What is the Bible? A New Paradigm to Consider

I was raised to revere the Bible as the inerrant, infallible, inspired Word of God.  It was in some ways a rule book, teaching us what to do and not do.  It was like a constitution to live by.  It was a reference book or owner’s manual to understand God and man.  

But there were problems with this approach.  There are contradictions, that despite attempts to reconcile, don’t seem to be resolvable.  There are portions of scripture that leave me wondering if they are examples for what I should do, or should not do!

Now, after quite some time and effort to consider this, listening to many varied voices of authority, I am trying on a new paradigm.  I am approaching the Bible more like a carefully curated anthology of writings, by people, about people and their relationship to God.  They represent humans’ understanding of God and the world from a human perspective at a given point in time and place.  These writers were influenced by God, by others, by their culture, by their environment and by experience.  These writings have different purposes, generally to record a curated history and to influence their readers.  

Because the Bible stories were eventually written down, after the fact (there are exceptions, such as the epistles), with a specific purpose in mind, they were biased writings, historically incomplete in that only details were included thoughtfully chosen by the authors according to their purposes.  Some of the authors tell you this (John and Luke for example).  By comparing portions of the Bible that tell similar stories (Samuel and Kings with Chronicles, and the four Gospels and Acts, for example) you find that details differ; some things are left out, some accounts disagree.  

If you don’t believe this, look at Bart Ehrman’s list to start with: https://www.bartehrman.com/contradictions-in-the-bible/.  There are other lists as well!

There is a choice to be made.  You can deny that the contradictions are real and come up with some explanation that satisfies you.  Or you can accept the contradictions as real.

If you accept the contradictions as real, and believe that the Bible is, word by word, inspired, inerrant and infallible, you have another decision to make, which may present a crisis of faith for you.  You can ignore the issue and keep on going as if the contradictions were not there, hoping that God will work it out sometime in the future.  Or, as Bart Ehrman sadly does, you can decide to throw the whole thing out, including your faith. Or, a third option is that you can reexamine the Bible from another paradigm, preserving your belief in God.

I have chosen to change paradigms.  Through the help of countless authors and podcasts, I have come to peace with a new paradigm without losing my faith.  Actually, my faith is stronger now than ever, and more energized than ever as I believe God is inviting me into an adventure to know him better!

How do I decide what to believe about the Bible?  I run it all through the filter of Jesus who tells us to love God and love our neighbor.  Jesus, as the revelation of God in human flesh, is our ultimate example; all else is interpreted in light of his teaching.  Of course, this might be considered circular reasoning; I believe Jesus because I believe Jesus was accurately represented by human authors, because what is recorded about Jesus is consistent with Jesus’ teaching (as written by people with an agenda).  To get to this point requires some input of reason, tradition / other people, the Holy Spirit, and ultimately requires faith in “things unseen”.

So, when I read in the Bible about slavery, and the way women are treated as property, and genocide commanded by God, and so much more, I have to ask myself, “Is this what Jesus teaches us to do?”  If not, then I need to consider other ways to understand these accounts than to credit God with commanding or sanctioning these things.

Key resources that have helped me become comfortable with this new paradigm are writings and podcasts from Richard Rohr, the magazine Christian Century, and The Bible for Normal People podcast with Peter Enns and Jarad Byas.  Earlier in the journey, helpful resources included Premier Unbelievable podcast when it was hosted by Justin Brierley (I don’t listen much since he left in 2023), as well as books and podcasts by Brian McLaren and N. T. Wright.

Penal Substitutionary Atonement?

Penal Substitutionary Atonement?

That’s what I used to think I believed!

Then, quite some time ago I was introduced to several OTHER atonement theories.  

Other “theories”?  What do you mean “theory”?  Isn’t it clear what the Bible teaches?

Well, maybe not so much!

I “grew up” in the Evangelical world, with the Campus Crusade bridge, Chick tracts and other similar evangelistic tools.  The message went something like this:

·      God is holy and can’t tolerate sin in his presence.

·      Man chose to sin, and has therefore separated himself from God.

·      God as a just judge is angry with sin / man and requires retribution.

·      Therefore, man faces eternal conscious torment estranged from God, forever aware of his short comings.

·      However, out of love for us, Jesus steps in an takes the punishment for us!

·      If we “accept” Jesus’ payment as a gift, all is good, and we live forever in heaven with God instead!

I was challenged to think this through more deeply when I heard someone else describe what they were hearing in this message:

·      God is an angry God that required vengeance when he was disobeyed!

·      God’s Son stepped between us and God and took the brunt of God’s anger.  God beat up his Son to get his anger satisfied! (God may still let us feel some of his anger from time to time anyway! Think about Annanias and Sapphira, the guy who died because he took the Lord’s supper in an unworthy manner in I Corinthians 11, etc.)

·      If you “accept Jesus as your personal savior”, you are OK with God; sort of.  But there still are some concerns (especially for some of us who don’t believe in eternal security or election) such as The Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25), and the “I never knew you (Matthew 7)!” 

So, as it was pointed out by an “outsider”, to him, my God is a vengeful child abuser!  He is just like so many of those other fickle gods of mythology who need appeased! 

What about all that stuff about God is Love?  I Corinthians 13 talks about love being forgiving!  In the Lord’s prayer, we are told we need to forgive if we are to be forgiven!  Does that allow us to kick the dog first when we are angry before we forgive someone?

Something doesn’t mesh here!

Personally, I like some of the other atonement theories better, especially Christus Victor, for example!  I know there exist passages that seem like a court room, or are transactional, requiring punishment or payment for sin, but I tend to think we are missing something here either in what was meant, or maybe carrying the illustration too far.

So, for me, for right now, in my understanding of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit, being one consistent God of love, I need to reject penal substitutionary atonement, at least in the form it was taught to me.

I can only begin to understand what all Jesus and his Father accomplished on the cross, but I choose to believe it was pure love, not anger!  I hear Jesus ask the Father to forgive his executioners!  

But didn’t Jesus cry out asking why his Father had forsaken him?  For those who didn’t know the Psalms, it indeed appeared that Jesus was rejected, forsaken by God!  But this was only code!  Read the rest of Psalm 22!  Jesus was invoking the beginning of the Psalm to encourage those who knew the rest of the Psalm that his death was not the end, but the path to victory, to triumph, to exaltation!  It was not defeat, as it appeared for the moment.

What appeared as an angry God lashing out at Jesus and then turning his back on him to let him die, was NOT what actually happened!  Jesus’ coronation on the cross, followed by his resurrection, was the inauguration of his new kingdom, to be governed by love, which includes forgiveness, and much more!

Indeed, Jesus is the Victor!  He is risen indeed!

Individual Responsibility!

Listening to a radio news show this past weekend, I heard a conservative / republican state that for him the difference between his core values and those of democrats / liberals was individual responsibility.

As he explained, it was up to him whether he succeeded or not.  If he achieved success, he took the credit; if he failed, he took the blame.  He wanted the government and society to be hands off, to get out of his way to compete and succeed.  (Sounds more like a libertarian maybe?). 

He stated that democrats / liberals wanted to credit / blame systems for success / failure, and therefore were interested in promoting and improving / complicating  the system, which would hinder personal achievement for some (him) in an attempt to help elevate those who would otherwise fail / lose.  He wanted no part of that!

Wow!  How honest!  

No wonder so many wealthy and privileged people lean right / republican!  They tend to be the “winners” in the game of life!  However, I suspect many are blind to a significant source of their success.  Not to say that they didn’t work for it, but they may fail to see their unearned advantage / privilege that gave them an edge (male, white, born in America, historical cultural setting, inherited wealth / status, education…).

But what really confuses and frustrates me is that those who claim to be followers of Christ seem to buy into the conservative mindset and fail to see what Jesus and the Bible in general taught!  (Oh, but didn’t Jesus say that God helps those who help themselves?)

I too was guilty of this thinking throughout the early years of my life!  My dad (white, male, born in 1937 in the U.S.) pulled himself up “by the bootstraps”.  He worked hard but he also had an advantage.  (To be certain, he had disadvantages too: his father died when he was a teenager, he lived in relative poverty as a child…) 

I too had social advantages (male, white, born in the U.S. in 1957), was gifted with health and intelligence from God, and was able to build on my father’s success, obtain education, and add more wealth and social status.

I was tempted to pray, like the Pharisee, “Thank you Lord that I am not like others!”  Rather I needed to be confronted with the truth that,  “To whom much is given, much will be required!”  

Why was I given much? 

To work toward making God’s Kingdom a reality on earth now!  To help the poor, the sick, those imprisoned by the system, those who mourn, the humble, the hungry, the widow, the orphan, the stranger…. To make the road straight and level for all to travel.  To abolish the artificial differences of status / worth based on gender, race, wealth….  To promote unity, and sufficiency for all.

I guess that makes me a liberal, since I want to change / improve the system to promote the common good, to level the playing field, to minimize, if not eliminate the winners and losers’ mentality.  It need not be a zero sum game!

With Christ, all can win!