And now to:
What if … ? again
Original sin – not for me. Being born a sinner – not for me. Having to sin because I was born a sinner – not for me either.
Where does that leave you and the cross and all that?
Not sure yet. But what if …
What if this bible we love to learn, study and quote … this bible fought over and still debated thousands of years after it was written … this bible that restricts as much as it frees … this bible without which Christians seem unable to be Christians …
What if we are meant to grow beyond all of that? What if we are meant to keep growing and growing beyond the bible?
Seems to me the bible is not a blueprint – earning salvation by doing is agreed as not where salvation is at (which for all the stuff that IS argued over is quite something).
Seems to me the bible describes a development in relationship. From toddlers of faith to adolescents of faith – maybe even as young twenty-somethings. But then it stops.
But I have been that. And I don’t “stop”. Life and learning continue. Living and learning and falling over and getting up again is living always.
So what if THIS bible takes us to the twenty-somethings? What if the expectation is that by then we each have enough “stuff” to become who we are. To be “I am” as a functioning, loving, living, independent “I am”. To leave behind the being told how to be the “I am” as youngsters in a world of instruction and teaching.
Because as I have not stopped at my twenties, nor have I loved less. I love differently to a toddler and an adolescent and maybe differently to a twenty-something – but loving differently is still loving. Each page and chapter of my life adds something and takes away something.
The essence of love is added, my perception of duty fades. Less “course of least resistance” and more “love”.
And isn’t that what the twenty-something bible invites?
If calling that “sin” and a “sinful nature” is necessary – then the bible has to be taken literally … the Garden of Eden has to be taken literally … Adam and Eve have to be taken literally …
And I have a problem with that.
“In-breeding” is legally disallowed as a formal relationship: I cannot marry my sister, my brother, or my parents. And in-breeding in other species …? The health of the species suffers … the genetic strength of diversity is diminished.
So I cannot take Adam and Eve as the sole source of human life literally.
Which begs the same question of Noah and the Ark: one family and a few animals … ? In-breeding again. And if any beneficent God is anything like this bible describes, then excluding diversity is not where its at. So now I have another problem …
Where does “literal” stop and “imagery” begin … when does fiction become fact … ?
In the New Testament … but why? Why is so much of the Old so easily labelled imagery (or not fact as we know “fact”) but the New isn’t? Why must I take some with a pinch of salt – and some not?
But – most of all – why must I stop at a certain point – become so certain of the bible as fact and literal (a.k.a. “the cross and all that”) – that I cannot explore anything new? Why cannot I consider (aloud) that the cross and resurrection might also be the same imagery … might not be as literal as we are taught … might be another “what if … ?” …
And why does that exclude me from a being a “true follower”?
Because the last I looked, this bible talks about “all” … says “for all” … says “follower” not prisoner … says “freedom” not bondage. It is religion that says “I believe in this and that … so you must as well.”
So what if …
The role of a “true follower” is to follow into places where religion says “Do Not Enter”?
What if that hesitancy … that lack of curiosity … is remaining a “young twenty-something”? What if that is the reality of the sentence “and many went home”? What if stopping at the gate of doubt is just following the path of least resistance? And what if the bible …
Was never the end game?
.
Just me being curious 
As always, you stir my curiosity. The Bible not the end game? I think I agree! What if the end game is a relationship with God where we walk with Him every day, and He speaks His word into our hearts. He is always encouraging us,, even through the battles. The closeness of our walk is always upllfting, always advancing to a higher level.
Is His word still needed when we get to this level, this relationship? What else would He speak to us as we walk along the way? I find the words already given provide me such comfort and peace, I would not want to leave them behind. And I am constantlly learning by reading those words because I am asking for new wisdom, new insights into what He has already said. These new lessons is what He speaks to me as we walk.
This what if is donne already!
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“Is His word still needed when we get to this level, this relationship?”
Hi Pet, and thank you.
I wonder if we could move to desire rather than need. I always think love does not need. 🙂
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At these levels, His word is most likely ingrained in us so deeply that we don;t think about it. It just comes naturally to “think on these things.” So do we need to read His word? Perhapes not. Do we need His word alive within us. Most definitely yes.
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I am a firm believer that there is far more to God than what lies between Genesis and Revelation. I suspect God wants more from us than to blindly quote (and misquote) scripture. I think He is more interested in us loving one another (all) and enjoying (really!) a relationship with Him. Less rules and regulations and more freedom to wander into unknown places and unearth the more of Him that lives in us.
This struck a chord with me, I guess, but one I am very pleased to hear. 🙂
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Lilka, thank you. You have a lovely (concise) way of saying a lot with just a few words!
” … more freedom to wander into unknown places and unearth the more of Him that lives in us.”
L.O.V.E this! ((hugs))
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Paul, the longer I live, the more I suspect people often try and complicate God and often for the purpose of excluding others from His love and grace. I love God but “religion” is for the birds. I attend church but often I have “church” outside on my porch. I often find out there communion and clarity I can’t find in a building. Hugs to you! 😀
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I think the birds have other priorities. 🙂
“I often find out there communion and clarity I can’t find in a building.”
A lot say the same thing privately, yet persist with the building for years and years because they must. Tradition I guess.
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The Church is not a building but a communion of the faithful. Mostly we need exchang of loving with other. Spiritually, once in a while we need the birds, our special Holy places, that we have made our own. A support worker who assists Jessica and me does not believe a triune god, nor any specified meeting, but communes with the Almighty One near streams. The Russians stole his faith, the people, priests in the Polish church made as much nonsence as does the Bible now.
Up the birds, may they teach us to soar
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Always!!
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To me or for me the Bible guides my journey back to God. To me it’s Message is not a literal “you must or else ” To me it is the pattern. It tells me about God and his Covenant with me. It is the same one he made with Abram, God makes all the promises, we just have to claim them, if we don’t then God loses . Once we are back with God our conversation with God continues, the Bible is a Beginning
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Thank you Br Andrew as always. “our conversation … continues” I think so too.
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🙂
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