is about, forget that I've read it before, and start over. I have to have an open mind and open heart. But, I also have to bring my life to the text and be willing to let the text speak to me and my situation in life. In other words, I have to provide my own context in which to hear the text. Again, when I do that, there is a sense that the text really is speaking to me.

Response to? Inspired by? Both?

Today's question is: How does Borg’s description of the bible as “a human response to God” fit your own understanding of the relationship between God and the Bible?

Borg takes the approach that the Bible is purely a human product. If the Bible is a human product, it makes the difficult sections easier to stomach. If we find out the historical context of the text, it may unlock some of the mystery as to why someone would attribute certain things to God.

But, I must admit that I don't entirely agree with Borg's assertion that the Bible is purely a human product. I understand his point. If we think that some of the Bible is inspired and some is not, then we're stuck in a vast gray area of wondering what is and what is not inspired.

I'm ok with that gray area. I am ok wit the ambiguity of some of the Bible being human response to God and some of it being inspired. As a writer and preacher, I have certainly experienced this phenomenon. I have preached sermons that were clearly the work of the Holy Spirit, when it felt as if the words were not mine, but truly God's. I have also phoned it in. I would assume the same is true for the texts we deem sacred.

The Bible says...WHAT?!

First, let me apologize for being lax on blog postings. It was part my fault, and part technical difficulty -- our Blogger site insisted for several days that they were "unable to upload new posts at this time."



Now, onto the question at hand. Today's question is this: When have you experienced the conflict between the different ways that people read and interpret the Bible?



If you were in church a couple of weeks ago for my first sermon in this series, then you've heard this story. But it bears repeating because it addresses this question so completely.



When I first discerned my call to ministry at age 17, excitedly, I shared my revelation with my friends. Everyone was positive, except for one friend who said the following to me:



"It's really great that you've figured out that God has placed a call on your life. But I doubt God would be calling you to be a pastor because, you know, in the Bible it says "women should not speak in church"...so maybe, God is calling you to be a Christian Educator, or maybe..."



...he said the following with great enthusiasm...



"...a Pastor's Wife."



So, if you ask me whether or not I have experienced conflict in the different ways people read the Bible, undoubtedly, my answer is, "YES, yes, I have!" It took me a long time, a lot of prayer, conversation, and learning to get past this one.



What became critical for me and my relationship to the Bible was to learn about the history an context of Biblical texts as I read them. Take the passage my friend referred to, for instance. In context, this text doesn't say anything about women preaching. It's referring to women who were interrupting worship with their questions. Without understanding the history related to and context of the passage, it would be easy to misinterpret.



You should know that I am still friends with the person who said that to me. That may seem unfathomable to you. But, I really believe in the Unity of the Body of Christ. Maintaining relationship with people who are different from me expands my worldview and enables me to better understand what I, personally, believe. It also allows me to experience the grace of God in profound ways. There's a lot of grace involved when you are in relationship with people who are diametrically opposed to who you are. That grace is real and so is the relationship that follows even if we disagree on how we read our Bibles.