It really does matter!
The reason the reliability of Scripture is so important is this;
1 If, for instance the Virgin Birth did not actually happen, then what other parts of the story are also incorrect. Maybe Jesus wasn't sinless after all, just a very good man. How do you discern what is true and what is not? You end up with a great story about a man but you don't know fact from fiction.
2 Possibly more important[sticking to the Virgin Birth] if Jesus wasn't actually born of a Virgin then he inherited a sinful nature from his real father and as such is a sinner, we have no saviour and the whole reason for him dying on a cross achieves nothing and we are lost! No sins forgiven, no relationship with God and no means to God's grace.
Dse; I also believe that the most important thing is being in relationship with God and scripture "is one of the things" that enables me to do that but I need to be sure that the God I am following and developing a relationship with is the true God. I need the scriptures to be sure and unshakable because I'm not that clever and left entirely to my own devices would go astray.
posted by Paul Reid at 3:48 PM
7 Comments:
I'm with you Paul. Loving all these posts, very thought provoking.
10:22 AM
This whole emerging church thing is really nothing new. The idea of somethign emerging is that it is making its first appearance, becomming seen, being revealed. Some of the activities that are deemed to be emerging are centuries old.
I agree with what Paul has said on ensuring that what is emerging is biblically sound, and not just sound according to our interpretation of the bible. The bible is, on one hand not a complex book, and should be read for the words that are written on the page. On other levels there is a need for interpretation. The main issues I have seen with some emerging theology is the apparent need to interpret eachn scripture that is deemed helpful to bolster the cause. Oh for a few simple fishermen who think a doodle in the sand is the height of visual illustration.
Keep 'er lit big lad!
5:07 AM
Really good reading your last few posts. Gets the old brain ticking over - and you're absolutely right. It really does matter.
I still don't really get the whole emerging thing at all to be honest - who it involves, what they actually believe - it's a bit vague, but then maybe that's the whole point. Don't think they know either
11:24 AM
I thinks its naive to think that we can pin the scriptures down to one interpretation. Sometime, somewhere people made decisions on how to interpret the bible and it affects us. For example look at the verses about women and mens head covering during worship, or women having positions of leadership. These interpretations have changed over the years and been accepted by Christianity in general.
The example of the disciples who had to meet to decide what do with the Gentiles who were wanting to become Christian required them to define Christianity. Scripture will always need reinterpreting - its a living thing. Do we think that we can say that we have discovered all there is to say on a matter? I think that's God's job.
5:11 PM
For me, the story of Jesus remains the only story worth committing one's life to. It's a story that for many years has deeply challenged me and helped me make sense, not only of the world around me, but of myself as well. As I have got older I have understood more about my own brokenness and my resultant need to immerse myself in something much bigger than I, more whole than I, and more outward looking than I. And so I come with all my brokenness each day and commit myself to being part of the story of Jesus of Nazereth; part of the thread that runs redemptive through history taking its stand against injustice, against pain, against poverty, against lifestyles that rape the earth's resources, against war and against every betrayal of love that takes place on a daily basis across the globe. (Though of course even by joining the story and declaring my committments, I cannot eliminate my own brokenness & propensity to betray - I can simply find myself accepted into the story in spite of it because of the love of Christ, the story's living heartbeat)
My worry though is that by over stating the inerrancy of the book and by over emphasising the minutae of theological "correctness". that the immediate existential necessity for an individual to join the story and become a part of its ongoing twisting and turning and to re-commit to its demands and id-threatening power becomes minimised.
Thus it is possible (I believe) to , like Bultmann and many others, demythologise the story whilst reatining an urgent existential need to be a part of it.
Surely it must further be possible to take an agnostic position on some of the (albeit inspired) opinions of flat earthist writers plying their trade a)back even before the dark ages and b)in the throes of a need to understand the socio/political implications of their own experiences and writings as they were writing them. Intellectual integrity demands that we allow for this possibility amongst some beleivers. But I cannot believe that it is impossible for those of us who in this position to join and live out the story in such a way as to be transformed personally whilst we are in a state of such agnosticism. Nor is it impossible for us to embrace the redemptive vision for society made possible by the outworking of the story.
Surely the book is many things to many people, whilst it is the person of the Christ existentially active in our lives that can make us new creations.
9:54 AM
check out Tom Wright's article on this subject:
http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=17
I think it's a helpful way to look at things...
8:29 AM
Love what I understand of what Ian said.
What I find interesting in some of the other comments is this: the "emerging church" is portrayed, as taking an interpretation of scripture and bending it to suit their own theological desires. I find it strange that the "non-emerging church" seem relatively blind to their own particular interpretative process, and their application of that, in a way that meets their own theological needs.
From my understanding...as children, we know the theology of creedal Christianity, way before we can even read...so by the time you get to a bible, you already know what you are wanting to look for in it. You have already been told which way to join up the dots. This can leave one blinded to their own interpretative process. The lens becomes unquestionable...and everything else falls in around this unquestioned lens. The worship of God, and the True belief...seems more like a worship of our own particular understanding.
Many of us prefer the surrogacy of responsibility in regard to our beliefs. In the same way that we pass off responsibility to parents...in relation to many things...including working out one's beliefs; but this also seems prominent in the way that people engage with church. The preacher becomes the surrogate parent, through which we shirk our responsibility to figure it out, and work it out ourselves.
The parent punished curiosity, cos it killed the cat (which it didn't), and the child accepts (potentially reluctantly)the parents understanding/preacher's understanding.
emerging...stagnating? you could be stagnant in the "emerging church", or in the established church (or anywhere inbetween), and you could be emerging, in the very seat you sit on every sunday. think it might be more of an inner reality. to emerge, is to explore, is to journey, is to risk you faith.
there ya go...some more thoughts.
12:25 AM
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