What About the Bible

Do you ever wonder what you really believe? Do you ask yourself why you don't think and act differently if you really believe what you tell yourself you do? It can appear very rational to compromise what you believe in the presence of what seems like very weighty evidence, common sense, if you will.

Books have been written on what the Bible is and isn't, but wouldn't you agree that it has not changed? To be sure, our respect, attitude, and posture toward Scripture change all the time, but the words themselves do not change. Yes, we continue to have newer translations based on new evidence or new ideas of scholarship, but the oldest actual texts are a done deal. They are unmoving, unchanging, sitting at rest in a museum. All the movement resides in us.

The Bible has been challenged since the beginning; maybe this is true, maybe that (we're talking BIG maybes), but certainly all of the Bible cannot be true. Science says this and science says that, but haven't you noticed that much, not all, of science changes as it compromises and accommodates itself to new data. Maybe Christianity, on the other hand, too often compromises and accommodates itself based on function and finding the path of least resistance, instead of better understanding of what the Bible says. Neither science nor Christianity has progressed linearly, but Christianity is not to be confused with the Bible. There is much in Christianity that you won't find in the Bible.

When it comes to science there have been many, many downright mistakes, and costly errors. Still, science is the common sense of today. The only problem is the science of today will be different in ten years or less. Of course if you have spent years testing, examining, proving your case and reaping the rewards of fame, acknowledgment and recognition you can be very reluctant to let go of your accomplishment in the face of new data, data that contradicts what you worked so hard to produce.

Fact based books and theories of explanation that turn out to be wrong in their basic premise quickly fall out of mainstream thought. The authors of these scholastic, well intentioned and well respected books are soon forgotten, unless their thinking has hurt enough people to be remembered for the wrong reasons.

Whether you believe that parts of the Bible or the entire Bible is true, isn't it amazing that it is still here? Notice how quickly you want to start listing reasons why it has managed to continue to be a major contention between people for thousands of years. Maybe you would do better to list the reasons why scientists are scrambling to explain why the habitat where nuclear bombs were tested is being restored to its natural state so quickly. What about the scientists who are scratching their heads as they continue to monitor how quickly the Mount St. Helens area is being repopulated with vegetation and wildlife? Science is not the final word, but of course, neither is the Bible; that old book that sits in a museum or on a coffee table or on a shelf and continually reminds us we are not as smart as we say we are.