Question Everything

One of the things I want to do with this blog is to question everything.

Everything.

I've been told by many people, pastors and laymen alike, that we're to accept God's word, to accept without question, because the Bible is His infallible Word.

I did, for a while.  Unfortunately, I fell into a snare that I would not have believed possible by doing so:  I elevated a Book into the Godhead along with Jesus.

It's the Holy Trinity, not the Holy Quadrangle, right?  Besides...after finding out that some of the 10 Commandments aren't translated right in the first place from the KJV (3rd and 6th), and still not right in later versions (3rd), you tend to question the rest.  Just like I covered in the first post, masturbation isn't a Biblical sin; it's not even considered "wrong" in scripture, in spite of many pastors pounding it from the pulpit (so to speak...)

So, I question.  A lot.  One of the aspects of the Christian faith mentioned by a very intelligent and educated man recently (Hi George!) is to accept some things on faith, to accede to the MYSTERY of certain aspects of the Christian structure, as simple faith is integral as a foundation.  Ok, no problem.  But I'm still questioning a good chunk.

Well, a lot.

Ok, this is going to hack off some people and likely get me called a heretic...but I don't believe the Bible is the ineffable or inerrant Word of God.

I just can't.  You can't expect me to believe the book that is expected to form the structure, the frame to our lives, the spiritual meat (and milk, for some) we need to live on spiritually, the RULES for successful Christian living, the book that is compiled from oral tradition going back to the BEGINNING OF TIME, ancient scrolls and histories written by hundreds of authors spanning millennia, encompassing even personal letters, the book that has taken more forms in Catholic and Protestant bodies, the book that was translated by the orders of King James while he was burning Jews at the stake for being heretics, thereby losing all possible chance for accurate cultural bias or even basic accuracy...you expect me to implicitly and blindly trust that?

Um...no.

Granted, many incorrect spots have been fixed.  Awesome.

So now the original is mostly correct.  Even more awesome.

But it's still not enough.  Cultural and societal bias is almost completely absent, except from some versions like David Stern's Complete Jewish Bible that meticulously includes the relevant cultural bias, as much as it can.

Scriptures that we now understand accurately relate to situations that are no longer relevant in today's world...the books of Ephesians, Colossians, Colossians again, Timothy, Titus, and 1 Peter all give advice the church fathers felt extremely important...about the care and treatment of SLAVES.  Nor does it ever say that slavery is wrong, or that slaves shouldn't be had.  Some translate this to "servants"...but no, even the "servants" then were usually slaves: Debtors, indentured, or outright just BOUGHT.  Not always...but typically.

So, what ELSE applies to then and not now? Murder?  No, that's always been wrong, and still is, although killing in God's name is still in vogue in some countries.  Stealing?  No, always has been wrong, still is...what could...ah.

Wives and concubines.

Men had wives and concubines.  Abraham did.  Isaac did.  Jacob did.  David did.  Solomon did.  *FILL IN THE BLANK* did.  Very common practice; legal, acceptable, normal.

Not today.  Today, having more than one wife or a wife and a girlfriend can get you arrested and accused of all kinds of sinful charges if your church gets wind of it.  All those guys were the Old Testament equivalent of swingers!  Today?  Not so much.

So riddle me this:  What then is sin?  Whose word do you take?  Man? God? The Bible?

Sin hurts.  Sin is something that is a fundamental break in the order of the natural order.  Murder; it ends a life prematurely.  The Jews believe that when you murder, you kill not only that person's life, but the lives of all that person's future family...in essence, a murder kills not a person, but a WORLD.  So, yeah...unnatural.  Wrong.  Sin.

Now, don't be quick to jump on the "No Execution" bandwagon; even God allowed for executing criminals, so just don't go there.  Moving on.


Some things are just obvious, like murder.  Some, like love and sex, aren't so much.  In Acts, James said, 19 "It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood."

What is "Sexual Immorality"?  Who defines it?  Topless and nude beaches are the norm in some sections of Europe and South America...try that in Louisiana or Mississippi and see what happens to you.

You can go round and round.  For every hard and fast rule in scripture there are just as many questions and questionable passages.

So what do I do?

I walk out my salvation in fear and trembling, understanding that I have to walk according to my conscience and the Spirit's leading and peace.  I understand that my choices could lead to lack of reward at best, punishment at worst, that I might be "saved as though through fire", saved, but with no reward.  I study for myself; I don't accept to be spoon or bottle fed milk.  I chew into the tougher, harder, meatier things, looking for the deeper truths....for TRUTH.

And also importantly, ROMANS 14!  I will believe or accept some things that a new Christian absolutely can't.  And shouldn't!!  You don't give a baby a steak; they can't chew it or digest it...it would kill them!  The same here...some things, while perhaps not entirely beneficial, aren't necessarily wrong, either...and what's ok for me, might not be ok for you.

That's ok.

I've gone fairly far afield I think from where I started, but that's all right.  I'm just questioning.  Some of my answers won't work for you.  Just remember Romans 14; it's between me and God...

Not me and you.