For various reasons, I hesitate to write this post today. But, I learned a valuable lesson last night. I know, epiphany, epiphany... when is this guy going to stop! Ha! Not so soon; hopefully, never! Having been in a bad place where God felt a million miles away, I welcome His intervention, no matter how it might come.
The family and I went to church last night; I know, I can't hardly believe it either. Before even going, I knew the pastor there was going to be teaching out of 1 Chronicles 2; a text that for the life of me, I could not understand why he would choose to do so. So, I have to admit a certain skepticism going in.
From the moment he opened his mouth I could feel the blood rising within. His opening statement was that the various listings of the 12 Tribes of Israel and their frequent omissions or inconsistencies was troubling to him and that he had never fully reconciled these differences. Immediately, every fiber of my intellectual being began to scream: source criticism, document hypothesis, redaction criticism, textual criticism, historical criticism! THINK!!!!! (okay, I am an arrogant human being, but please, give me a little latitude here and try and read further) There are answers, even if you don't like them! Of course, on the way home, discussing this with my lovely wife (who unfortunately has to listen to my rambling regardless, because she loves me... although I'm sure she'd disagree with the HAS too part... let's just say that she makes a wonderful effort! hehe ), I told her that I knew that if I had been the one up there struggling through some of those genealogies, I would have made a horrible mess of it. Talk about making people mad; I probably would of upset my own self! LOL
Oh, the conviction! Do I think critical analysis of scripture is a bad thing? Absolutely not! Will I ever reconcile the bible from a literary critical and/or historical standpoint? Probably never. But, as I sat there and listened, the more I listened, I began to see that the important thing, what mattered and in essence, those portions of his sermon that spoke to my spirit, not my intellect, were the narratives, the stories.
We are a narrative people, are we not? We have our stories to tell, some more interesting than others, but nonetheless, all our lives' are narratives. When we tell our stories, we don't always follow a linear progression; we get side tracked, run here or there and emphasize the things that are most important to us. How does this relate to the scriptures?
Scripture, for whatever else it may be, is a narrative. The Old Testament is a narrative of a people who felt different, called, constructed by a benevolent, yet jealous God, who selects them for grandiose purposes. In places it is brutally honest, in others, not so much. But for all the criticism, and I surely believe that a responsible approach to scripture demands that we ask the hard questions; but, those hard question do not and and never will overwhelm the reoccurring themes we see throughout its pages.
Woven throughout its very core is a message written in a bottle, if you will, to man. A dismal world brought back to life by a creative Spirit who hovered over it's expanse. A perfect man and woman, put in a perfect world only to mess it up. But then we see a perfect Savior taking animal skins to cover their nakedness and sending them out into a cruel world with an adamant promise of redemption. The intricacies of textual criticism may distract, but if you'll take a few steps back and try and see it as a whole, I think you'll see that scarlet thread, irreducible from the very fibers of the narrative itself.
To be honest, I don't care if the bible (OT in question here) was constructed from multiple sources over centuries, polished by this author or that one. JEDP (and a host of variations) certainly has its place in the classroom, and I would doubt the professionalism of any scholar dealing with biblical criticism who fails to take modern scholarship into account. But, and listen to me well cause this is a HUGE BUT, for me in the pew, it makes little difference. In study, I can as Gordon Atkinson says, "stand outside the myth," if you will, and take an objective look. But, when it comes to matters of faith, their just that, faith. And whose to say your faith in six literal days is less valid than mine?
I know I got side tracked there, but I thank God for the stories. Marcus Borg once said about the creation: "I don't believe for a moment that it happened that way, but I don't doubt for a moment that its true." Dichotomy? Sure. But, really, I've had my children tell me stories that I knew were not true, but the story, what it was that they were really trying say to me, was as true and genuine as the person standing before me. What he was saying was that his post critical, post modern, post-enlightenment mind would not allow him to accept creation in six literal days, but for him, he had no doubt that how ever God did it, He did.
How do we reconcile these differences? We don't. Not really. We set priorities and we decide what's more important. It really is that lucid, at least in my mind. Is it more important that I believe that six literal days were six LITERAL days, or is the point simpler than that? Perhaps, we may never agree on the intricacies of biblical criticism, but we can agree that God is real and that his intent and purpose in humanity is obvious and whether we never understand exactly how or when He will bring his plans for us and the world to light, we know with certainty that He will.
Jesus, one day, having withdrawn from the crowds, kn0wing His time was coming near and needing his friends, asked them a poignant question: "who do you say that I am?" You may not readily see the bridge that I'm trying to build this morning, but what I really learned last night is that there is only a few questions that are most important and that really matter. Who is Jesus? What does he mean to me? And, do I know Him in a personal way?
For all my learning and all my ignorance, those are becoming the most important questions to me. Who is Jesus? He is Yeshua, the Son of God; He is the Man and Mediator between me and God. He's my Friend, Brother, Companion, Lover, Apostle, Provision, Sufficiency... He truly is my all in all.
What does He mean to me? I was lost, but now I am found; I was blind, but now I see! He reached His hand into the expanse of my pain and somehow someway, as only He can, soothed the rawness of my soul. He healed me when I cried out; he called me from a tomb of addictions and pain and hurt and loss... He untied the grave clothes that I had allowed this world to place upon me, and He set me free!
Do I know Him in a personal way? I am learning to know Him more and more everyday. His voice is resonating within my soul. When I do something wrong, I feel His conviction. He wakes me up in the middle of the night for a walk, just to talk..... do I know Him? Oh, as much as one can know the wind... but, I am content to say as Peter: you are the Son of the Living God." Not the dead God of theology or my beloved biblical criticism. No! He is, You, are the Son of the Living God! What will you do with Him today?
