Wednesday, 20th September, 2006

Back again!

Over the last few years I have been used to questioning validity of the Bible, the more I reflect on these things and offer my thoughts to God, and examine them with other people the more secure I become. But reading the preparatory reading has made me wonder how good a theologian I could be. I still feel the gospels are literal events, God interacting with humanity.

Scripture: Source of Christian Theology

How should I put these questions?

Tying Gospels to Old Scripture and the parallel we see in them.

Does the fact the Gospels convey alternative messages, reflecting on events in earlier scripture distract from the plausibility of the event, or did it enforce the message that Jesus was conveying to the devout Jewish community? I believe Jesus had a way to make contact to open their ears so they could listen. Jesus’ actions in the possibly few isolated events that were documented were probably remembered and chosen for their theological content for the messages they contained.

Their Validity and Literal Interpretation

It doesn’t matter if they are not binding statements. Jesus’ life as it is written on paper differs from Gospel to Gospel, as it should, with all the word of mouth, re-writing and translation in those first 60 years. If they were 100% the same we would question the validity of more than one source. Much as we find it difficult to find the exact account in different newspapers reporting the same international event, we find differences and interpretations of the life of Christ in the Gospels and books of the NT. What is important is the events of the last few years of the life of one man and Gods physical interaction through Christ with humanity. If we choose to ignore the literal and only look for the theological embodiment then the scriptures could be argued to have no authority, they could be deemed to be the result of a human philosophical need for a God.

Gods Word or Mans?

I read, in this Introductory essay that Paul’s hand in Romans was of his own interpretation from Gods inspiration and that he had not produced a transcript of Gods own words. If we believe we have autonomy of our own actions this is almost certainly correct. As we see in Romans or the epistles, Paul’s own personality and his experiences with others shape his writing. If it wasn’t for Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, what would he have written at this time in his life? Would he have written at all? The fact that he had a message to all humanity was consequence of God directly impacting on the life of Paul. The essence of Gods message and his will is there for us to recognize in Paul’s writings as it is in any scripture Old or New.