Conclusion
As we have seen, the Bible contains human errors in morality and science. These errors cannot issue from an all-knowing, perfect being. Thus, the Bible must be a more human work than divine.
The Bible seems to gloss over statements of enormous import without going into detail about all the questions we are left desperate for an answer for. For example, who can make sense of 1 Corinthians 11:3-16 without knowing the ancient, pre-scientific reasoning that Paul was using? Or can any person fully understand the letter of Romans? Certainly, no two people can agree on Romans. The Bible doesn’t answer all life's questions by a long stretch: What is the purpose of the book of Numbers, for example, if God could be answering our more pressing questions?
It seems more likely that the Bible was ancient man's best attempt to define God, rather than the revealed, inspired word of God. The Bible certainly contains ideas which I can imagine God agreeing with, but I think considering its errors, it seems more plausible that the writers were touching on the truth, rather than being told the truth by God. In the book of Ecclesiastes, it says "As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honour" (Ecclesiastes 10:1 (NIV)). The bad parts in the Bible certainly debase the rest. For example, I can applaud the following:
"This is what the Lord says:
“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom
or the strong boast of their strength
or the rich boast of their riches,
but let the one who boasts boast about this:
that they have the understanding to know me,
that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,”
declares the Lord."
~Jeremiah 9:23-24 (NIV)
That is a noble statement of God's character. But I cannot imagine God prescribing rules about the keeping and beating of slaves, as we looked at. It then seems that the Bible is the result of the deep, distilled thinking of ancient men and cultures, rather than God's perfect words which beamed down from heaven into the writers' minds. The flaws of the Bible seem to bear a human signature, rather than divine. Perhaps all religions are our best attempt to define God, or the ultimate reality- whatever it may be. We may wonder about what lies beyond, but I doubt we can ever fully define it here below. Still, each one of us must wonder for ourselves. It is part of life.
It seems evident to me that if there is a higher reality, or God of some kind, it wants us to go through life with an element of uncertainty and mystery about itself. Otherwise, I would imagine there would be much more evidence and more direct revelation about it than a Bible that seems irrelevant in a lot of areas to the modern world, but right up an ancient Jew’s street! The Bible doesn’t come with its own commentary, or footnotes of its cultural context- which as we saw in 1 Corinthians 11, is crucial to our modern day prospects of understanding it. It seems like God left a lot of questions unanswered if the Bible really was the unique and exclusive words of God.
It is my own belief, after my years of research trying to answer my own questions, that if God is real, it wants there to be an element of mystery to our existence in this world: we are left to imagine what might lie beyond and what it might want from us. But some concepts seem evident from observation and honest, sober reflections on life. So we are not left in the dark.
One such of these is that love is the way forward for humanity. If we realise we ought to deal with our kindred with love, then we must of necessity, extend this ethic to the rest of the world: if we love our family, then we ought to respect the sanctity of other people's family. To quote Jesus (as the Bible frames it):
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”
~Matthew 7:12 (NIV)
Perhaps this is true, and as Jesus said, we ought to first love (or respect) God, and then carry that love with us into our world and love our fellow human beings (Matthew 22:37-40). I think it would be nice if God saw us as one human family where we should consider all people our brothers, regardless of race or creed.
Love seems like a good ethic to me- one that is simple and down to earth, and reflects a God who is down to earth too. When I read the Bible as a believer, love inspired me, but I wished God could just be that, without all the weird rules. Love is common to all and not far from each one of us. It is the thing which unites us all as God’s creatures. Love is God’s essence according to the Bible (1 John 4:8), but how can God be light without darkness (1 John 1:5) if it permits things like slavery?
We do however find the supremacy of love within the Bible: Paul exalts it in 1 Corinthians 13. More interestingly, is that according to the writer of the Epistles of John, love is framed as Jesus’ only command:
The Bible seems to gloss over statements of enormous import without going into detail about all the questions we are left desperate for an answer for. For example, who can make sense of 1 Corinthians 11:3-16 without knowing the ancient, pre-scientific reasoning that Paul was using? Or can any person fully understand the letter of Romans? Certainly, no two people can agree on Romans. The Bible doesn’t answer all life's questions by a long stretch: What is the purpose of the book of Numbers, for example, if God could be answering our more pressing questions?
It seems more likely that the Bible was ancient man's best attempt to define God, rather than the revealed, inspired word of God. The Bible certainly contains ideas which I can imagine God agreeing with, but I think considering its errors, it seems more plausible that the writers were touching on the truth, rather than being told the truth by God. In the book of Ecclesiastes, it says "As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honour" (Ecclesiastes 10:1 (NIV)). The bad parts in the Bible certainly debase the rest. For example, I can applaud the following:
"This is what the Lord says:
“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom
or the strong boast of their strength
or the rich boast of their riches,
but let the one who boasts boast about this:
that they have the understanding to know me,
that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,”
declares the Lord."
~Jeremiah 9:23-24 (NIV)
That is a noble statement of God's character. But I cannot imagine God prescribing rules about the keeping and beating of slaves, as we looked at. It then seems that the Bible is the result of the deep, distilled thinking of ancient men and cultures, rather than God's perfect words which beamed down from heaven into the writers' minds. The flaws of the Bible seem to bear a human signature, rather than divine. Perhaps all religions are our best attempt to define God, or the ultimate reality- whatever it may be. We may wonder about what lies beyond, but I doubt we can ever fully define it here below. Still, each one of us must wonder for ourselves. It is part of life.
It seems evident to me that if there is a higher reality, or God of some kind, it wants us to go through life with an element of uncertainty and mystery about itself. Otherwise, I would imagine there would be much more evidence and more direct revelation about it than a Bible that seems irrelevant in a lot of areas to the modern world, but right up an ancient Jew’s street! The Bible doesn’t come with its own commentary, or footnotes of its cultural context- which as we saw in 1 Corinthians 11, is crucial to our modern day prospects of understanding it. It seems like God left a lot of questions unanswered if the Bible really was the unique and exclusive words of God.
It is my own belief, after my years of research trying to answer my own questions, that if God is real, it wants there to be an element of mystery to our existence in this world: we are left to imagine what might lie beyond and what it might want from us. But some concepts seem evident from observation and honest, sober reflections on life. So we are not left in the dark.
One such of these is that love is the way forward for humanity. If we realise we ought to deal with our kindred with love, then we must of necessity, extend this ethic to the rest of the world: if we love our family, then we ought to respect the sanctity of other people's family. To quote Jesus (as the Bible frames it):
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”
~Matthew 7:12 (NIV)
Perhaps this is true, and as Jesus said, we ought to first love (or respect) God, and then carry that love with us into our world and love our fellow human beings (Matthew 22:37-40). I think it would be nice if God saw us as one human family where we should consider all people our brothers, regardless of race or creed.
Love seems like a good ethic to me- one that is simple and down to earth, and reflects a God who is down to earth too. When I read the Bible as a believer, love inspired me, but I wished God could just be that, without all the weird rules. Love is common to all and not far from each one of us. It is the thing which unites us all as God’s creatures. Love is God’s essence according to the Bible (1 John 4:8), but how can God be light without darkness (1 John 1:5) if it permits things like slavery?
We do however find the supremacy of love within the Bible: Paul exalts it in 1 Corinthians 13. More interestingly, is that according to the writer of the Epistles of John, love is framed as Jesus’ only command:
“And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love”
~ 2 John 5-6 (NIV)
Note, it says commands in the plural, but then reveals his command in the singular: to love each other!
During my deconstruction, I realised Christianity would be much more simple and altogether greater if love were the only ethic. I could not however, reconcile the bad aspects of the Bible to a God of love. Now I feel like God has answered my prayers and shown me through my own searching, that these bad parts are to be dismissed. I think it is wise to cherry pick: why shouldn’t we accept what resonates with our God-given hearts and souls and reject what does not?
For the last two years after rejecting biblical inerrancy, I have been lost without the comfort Christianity gave me, and felt as if I was drifting out in space trying to replace and redefine it. I turned to near death experience testimonies, but these are all different for each person, and I eventually found that many of these are textbook New Age thinking, which presents its own problems. But common to the great majority of them is the idea that all God cares about is that we love.
Interestingly, Jesus features in many of these experiences- whether or not they are genuine- but I want to believe in something! I find Jesus to be inspiring. What he symbolises as a being of love can leave a lump in the throat. But to me, Jesus is only beautiful without all the strange ancient thinking in the areas we have discussed and elsewhere in the Bible. These I deem rightfully to be wrong, and are of man. Just as it would seem a terrible reality if all the good people outside Christianity shall be cast off by God, simply because they didn't happen to be biblical enough. Being a good person ought to be enough to be loved by God.
~ 2 John 5-6 (NIV)
Note, it says commands in the plural, but then reveals his command in the singular: to love each other!
During my deconstruction, I realised Christianity would be much more simple and altogether greater if love were the only ethic. I could not however, reconcile the bad aspects of the Bible to a God of love. Now I feel like God has answered my prayers and shown me through my own searching, that these bad parts are to be dismissed. I think it is wise to cherry pick: why shouldn’t we accept what resonates with our God-given hearts and souls and reject what does not?
For the last two years after rejecting biblical inerrancy, I have been lost without the comfort Christianity gave me, and felt as if I was drifting out in space trying to replace and redefine it. I turned to near death experience testimonies, but these are all different for each person, and I eventually found that many of these are textbook New Age thinking, which presents its own problems. But common to the great majority of them is the idea that all God cares about is that we love.
Interestingly, Jesus features in many of these experiences- whether or not they are genuine- but I want to believe in something! I find Jesus to be inspiring. What he symbolises as a being of love can leave a lump in the throat. But to me, Jesus is only beautiful without all the strange ancient thinking in the areas we have discussed and elsewhere in the Bible. These I deem rightfully to be wrong, and are of man. Just as it would seem a terrible reality if all the good people outside Christianity shall be cast off by God, simply because they didn't happen to be biblical enough. Being a good person ought to be enough to be loved by God.
It is important to remember that Bible believing Christians can be some of the most compassionately driven people. Many people in my Christian life impressed me with their genuine and sincere love. But they see the world through the lens of scripture, where the hourglass runs low, and the majority are headed to an awful fate without God. This is why they are so concerned about issues like homosexuality and other unbiblical behaviours in society. But perhaps they could relax a great deal if they cross examined these facets of the Bible and evaluated them with their own intellect, outside of the assumption of biblical inerrancy.
In conclusion, I hope there is a God who loves everyone unconditionally. And I hope there is a spiritual entity out there that is like Jesus- but even better than depicted in the Bible! I leave you with this short video account of John Carter, who as a relatively unreligious man, died and had an experience with Jesus in heaven. Jesus sent him back with a message from mankind, which to me, reveals God is all the good bits of the Bible (and more), without the bad bits. Notice, he says nothing of the need for biblical salvation, but only gives an exhortation for us to love each other more:
In conclusion, I hope there is a God who loves everyone unconditionally. And I hope there is a spiritual entity out there that is like Jesus- but even better than depicted in the Bible! I leave you with this short video account of John Carter, who as a relatively unreligious man, died and had an experience with Jesus in heaven. Jesus sent him back with a message from mankind, which to me, reveals God is all the good bits of the Bible (and more), without the bad bits. Notice, he says nothing of the need for biblical salvation, but only gives an exhortation for us to love each other more:
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