I had no idea what I was getting
myself into when I decided to study the four gospels in one month. They are short and the first three have a
good deal of overlap, so I figured 15-20 posts (every day or two) would be appropriate. However, if a person wanted to, a post per
chapter is possible (Matthew alone has 28) and there are some verses that could
easily take up a full post. But I am
going to stick to my plan and try to get through the four books by Easter. It will mean that I will be looking at big
pictures rather than details.
As I read, I am viewing Jesus as I
would any protagonist in a story (fictional or not). No matter how we feel about the supernatural
aspects of his life, Jesus comes across as a positive figure with much to offer. He teaches compassion. He promotes forgiveness. He works with the less fortunate. He pities the people enough to send his
disciplines to villages so others can learn of the Kingdom.
But as he exhorts his disciples to
spread the word with warnings that persecution will follow, he makes statements
that I find confusing.
1. 1. I
did not come to bring peace.... I came
to set sons against their fathers, daughters against their mothers. (Why couldn’t he come to bring peace?)
2. 2. Whoever
loves his father or mother more than me is not fit to be a disciple. (Why the need for a hierarchy?)
3. 3. People
can be forgiven any sin ... but whoever says something against the Holy Spirit
will not be forgiven - now or ever. (Never?
That seems to fly in the face of forgiveness.)
4. 4. If
some home or town will not ... listen to you ... I assure you that on the
Judgment Day God will show more mercy to the people of Sodom than to the people
of that town. (Why the threats? Why the
need to punish?)
5. 5. When
his mother and brothers ask to speak to him, he answers, “Who is my mother and
who are my brothers?” and then points to his disciples and says “Here are my
mother and brothers.” (Why this rejection, especially of Mary who is supposedly
part of his divinity?)
In one other episode, Jesus warns
cities who have witnessed miracles but still have not turned from their sins,
that they will be punished on the Judgment Day.
What are the sins that they have not turned from? Are they selfish, uncaring, unforgiving or
are they just refusing to accept the authority of Jesus through pride or
arrogance.
Clearly I am confused and in need
of an interpreter. And that’s the
difficulty with the Bible. How do we
know which interpretation is correct?
This is one problem with interpreting text that has been translated countless times and the language also simplified for a more modern time. Many of the original words had several interpretations. A second is to believe that the text actually contains the word of God (if your belief system includes that) rather than accepting that even those words have been interpreted and filtered through humans even when first transcribed.
ReplyDeleteTo me all that matters is the story. If the story affects me in some tangible way, then I will take something from it. But that is very personal. If somebody has to tell me what the story means then it is the interpreter and the interpretation that has affected me and not the story.
ReplyDeleteThat is the trouble with the Bible. Reading it doesn't affect me in any way. Some of the stories are kind of cool but I don't feel moved in any particularly positive way. I know that is my bias showing but I would have a hard time believing anybody saying that reading the Bible affected them without them already having a large amount of background knowledge through ministers/church or family upbringing about the importance of the Bible.
I am not sure if that makes sense, but the sermon on the mount has some good ideas in it but other people have said the same type of thing more effectively. Not knocking what he is saying but the fact that JESUS said it makes it more compelling and the only reason for that is because we already have this idea that Jesus is someone special.
I believe that you hit the nail on the head, and Jesus' point, I believe was that if you don't believe "the Son of Man" how can you believe God's word? In other words how can you believe in something that you did not see, but not believe in Someone that you have seen.
ReplyDeleteI guess a modern comparison would be do you believe that there is such thing as a billion dollars? Have you ever seen a billion dollars? No? But you have seen what a Billion Dollars has done though. - FoT
I am a bit confused here. I have no problem believing in some of the things Jesus said. But that doesn't mean I have to believe everything he said. I believe that much of his teachings are worth following but I do not believe the motivation - i.e. God's word - is necessarily behind those teachings. There have been lots of good teachers who have tried to tell us how to best lead our lives. Some base their teachings on religious faith and others don't. Nobody would suggest that any of them are speaking as if from God yet people believe that Jesus is speaking for God or even as God. I guess like some of the people at that time, I too am wondering where he gets his authority.
ReplyDelete