It was all so much easier when I was at home with my parents. For the most time things like the authority of scripture and the reality of God and the gospel were taken for granted and even to some extent unexplained because they were givens of life. So even without being a fully committed member of the Christian business, I never questioned the Bible. That began to change at A-level stage and the latter stages of GCSE’s where I was exposed to critical methods of studying the Bible. As a result I was thrust into the whole realm of Christians who had different ways of reading the Bible.
This was a good thing to happen to me at this time. A faith unexplored is not worthy of pursuing, because it can lead to complacency and worse still ignorance on the reality of it’s true requirements. So the challenge to what I had believed in, was good and sent me back again to search for what I really do believe about the Bible. Of course recently the authority of scripture has come into question in the light of some areas of Christendom who virtually no longer behave in a way that supposes an importance for the place of scripture.
With issues like the Genesis account of creation, violent episodes throughout and the miracles of Jesus especially His resurrection it is understandable that to the modern viewer the Bible should be admired for it’s contribution to morality, poetry and good literature as a whole, but it would be foolhardy to go much further than that.
Where I’m at currently is a view of scripture that holds high to it being God’s Word – fully authoritative on all issues of life. I know it’s written with the hands of man and is subject to the various cultural and character traits that follow that, but for one document to hold together so well and go on such a journey of humanity from an individual made in the image of God and going through redemption to end up with a fully reconciled relationship with the Creator is more incredible than anything that I’ve ever read. It works brilliantly on so many levels through so many genres. Yet most crucially it highlights the pinnacle and centrepiece of creation itself – Jesus Christ – in a manner that I take on faith to be true and so as it has this reality at its heart with everything flowing from that, the Bible holds such a great place in life that I cannot relegate it to moral code, storybook or anything less than the mind of God revealed in script.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
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