People look for the truth in the stories of the Bible with the question: “Did it happen?” Take the classic cases of Noah and the Ark; and Jonah and the whale. There are books and websites dedicated to the search for explanations on how this could happen so that the stories can be true. Or take the big debate between Creation and Evolution, behind the struggle of some Christians to embrace the realities behind theories of modern day science lies this way of thinking: If it did not happen like the Bible say it did, then it’s not the Truth anymore.
So we need to find proof of Eden, or the ark, or the virgin birth and especially the empty tomb. We need evidence like Thomas, otherwise Faith will always be wishful thinking.
But the Truth of the Gospel evolved in a different paradigm, a time way before modern man and his endless experiments on the mysteries of Life. Before the written word, before Galileo, before Darwin, before Microsoft and Wikipedia, this Truth grew out of a community of storytellers. On camelback, through desert plains, over rocky mountains, around camp fires, beside Babylon rivers, under Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman and Barbaric oppression, underneath the rubble of a destroyed Temple and city walls and among families, friends, lovers and former enemies the Truth became flesh and bone.
The Truth of the Jesus Way is not to be found in checks and balances, in scientific proof and in a modern understanding of facts and figures.
The truthfulness of the stories of Eden, Noah and Jonah lies not with the question whether it happened or not, but rather in the reality that it happens... today.
Everywhere.
Whenever I pass the buck on to someone else without taking ownership of my own stuff-ups, the story of Adam happens in me.
Whenever I am part of change and hope, the story of Noah happens in me.
Whenever I sulk when Mercy takes the place of Judgment, the story of Jonah happens in me.
And whenever I allow God to let the Kingdom happen in me, the story of a young girl called Mary, happens in me.
Unlike the X-files, the truth of the Bible is not out there waiting to be proven right of wrong.
No, the Truth is a Way waiting to be walked. It is found in the everyday, ordinary lives of human beings living a life of Faith, Hope and Love before the Face of the Ultimate Truthful One.
1 comment:
Late night last night - discussing the post of yesterday with my beloved.
Our conclusions:
- The Bible is the core of the Holy Spirit inspired "Word of God"
- The Holy Spirit inspired writings of ancient and Modern scholars, preachers and teachers is also part of this legacy
- Our stories (the miracles and the failures), our words of advise and encouragement may well have been taken up in further volumes of the Bible - had it been written in that way
- The stories of Adam and Noah were never in the first person - simply because no one else was there - and is a best a record of the story as told to ....
- These things matter not because we have chosen to believe albeit it with doubts that persist.
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