Slightly Off
the Beaten Path – One Man’s Opinion
Thoughts on the Bible
I was raised in a Christian environment and spent quite a few years of my life attending the Methodist church. I read the Bible, went to Sunday school, sat through a lot of sermons and in college, was a sponsor for a church youth group. I learned that I should always follow the Ten Commandments, that God is Love, that Jesus is the Son of God and that I needed to walk the Christian path and believe that Jesus died for my sins – or I was going straight to hell.
In my earlier years, I was afraid. Afraid of screwing up - of not thinking or believing the right things. I was afraid of God because after all, he had total control over EVERYTHING – especially including where I would spend all of eternity. I prayed, tried to do the “right” things and think the “right” way and just like everybody else, I never could get it all together. I screwed up – and even though I knew that if I believed in Jesus, everything would probably be OK - I wasn’t absolutely sure of that. So I was afraid.
Naturally, just about everything I had learned about God and Jesus in those early years was based on the Bible – mainly the King James Version. I knew then that this was called the “Holy” Bible for a reason. It was the word of God. Everything that was written in this book came directly from God. It was His Word. It was accurate in every respect. It was a true representation of our spiritual history starting with Adam and Eve. EVERYTHING was true, accurate – and sometimes scary!
The years passed. I gradually began to question the historical accuracy and the logic of some of what I was reading. I learned more about how the Bible was written and how it was compiled. And I finally admitted to myself that some of what I had learned just didn’t make sense – and that some of this book was actually really, really boring. And yes, as these doubts initially crept into my mind I wondered if I was in the process of buying a first-class ticket for an express trip to hell. I hoped not.
More years passed and I started to develop what I believed was a more logical spiritual approach to life. I began focusing less on the Bible and more on a meditative spiritual questioning of our existence and our purpose in this universe. I had enough faith in the power, love and wisdom of God – or at least an all-encompassing logical intelligence – to believe that there was a purpose and a plan behind everything that exists. That there is always a reason – not necessarily “divinely inspired” – for every situation or event that occurs. That there is a logic operating behind the veil of mystery, uncertainty, confusion and chaos that we are exposed to in our daily lives. And I wondered initially why, if God had been at least highly influential in the writing and compilation of the Bible, he didn’t do a better job of explaining things. “Yes, sir, we have your first-class ticket all ready for you!”
Having long since moved past the fear of divine retribution for my presumptuous questioning, I now have what I feel is a much better understanding of the history and even the intent of the Bible. And yes, I have a better appreciation for what it is and what it can do for any of us who might care to peruse its contents.
The Bible is a good book. It’s far from being a history book but it does at least give us a peek at the lives and thought patterns of the people and societies that existed way back when. I can give us an appreciation for the efforts of the ancient historians who verbally passed on the stories, legends and traditions from generation to generation until the written word came into being. It can give us insights into the religious beliefs and politics that were prevalent at various times in our history. It can provide at least a glimpse of who we were.
Too often I think we forget to step back and look at the “big picture”. We focus so heavily on individual chapters and verses of the Bible that we miss much of the really good, pertinent information that this book contains. Sure, it was written a long time ago by and for the people of that time – and it reflects only that level of understanding of life and all its components that existed during those times. If we can work our way past the historical inaccuracies, the misconceptions, the rules and the purposeful embellishments we’ll find a lot of good basic guidance on living productively – and happily – in the twenty-first century. Not bad for an old book, huh?
Oh yeah, they closed the ticket window before I got there. Whew…
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