Spirituality Information - When You Can Walk On Water , Take The Boat ( Part 59 )
Spirituality Information - When You Can Walk On Water, Take The Boat
Part 59
The Jesus Seminar concluded that the Bible is "not a divinely authored text" and that "God did not dictate the words". This was on the basis of their conclusion that over 80% of what it contains are not historically accurate. The Seminar's conclusions have been widely criticised by Biblical scholars, most notably James Barr and Morna Hooker. In his book "The Bible in Modern Scholarship" Barr argues that post-Biblical writers may have had little choice but to make alterations to biblical narratives because they were often handed down through oral tradition before being written down many years later.
But it is not only the text of Holy Scripture that is being questioned, but also its integrity as a record of history.
I believe in a rational, physical universe, and I believe in a loving Creator who has given us the knowledge and abilities necessary to understand it. But scientific evidence for this reality is not conclusive at this point. Indeed, some aspects of science are currently under attack by prominent Christian scientists. However, if the Bible is true and the creation account in Genesis 1-11 is entirely historical (as we will discuss later), what should you do? Should you discard all theology on the basis of scientific uncertainty when there are clearly important truths that could be affected? Most Christians would answer no to that question.
For example, if evolution is true, the Bible teaches that man is either the result of a random accident or the product of millions of years of evolution, depending on your view of creation. If Jesus was not resurrected from the dead, then Christianity, based on His death and resurrection, is false. If God does not exist and if everything can be explained by physics and chemistry and chance, then you have no meaning in life. But many Christians are willing to accept these positions even though we live in a time when there is much scientific uncertainty about these matters. This kind of uncertainty is true only if we define Christianity strictly in terms of what these scientific disciplines teach. But if you accept the reality of God, you will never feel insecurity because God is who He claims to be and will never abandon you.
After all, it would have been impossible for the Bible to include every detail about history accurately in all its accounts. And there are some parts of the Bible that are clearly not historically accurate, such as a reference to a man named Enoch who was taken up to heaven without dying, or a woman named Shiphrah who gave birth after her menstrual period (Genesis 46:7). Yet we don't throw out the entire Bible because it mentions these inaccurate things. We explain them away with allegorical interpretations or simply ignore them altogether. I regard this kind of "inaccuracy" in the Bible as a feature rather than a bug. We know there are some errors and omissions in Scripture, but we have not arrived at the point at which we should throw out the entire story because of them. And there are many truths in Scripture that actually confirm our faith when they are understood correctly.
The Bible is not a textbook on science. It is a book of wisdom and revelation that contains information that could never have been discovered by studying nature, but only through the inspiration of a supernatural God. This is why these books are called Scripture. That is the central message I want you to take away from this book. All too many Christians today have lost their confidence in Scripture because they base their faith on what they learn in schools or elsewhere about science and history. As soon as scientific theories change or new historical evidence comes to light, they abandon their confidence in what the Bible has to say about practical life issues. But if you have a firm foundation in your personal relationship with God and the Bible, no amount of scientific or historical uncertainty will shake your faith because your faith is based on a spiritual reality that you know is true.
Footnotes:
I believe in a rational, physical universe, and I believe in a loving Creator who has given us the knowledge and abilities necessary to understand it. But scientific evidence for this reality is not conclusive at this point. Indeed, some aspects of science are currently under attack by prominent Christian scientists. There are many truths in Scripture that actually confirm our faith when they are understood correctly.
Intelligent Design (ID) is a phrase used to describe the proposition that complexity observed in nature (which would otherwise require an appeal to supernatural causation) can be explained as the result of intelligence, rather than chance and necessity, and therefore that certain features of life and the universe exhibit the characteristics of being designed.
I define this view as a scientific theory because it makes falsifiable predictions that have been confirmed by experiment and observation, even though it has not been confirmed by all scientists. This is what distinguishes it from other views.
Massimo Pigliucci described intelligent design as being "about as scientifically respectable" as creationism.
Conclusion