Saturday, August 27, 2005

In Search of Evidence

I love the Bible.
Not just because it is the Word of God. Not just because it is alive, a two edge sword with which we find guidance, correction, encouragement, etc... But I love it because it is just so dead honest. Whenever God inspired the writers of the scriptures, for whatever reason, He inspired them to write the whole truth and nothing but the truth. So now, when we read the Bible we not only read that David, the shepherd boy became the victorious king, we also read that he committed adultery and murder. We not only read that Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived, but we also read that in his later years he was led astray into idolatry. We read about Noah's faithfulness during the flood...Only to read about his drunken nakedness after the fact...oops. We read about a bold John the Baptist declaring Jesus to be "The Lamb of God." Then we hear about the imprisoned John the Baptist, sending the timid message to Jesus, " Are you the one?" We read about victories, miracles, faithfulness, and obedience. And we also read about rebellion, incestuous rape, murder and mutilation, betrayal lies and theft. And it isn't as if we are talking about two distinctly separate groups of people here... No, I'm afraid not...these were all the children of Israel. Oh my.... The Bible is dead honest, even when it seems as if it is counterproductive to be so.
One of the things I have learned, especially in my sojourns to the Oriental Institute is that the Kings of Old weren't always exactly as forthright about their failures as they were their victories...in fact many times, they outright lied. And with no press corp to confirm or deny the facts... there wasn't really anything stopping them. But the Bible has a tell all style that rivals that of Kitty Kelly. We get all the sordid details of all the Biblical royals. We hear about daughters being offered up for rape, a concubine cut to pieces and sent out express mail, Peter's denial, and Paul's fallout with Barnabas... Who needs to watch soap operas?!? The Spirit of Truth apparently doesn't get days off. In fact the dead human honesty of the Bible might be the best defense of its authenticity yet.

3 comments:

Constantine said...

So TRUE! That's why I can't stand fundies, or even evangelicals for that matter. It's all so sanitized and as fake as a three dollar bill.

What!? People from the bible drank alcohol!? They had parties of celebration with it!? NO! It was grape juice! They had kids out of wedlock!? No, it can't be! David was a man after God's own heart. Let's write a book about him and market it as a book on “Christian Leadership.” You saw what movie at the theater!?

It makes me sick.

Wow. This post of yours mi amiga got me wound up! I don't remember the last time I heard a "believer" worth their salt be so candid and honest.

voixd'ange said...

Merci C. Merci.

Constantine said...

sotto voce,

What do you mean by evangelism? How should one go about evangelizing? What does it look like?