I Just Bought a New Bible

Despite what people might have thought after my last blog post about "being biblical," the Bible is actually quite important to me. I care deeply that people read, consider, and treasure the Bible. In my own life, I don't think anything has formed me more than the Bible has.

For this reason, I get irked when I see shit like this:

On sale at Sam's Club, of course.

We would all consider Thomas Jefferson an American Patriot, right? I wonder if this Bible is anything like his Jefferson Bible?

Anyway, I'm making a shift in the Bible I use. Not to The American Patriot's Bible, but to the new NIV.

When it comes to Bible translation, I am in the camp of people who think we ought to give equal weight to both languages involved in the translation. Many translations, such as the New King James and New American Standard, are very faithful to the original languages but lack readability in English. Others, like The Message and New Living Translation, come off in English as way too forced and campy to be taken seriously.

I'm a gender-nuetral egalitarian kind of guy. I think it's respectful and important to use language that doesn't alienate people through its insensitivity to the ways in which our culture has changed. I want a Bible that reads like I try to speak.

So, since Vintage Fellowship started, I have used and preached from the TNIV - Today's New International Version of the Bible. It's the very popular NIV with special consideration given to egalitarian sensibilities. (The fact that the TNIV has been condemned by the fundamentalist types made it only that much more appealing.)

So now, a new NIV is being released, one that combines most of the gender neutrality of the TNIV with the popularity of the NIV. I'm in.

It won't be out in hardcopy until March, but I just bought it in my Bible app, and will preach from tomorrow.

Here's a very good article detailing what to expect in the new NIV.

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On Being Biblical

*originally posted on December 10, 2010

I was born and raised in a particular brand of Christianity that championed the superiority of the Bible. Above all, we were exhorted in church, camp, and college to "hold fast the faithful Word," to "think biblically," to "run everything through the grid of the Bible." In a very real way, the Bible was the mediator between us and God. We did not ask if something was holy or godly or good. We asked if it was "biblical."

We didn't worry too much about spiritual disciplines, we worried about our "quiet time," which was code for a academic version of inductive Bible study. We slapped each other on the back for making new observations from the biblical texts. We argued over the merits of various interpretations of just about every biblical passage. And we studied Greek and Hebrew so that we could do our study in the original languages, which we surmised got us even closer to God.

This approach to the Christian life is helpful in a lot of ways. With the Bible as an anchor, it keeps people from wandering through life like a person who has lost her compass. It also drives people toward searching, questioning, and seeking ... Which is good, of course, if the Bible is the only place they look for answers. And, all in all, it's not a bad thing to have ever-increasingly thoughtful Christians.

But as with so much else I was raised with, I'm starting to have my doubts about this kind of Bible-centered Christianity.

First, I consider what Jesus said in John 5 to the biblical scholars of his day, "You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you possess eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life." Jesus seems to indicate that the Bible is not the mediator between us and God; he is. How similar have we become to our ancient forefathers who knew the Scriptures but not God when he was speaking to them? That's a probing question that needs to be honestly considered.

Second, I'm beginning to wonder if being "biblical" is the best way to judge a theological system. With so many interpretations, how do we know which one is really right? With so many approaches to belief and life, how can we say with any confidence that I've got it figured out and you are mistaken? With so many worldviews, how can we say that one is true while others are not?

If our standard is simply what is “biblical,” we are left with having to choose who has made the most convincing case based on biblical grounds. And if the history of the church tells us anything, we may live to regret what we claim the Bible teaches:

•The case for the Crusades was made on “biblical grounds.”
•The case for slavery was made on “biblical grounds.”
•The case for torture is being made on “biblical grounds.”

In addition to these, the Bible has been used to justify war, oppression, the death penalty, bigotry, polygamy ... and just about anything else we want to try to justify.

Maybe “biblical grounds” are more shaky than we realize. Maybe we need some other way of discerning what belief systems are good, bad, and ugly. Maybe we need to listen to Jesus again.

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them." (Matthew 7.15-20)

Jesus does not say that we will be able to discern the validity of someone's belief system based on their ability to prooftext their argument. He says very clearly that it is the fruit of a person's belief system that will be the indicator of whether or not their approach to theology and life is good or bad. Fruit is what matters.

How do we know whether or not fruit is good to eat? We look at it, smell it, squeeze it, tap on it and listen to find out if it sounds hollow. We discern and examine it against what we know good and ripe fruit to be.

In the spiritual realm, we know what good and ripe fruit is. It is that which is loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled (Galatians 5.22-23).

So, if I am going to follow God in the way of Jesus, and I am examining the validity of a theological system or a belief structure, I need to ask these kinds of questions:

•Does this belief system promote sacrificial service of others, particularly those who have been unloved previously?
•Does this belief system foster a deep and abiding joy and satisfaction in life?
•Does this belief system make the world a more peaceful place?
•Does this belief system slow people down enough that they can seek to understand one another better?
•Does this belief system lead to gracious actions?
•Does this belief system encourage people to be present in the lives of one another?
•Does this belief system affirm a posture of vulnerability?
•Does this belief system encourage people to be true to themselves?

Recently, I heard a young woman speak about her struggle to find acceptance in the Christian community. She talked about how she tried to conform to the expectations of others, expectations produced by their belief system. And after years of trying, she was unable. The fruit of that belief system was a fragile and fractured young woman, depressed and suicidal. That can't be good fruit, can it?

In all honesty, I don't know where this journey will take me, but I do know that I've got a new compass and a new map. I'm going to begin to care less about whether or not something lines up with my interpretation (let alone someone else’s) of a given biblical passage and more what its fruit looks like

My Shameless Plug for the Day

My article The Doubter's Prayer has been published over at the Ooze. Check it out.

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The Daily Audio Bible

Since the beginning of the new year, I have been listening each day to the Bible being read through the Daily Audio Bible podcast (available through itunes).

Just like with anything, I am sure that the style and voice of Brian Hardin who does the reading won't connect with everyone. But it sure has connected with me. Each day, Brian reads from the Old and New Testaments, the Psalms and wisdom literature. He offers just a bit of commentary and personal reflection and prays. Plus he includes calls and prayer requests from other listeners. I am trying hard not to use all sorts of Christianese when I say it, but this podcast has been a real encouragement and blessing to me.

And it has fueled my fascination with the Bible in general and Israel's history in particular. Just today, I was left shaking my head at the story in Judges of Israel's civil war and the tribe of Benjamin's near extinction. It was eerily reminiscent of Sodom and Gomorrah but with tragic results for Israel. If anyone is thinking of spending more time in the Bible, I'd sure recommend this resource.

The Doubter's Prayer

Discipleship Journal ultimately decided to pass on my article about doubt. So I've decided to post it here while I shop it around for a publisher. I hope Matthew, Aaron, anonymous, and the like 2 other people who still visit the Grenz enjoy the read.

The Doubter's Prayer
He was asking for the impossible. For years, a desperate father had sat helplessly and hopelessly by watching his beloved son suffer from debilitating and even life-threatening seizures caused by an evil spirit. The news of a rabbi who was able to cast out demons awakened his hope. When part of the rabbi's upstart band of wonder-workers arrived in his village, he went to them, anticipating that his son might receive some help. But things didn't go as he had imagined.

Rather than a quick and painless treatment for his son, this father was thrust into pandemonium. The miracle men didn't live up to the hype and weren't able to cast out the demon. This caused their antagonists, religious leaders who felt threatened by the popular rabbi, to question them. Tempers began to flare. As the noise and confusion rose, a crowd gathered.

Into this chaotic scene walked Jesus. Ignoring the crowd that was now fawning over him, Jesus asked what all the commotion was about. The father told him that much to his chagrin and the delight of the teachers of the law, Jesus' proteges were unable to help his son. Straightforwardly denouncing the whole generation as "unbelieving," Jesus called for the boy. When the demon in the boy saw Jesus, it sent him into a violent seizure, prompting Jesus to ask how long this had persisted. "From childhood," the father answered, adding, "If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us." Somewhat incredulous about the word "if" in the father's request, Jesus made a profound statement of triumphant faith, "Everything is possible for him who believes" (Mark 9:23).

Faith is the means of healing for this boy. His deliverance is dependent upon how much and in whom his father trusts. It is through his faith that he will be able to prevail over the demon that has possessed his son. Faith is the means by which all who follow Jesus are to live their lives. By trusting him, believers can find healing and deliverance in their lives. Prevailing faith makes everything possible. Yet when I read Jesus' statement of triumphant faith, I am left with some haunting questions. What about the times when my faith isn't very triumphant, strong, or consistent? If everything is possible for the believer, is anything possible for someone like me who has a lot of doubt?

If the unnamed father of Mark 9 is any indication, I am not alone in feeling that my faith is somehow incomplete. Upon hearing Jesus' statement of triumphant faith, he prayed a simple prayer. He said to Jesus, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief" (Mark 9:24). This prayer contains a profound contradiction: a clear and confident confession of prevailing faith coupled with an honest expression of doubt. Exhibiting his infinite compassion, Jesus responded to this vulnerable and authentic revelation of the man's heart by doing the impossible, healing his son.

Doubt Is Not the Opposite of Faith
Many followers of Jesus are scared to admit their doubt as publicly as the father in Mark 9 did. For some, this fear generates from a church culture that has vilified doubt. In many churches, people feel an unspoken expectation to have all the answers and to affirm them without reservation. Others labor under the idea that admitting the unbeliefs they harbor might somehow erode and undermine their faith. Both church leaders who help to shape church culture and individual followers of Jesus would benefit from rethinking the importance of doubt.

It has been observed that apathy, not hate, is the opposite of love. In the same way, doubt is not necessarily the opposite of faith. The two are not mutually exclusive and can, in fact, occupy the same heart and mind. As they do in the prayer of the father in Mark 9:24, faith and doubt can manifest themselves congruently in the life of a person who is seeking to follow Jesus. Like the boy's father, I am one of those people in whom faith and doubt are connected.

There are times when I am less certain about my faith than a pastor ought to be. There are plenty of specific beliefs that I have my doubts about. The doctrine of the rapture that I learned growing up, for instance, seems downright silly to me. Much to the discomfort of some of my more conservative friends, I am somewhat hopeful that a literal hell does not exist. I am less certain about the rigid creationism of my youth than I was taught to be. And I feel like I am finally taking seriously literary and historical critiques of the Bible. These doubts are of the more intellectual variety that can probably be overcome with further study and reflection.

More significant and troublesome to me are the personal and internal doubts I feel. I frequently doubt the effectiveness of the prayers I pray. I wonder, and not in a worshipful way, how my sin could in reality be forgiven when it so regularly and destructively rears its ugliness in my life. And I almost always have reservations that the system of habits and conventions we call "the Christian life" actually works.

Conversations with friends have revealed to me that I am not alone as a doubting believer. The presence of these doubts does not at all replace my faith. With the father in Mark 9, I can say that I do believe in Jesus. Through faith in his life, death, and resurrection, he grants me the forgiveness and freedom I desperately need. And yet, there remains in me and others like me unbelief that needs to be overcome.

Doubt Can Grow Faith
Doubt can be a dangerous thing, driving a person away from community with God and others. Followers of Jesus have to always be cognizant of its danger. But rather than run from doubt, I am learning to admit my uncertainty, as the father in Mark 9 did, and even welcome it because of the virtues and character it can produce. Just as the revelation of doubting faith brought about something as important as the healing of a young boy, so too, it can bring about important things in my life. In an ironic twist, rather than erode it, doubt can actually help to bolster faith. Frederick Buechner once wrote, "Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it alive and moving." When doubt is revealed in authentic and vulnerable ways, it can help faith grow. In my life, doubt has helped to grow my faith in three specific ways.

Doubt keeps me humble. Humility is a requisite of faith. Pride causes me to live a life that is independent of God, but humility drives me toward trusting him. In the fourth chapter of his letter, the apostle James says that believers in Jesus must humble themselves as the path of relationship with God, saying, "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you … Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up" (James 4:7-10).

My uncertainty reminds me that I am not the most knowledgeable, most wise being in the universe. (Was that ever really in question?) In its dangerous form, doubt can trick me into believing that I am the independent arbiter of what is true. This leads to a noxious pride in me. But when kept in check, the virtuous side of doubt reminds me that I don't have all the answers, that I can't figure it all out, and that I am ultimately dependent on God to lift me up in innumerable ways.

Doubt keeps me honest. True faith cannot coexist with self-deception. In 1 John 1, the apostle John describes how the forgiveness that faith affords is only possible through honesty, "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives" (1 John 1:8-10).

My doubt makes me question everything. I am skeptical of not only God's voice but also the voices in our culture and the ones in my head. The negative side of doubt could lead me to be argumentative, conspiratorial, and ultimately self-deceived. Instead, I want my doubt to keep me constantly pursuing an accurate and honest assessment of my own spiritual condition.

Doubt keeps me hopeful. Faith and hope go hand-in-hand, as the writer of Hebrews points out, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). Hope keeps faith forward-looking, trusting God to keep his promises not just for our lives but also for the world that he has made.

Much of my doubt stems from the fact that the world is not as it should be. I wonder if all we say we believe is true, how can we have made such little progress in the face of poverty, pollution, and pain? The darker impulse of doubt produces a cynicism in me that saps my worldview of beauty and grace. But when it emboldens my faith, doubt makes me long for a better world, which makes me work for a better world, which ultimately makes me look for the return of Jesus who will bring a better world.

The Doubter’s Hero
Sometimes it is easier for Christians to think that the heroes of the faith are the ones who never wavered, never questioned, never doubted. The story of the Bible, however, is replete with doubters: Moses asking questions at the burning bush, Peter sinking in the water, Thomas placing his finger in Jesus’ wounds, an unnamed father asking Jesus to heal his son.

Despite the external pressure or internal fear a follower of Jesus might experience about admitting doubt, it is not heroic to pretend like one's faith is complete and perfect. It’s hypocrisy. Throughout his time on earth, Jesus didn’t respond well to hypocrites. But he did respond with infinite compassion and miraculous power to the unnamed father in Mark 9 who humbly, honestly, and hopefully confessed both his faith and his doubt when he prayed, “I believe; help me overcome my unbelief.” That is the prayer that I am now praying. My doubts are probably not going away any time soon. But as I keep echoing this prayer, I find myself growing more dependent on Jesus. And that’s what prevailing faith is all about.

Let's Do a Little Bible Study

So, here's a passage that I don't remember there ever being a flannelgraph story for in Sunday School.

It has been on my mind all week. Let's dissect it together. Remember the process of Bible study - observe first, then interpret, then apply. Read through it and make some observations and share them with us all. We'll get to interpreting and applying after that.

Some background: Moses killed an Egyptian then ran for his life to the pastureland of Midian. There, he met and married his African wife Zipporah. Eventually, God showed up in a burning bush telling him to head back to Egypt and lead the children of Israel in their exodus. He complains and tries to beg out of it, pissing God off, but finally agrees to go, says goodbye to his father-in-law and heads out. That's where we pick up:

Exodus 4.24-31 (TNIV)

24 At a lodging place on the way, the LORD met Moses and was about to kill him. 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son's foreskin and touched Moses' feet with it. "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me," she said. 26 So the LORD let him alone. (At that time she said "bridegroom of blood," referring to circumcision.)

27 The LORD said to Aaron, "Go into the wilderness to meet Moses." So he met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him. 28 Then Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and also about all the signs he had commanded him to perform.

29 Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites, 30 and Aaron told them everything the LORD had said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people, 31 and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.