Purpose Driven Life 9
I come from a quantitative background (math, statistics, finance). It just jumps into my head, “How could you build a wooden structure for 120 years without it wearing out before you finished”; how all the land animals would fit into one structure. And once they fit, how they did not suffocate or get sick with 6 months of confinement. There are a lot of questions that I just can't get comfortable with.
I have figured a way out, however. It has to do with two basic facts, one about reality and the other about the Bible.
In reality we have only a limited ability to examine the past. Whenever we make statements about the past we are projecting based on what we can see today. That process is called extrapolation. From math we have a very nice finding that the further into the past or future you extrapolate the more unreliable the answers. And at no point can we use extrapolation to say what did happen but only what is “likely to” or “could possibly” have happened. So, that gives me enough to suspend disbelief long enough to see what is behind the story.
The second key is about the Bible. When the US sent a probe out into deep space, they wanted to send a message to any life that would find it. They had no idea what kind of being that would find it. So they put symbols on it that they thought any life form would recognize: dots that followed the ratio pi, an image of a solar system with nine planets, an embossed male and female figure. The message had to be something that a viewer with a completely different background could understand.
The Bible is a lot like that. The goal is not a detailed historical record but to convey the truth about our spiritual journey. Going back a few chapters, we see the emphasis and the value is on the eternal not the temporary. That is why the gist of the Bible is the spiritual truths not the historical facts. (For the more fundamental among us, I am not disputing the historical facts since both proof and disproof are not possible.)
Those spiritual truths are clothed in stories that anyone can relate to. Stories of family, love, conflict and reconciliation. The details are left particularly vague.
One reason for that is that the language and knowledge changes. Even using the most accurate concepts of the ancients had would seem childish or erroneous to us. And our most advanced science would seem infantile and likely wrong to a reader 100 years from now. The spiritual truths however are relevant to every person in every culture and every time. Amongst them:
Adam and Eve - Woman and man are counterparts of each other.
The Fall - It is in human nature to want to “be as Gods” and invariably leads to loneliness and loss.
Cain & Able - If you allow jealousy in your life “sin is lurking at the door”.
Noah - God cares for each individual and ‘is not willing that any should perish.’ God will not tolerate sin. God cares for all creation, each animal and being.
Speaking only for myself, I find it useful to treat the Bible as “a context” for life. The situations described often fit well to what I am experiencing. One day I am challenged go beyond myself like Esther, the next downhearted like Elijah. And the stories give characteristics of good and bad responses to many situations.
I have figured a way out, however. It has to do with two basic facts, one about reality and the other about the Bible.
In reality we have only a limited ability to examine the past. Whenever we make statements about the past we are projecting based on what we can see today. That process is called extrapolation. From math we have a very nice finding that the further into the past or future you extrapolate the more unreliable the answers. And at no point can we use extrapolation to say what did happen but only what is “likely to” or “could possibly” have happened. So, that gives me enough to suspend disbelief long enough to see what is behind the story.
The second key is about the Bible. When the US sent a probe out into deep space, they wanted to send a message to any life that would find it. They had no idea what kind of being that would find it. So they put symbols on it that they thought any life form would recognize: dots that followed the ratio pi, an image of a solar system with nine planets, an embossed male and female figure. The message had to be something that a viewer with a completely different background could understand.
The Bible is a lot like that. The goal is not a detailed historical record but to convey the truth about our spiritual journey. Going back a few chapters, we see the emphasis and the value is on the eternal not the temporary. That is why the gist of the Bible is the spiritual truths not the historical facts. (For the more fundamental among us, I am not disputing the historical facts since both proof and disproof are not possible.)
Those spiritual truths are clothed in stories that anyone can relate to. Stories of family, love, conflict and reconciliation. The details are left particularly vague.
One reason for that is that the language and knowledge changes. Even using the most accurate concepts of the ancients had would seem childish or erroneous to us. And our most advanced science would seem infantile and likely wrong to a reader 100 years from now. The spiritual truths however are relevant to every person in every culture and every time. Amongst them:
Adam and Eve - Woman and man are counterparts of each other.
The Fall - It is in human nature to want to “be as Gods” and invariably leads to loneliness and loss.
Cain & Able - If you allow jealousy in your life “sin is lurking at the door”.
Noah - God cares for each individual and ‘is not willing that any should perish.’ God will not tolerate sin. God cares for all creation, each animal and being.
Speaking only for myself, I find it useful to treat the Bible as “a context” for life. The situations described often fit well to what I am experiencing. One day I am challenged go beyond myself like Esther, the next downhearted like Elijah. And the stories give characteristics of good and bad responses to many situations.
posted by Mark at 18:49
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