Diversity, the Bible, and Reason

Have you ever considered how each of us views the writings of Christian scripture through our own personal filter? Many do not view the separate books within the collection we call "The Bible" as if they were actually that - separate books written by a diverse group of writers - but rather as merely separations within a large work, written by God Himself. We tend to see what we want to see, and we tend to overlook what we don't wish to see.

This "merging filter" helps some of us maintain the view (illusion?) that all of the writings - and therefore, writers - agree consistently. Truth is, they don't. For instance, scholars have noted that the writer of the Gospel of Mark had a very different perspective on the nature of Christ than did the writer of the Gospel of Luke, based on the earliest manuscripts available.

When I consider the Biblical scholars that I know personally, they are not that diverse of a group. In fact, the vast majority of them are white, middle-class working American males, just like me. Yet, despite the monolithic nature of this group, if you got them all together in a room to discuss theology, you would find that they disagree to varying degrees on virtually everything. For example, some would believe in a literal hell of flaming, eternal torment. Some would explain hell only as separation from God, while others would argue that hell is simply a figurative metaphor. Still others might say that the wicked simply cease to exist after they die. You would find that their opinions vary on everything from the purpose of man to the nature of salvation and the end of the world. Most of us can't even agree on the details or meaning of current events and recent history!

It reminds me of the joke where two Baptists were stranded on a deserted island. It wasn't long until they had founded the First Baptist Church and the Second Baptist Church! We humans like our independence, especially when it comes to matters of faith!

Wouldn't it be interesting to get all of the writers of the Bible together in a room to discuss religion! What would their various viewpoints be on the nature of God? Or the workings of the spirit world, angels and demons? They were a very diverse group from different regions, classes and eras, spanning many centuries. I guarantee you their opinions would vary just as much as yours and mine do!

Recognizing that the writers, copyists, compilers, editors and publishers of the Bible were human in no way undermines the significance or importance of their work. Personally, I do not question any of their motives or honesty. However, I believe that they were subject to the same human weaknesses that we all have: the propensity to exaggerate, embellish, or remember events incorrectly, or to adjust the "facts" (consciously or unconsciously) to bring them in line with one's own thinking. I believe that some of them had issues with drinking, domestic violence, sexism and bigotry. In other words, they weren't perfect! Nor were their writings.

I used to believe that the hand of God guided the writing, compilation and editing of the Bible so that the King James Version came to us precisely as God intended. Then I read the history of how New Testament writings were reproduced in the early centuries of the Church. Much was revised by copyists to bring the gospels and other books into rough agreement with each other. Further, most of the Bible was not written contemporaneously with the events described, but years - often decades - later by men to whom the stories had been passed down orally. Sometimes over several generations. How accurate (or inaccurate) might you be if you tried to write a detailed account of an event that happened ten or twenty years ago? Would you want people's salvation dependent on you getting it correct? I wouldn't!

My concern with all of this is that some people take these writings, which have been vulnerable to significant human errors, bias and tampering through the years, and give them the distinction of being the "Inerrant Word of God." It seems reasonable to me that, if God had truly planned to give men a divine written law, He would have used a process much less subject to man's weakness and corruption.

My belief is that the Bible is a collection of writings by men who believed in and revered God. These writings contain many truths about God and human nature, but have been turned into something not intended by God: a divine rule book that men have used to sanction their efforts to control and oppress others. This is possible because the writings of the Bible also reflect the darker side of man's nature, including greed, racism, sexism and homophobia.

Only as we comprehend what the Bible truly is - and not what religious authorities, who stand to gain from their own teachings, say it is - can we separate out the godly from the ungodly and realign our living with the true character of God. We must reject whatever traditions of men contradict the revealed nature of God. That is my approach. We must use God's love, peace and justice as our standard to discern and implement the good from the Bible. And I believe that this process should be simple and reasonable, without need of a hundred twisted excuses to explain away obvious contradictions.

The diversity of ideas within the Bible is a testament to the inspired, creative intellect that God has bestowed upon mankind. But we must also use our own God-given intellects to contextualize scripture if we are to free ourselves from the unhealthy traditions of men.