The Bible is clear on a whole lot of things. There is a God. He made everything that exists. He has been active and involved throughout history. Humans are sinners. There is a substantial list. I'm not talking about the vague, the marginal, the unclear. What exactly is the Revelation talking about? We're all a bit murky there. Who did Cain marry? No help there. No, I'm talking about the clear stuff. Now, it's no surprise that those who reject the Bible would reject the truths it offers, clear or otherwise. What amazes me are the Christians -- nominal or thoroughly genuine -- who consciously choose to resist clear Scripture at some point or another.
Take, for instance, Creation. Genesis is not vague. It is written in standard historical narrative format and declares over the first two chapters that God created everything. This was so abundantly clear that Jews and Christians never questioned it ... until the 19th century when "modern science" decided that there were natural explanations for how everything that exists came from nothing at all. Never mind the obvious irrationality of the claim. It still shakes up Christians today. Never mind that the science is not as clear or uncontroversial as you are told. Bible-believing Christians will reject plain Scripture in this case in favor of ... some sort of substitute. Take, for instance, the clear instruction that women are not allowed to teach or exercise authority over men (1 Tim 2:12-15). So many Christians today have decided that it doesn't mean what it clearly says. "It's there because women weren't educated back then." No, it's there because Adam was made first and Eve was deceived (1 Tim 2:13-14). It is rooted in Genesis 1-3, not 1st century educational conditions. But modern Christians will not take this text at face value. So we'll ordain women pastors or smuggle in women to take leadership over or teach men. And defend it angrily. Take, for instance, the mutual submission of Ephesians 5. Paul writes, "Submit to one another in the fear of Christ" (Eph 5:21), and it is not ambiguous. He tells how wives are to submit (Eph 5:22-24) and husbands are to submit (Eph 5:25-30) and how children and fathers are to submit (Eph 6:1-4) and how slaves and masters are to submit (Eph 6:5-9). It is not ambiguous. But that whole "Wives, submit to your husbands" thing is right out these days. Hardly even visible in the Church today. And the "Husbands, love your wives" thing -- giving self up -- that's certainly not going to happen either. We're modern Christians and we know better. Just a few examples.
Like I said, that unbelievers would resist this stuff is no surprise. That self-professed believers would is baffling. We appear to substitute, almost randomly, modern thinking for Scripture whenever it suits our fancy. "Science has shown us a better way." Except it hasn't. "Female submission is a patriarchal error." Except it isn't; it's a biblical statement. "No one can expect husbands to give self up." No one, perhaps, but God who breathed this stuff into the writers. And while we congratulate ourselves for having the truth about God and the gospel and such, we embarrass ourselves by selectively ignoring God's word ... which Jesus said is truth (John 17:17). Brothers and sisters, these things ought not be.
3 comments:
I know it feels like a modern thing, but I'm pretty sure Christians have been contradicting clear Scripture since the Apostles. Partly, that's a good thing because those contradictions led to the Epistles. For our time, I think it is slightly differently, though in a foundational way. The modern church has denied innerrancy. If the Bible could be wrong about certain things, we are free to interpret or ignore as we please.
I've never considered it a modern thing. Paul wrote most of what he wrote to combat error in his day, and he corrected it with readily-available Scripture available in his day. I suspect, however, that most of the people who do it don't notice it. Even those people who affirm the inerrancy of Scripture.
It's definitely not a modern thing, but I think that we now have so many other options to substitute for YHWH, that it seems worse than in the past.
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