Can we get together for a Bible study?

The following post is an open letter from a dear friend, who for reasons related to his employment wishes to remain anonymous.

Dear brothers and sisters,

First, I would like to thank you for your concern. You are genuinely worried that people will fall away from Christ if they are allowed to question the absolute truths you hold so dear. I am deeply touched that you would be worried enough about my eternal destiny to start a web page, a DVD "ministry" and a nationwide campaign just to make sure I stay saved.

You are doing your best to defend a specific traditional systematic theology and traditional values. And you are backing up your beliefs by quoting from the Bible. Thanks for clarifying those beliefs and telling us where you get them.

My goal, since the time I was saved as a child, has been to get closer to God, to know His word, and to hear His voice. (Oddly enough, the emergent/emerging leaders whose books I’ve read claim to have the same goals).

In my desire to grow closer to the Lord, I dove into His word. I read chapter after chapter and book after book. The beauty and majesty of the Psalms overwhelmed me. The wisdom of the Proverbs guided me. But most of all, the patient and loving teachings of Jesus drew me in. I wanted to be more like him.

In the Bible, I found confirmation of all the traditional beliefs I have been taught in Sunday School. I found the verses (which you quote so eloquently) convincing enough to affirm my beliefs (the same beliefs you hold to be absolute truth).

But I wasn’t content to stay at that level. I still wanted to get closer to God. I wanted to be so close that I could hear his voice. So I read the Bible again and again and again. Each time I found new insights and ideas.

Occasionally I found things that confused me. Usually my Pastor could explain them to me. But there have been quite a few things I’ve run across that have me stumped.

These things that I found weren’t just difficult. They challenged my beliefs.

Here are a few of them:

• Is God good, just, merciful, loving and kind? 1 John 4:7-8
• Or does God lie sometimes to get His way? 1 Kings 22:23
• Should we love our enemies? Matthew 5:43-48
• Or should we kill our enemies? 1 Samuel 15:2-3
• Does God love everyone and want to save them all? 2 Peter 3:9
• Or does God harden some people’s hearts so he has an excuse to kill them? Exodus 7:3
• Does God tempt people? Genesis 22:1
• Or not? James 1:13
• Do we continue to sin after becoming Christians? 1 John 1:10
• Or not? 1 John 3:9
• Is Israel God’s special people? Deuteronomy 32:7-9
• Or not? Amos 9:7
• Is God unchanging? Malachi 3:6
• Or does He sometimes feel regret for what He’s done and undo it? Genesis 6:6
• Is the entire Bible, from cover to cover, really saying what God wants it to say? 2 Tim 3:16
• Or has it been changed against God’s will? Jeremiah 7:22, Jeremiah 8:7-8
• Is there one God? James 2:19
• Or is there a Divine Council with many gods? Psalm 82:6

These words from the Bible caused me grief.

Dear brothers and sister, I now have two choices if I want to honestly address those passages of scripture:

1. I could say that the traditional beliefs (which you call absolute truths) I have been taught are not expansive enough to contain all that the Bible says about God and His world. If I do that, I would be questioning the absolute truth claims you hold so dear. OR...
   
2. I could go back to the Bible and find “explanations” for the difficulties. But then I would be questioning the clear meaning of the inerrant word you hold so dear. For example, perhaps we could say the gods in the Divine Council (Psalm 82:6) are really angels. Unfortunately, that is not what the text says. It calls them Elohim (The generic word for God). To make this verse fit with my beliefs would require that I assert that the clear meaning of the Biblical text is wrong.

By saying that I can’t have a dialogue or discussion where I question the “absolute truth” or the “inerrant word of God,” you have placed me in a position where no matter what I say gets me condemned as a heretic or a tool of Satan.

So, now I am stuck. Which has more authority? The absolute truth claims you make about God? Or the inerrant Bible you hold so dear? So what am I to do with this dilemma? Which horn do I take?

Let me restate some assumptions I think I share with many postmodern or emergent folks (I realize these aren't necessarily equivalent terms).

• We want to be Godly.
• We want to grow closer to God.
• We want to be like Christ.

But when we try to talk about or think through these difficult issues, which were raised by your absolute truth claims and your inerrant Bible, we are labeled Satanic.

My brothers and sisters, I propose that we sit together and read the Bible. We can talk through these things together. If the Bible is our authority, then we should allow it to modify our beliefs. If our beliefs are absolute truth, then they should modify the way we read scripture. Perhaps there is a way between the horns of this dilemma.

Maybe we need to do a little of both. Only together as God's people can we wrestle through these things and find a solution that helps us grow closer to God and closer to each other.

Lord, guide us as we seek to be more like you. Amen