Exactly, Robert! Good stuff.
Some things the Bible says cannot be explained away. It really says some of the things that modern readers find difficulty reading. The challenge is not to not question, but whether or not it is useful to you. Most people don't realize that they have been doing that with the Bible all of their lives.
Some things the Bible says cannot be explained away. It really says some of the things that modern readers find difficulty reading. The challenge is not to not question, but whether or not it is useful to you. Most people don't realize that they have been doing that with the Bible all of their lives.
How many people do you meet that spend all kinds of time in Joel or Obadiah? How many people just love the messages of Titus and Jude? While some people may say that the entire Bible is applicable and complete, they spend most of their lives compiling texts that are far more useful to them--like The Purpose-Driven Life and The Ragamuffin Gospel. Without saying it specifically, most people are creating personal canons that don't include many books of the canonical Bible.
What's more is that their canons are wide open and growing or shrinking with new concepts and texts. When a new book, like Celebration of Discipline, helps a person understand how to better live a Christian's life, their canon grows. Suddenly that person is looking to Richard Foster and committing his words and principles to memory and application instead of one of Paul's books. That is the very reason, I hope, that your pastor has wisely instructed you to open the door to your mind and allow the flow of ideas. You are creating your canon and you may not have even realized it.
That is the very way I view the non-canonical works. The Gospel of Judas is a flow of ancient ideas, as is Judith, Bel and the Dragon, City of God, and who knows how many other texts. The canonical gospels even reflect this idea. The Jews got Matthew, the gentiles got Mark and Luke, and the Gnostics got John. If one story would have sufficed for all people then we would only have one Gospel, but the story needed different tellings and applications.
I'm proud to know that your mind has opened. It's going to be a rough journey, and the rough part hasn't even started. In fact, it's going to last a long, long time, but the end result is not only confidence in yourself, but in what you're reading. The details may not make sense, but that's because they may not have been meant for you. Eventually, you should write your own. It won't apply to everyone, but you will have made your contribution to the canon and someone else will learn to do the same things you did--or they won't; it depends on what they need.
Again, that's the beauty. It's not that our art is the greatest in the museum, it's that our art is in the museum!
That is the very way I view the non-canonical works. The Gospel of Judas is a flow of ancient ideas, as is Judith, Bel and the Dragon, City of God, and who knows how many other texts. The canonical gospels even reflect this idea. The Jews got Matthew, the gentiles got Mark and Luke, and the Gnostics got John. If one story would have sufficed for all people then we would only have one Gospel, but the story needed different tellings and applications.
I'm proud to know that your mind has opened. It's going to be a rough journey, and the rough part hasn't even started. In fact, it's going to last a long, long time, but the end result is not only confidence in yourself, but in what you're reading. The details may not make sense, but that's because they may not have been meant for you. Eventually, you should write your own. It won't apply to everyone, but you will have made your contribution to the canon and someone else will learn to do the same things you did--or they won't; it depends on what they need.
Again, that's the beauty. It's not that our art is the greatest in the museum, it's that our art is in the museum!
