Sacred Texts, Past and Present

I was on a Zoom call on Saturday, two Zoom calls actually.  The second one was a Bible study with my old South Florida church, a Bible study published in Gather magazine that looks at the ten commandments (yes, those ten commandments in the book of Exodus).  We talked about the language in the text, the language that suggests that we follow these commandments so that God doesn't wreak vengeance on us and on our descendents.

As you might expect, our talk turned to the difference between this depiction of God and the God we meet through Jesus in the New Testament.  The leader said, "Kristin, you're in seminary.  How are you learning to talk about this?"

I talked about the ancient arguments about the status of the 3 members of the Trinity; it was clear that some of my congregation has a view that God came first and then created Jesus, which was a view hotly debated, a debate that led to the Nicene Creed which claims that Jesus and God are equal and have existed together since the beginning.  I didn't linger on this statement, but jumped to the point I feel is most important.

We have a variety of views of God in the Bible, and they don't all mesh well.  Instead of thinking about the Bible as the one, true view of God, the unified story of God, it's better to view the Bible as a record of ways that various people in various places and times have seen God.  Rev. Sarah Locke has called the Bible "fan fiction," which is an interesting way to approach the Bible, which is a different way of saying something similar. 

One thing that I didn't mention is that I think that other pieces of writing can do much the same thing.  I have learned more about God through the works of Madeleine L'Engle than through the works contained in the Bible.  I didn't want to push people's boundaries too much on Saturday, particularly not in the context of a Zoom Bible study.  I'd love to be on a retreat where we talked honestly about the idea that modern theologians might be a better way of understanding God than an ancient text like the Bible.

I know that many of us are taught that the Bible has the truth, that it's one truth, not a collection of truths.  I pointed out that it's impossible for one book to have a complete picture of God.  I said, "Imagine how big that book would have to be to contain the totality of God."

I don't expect people to change their concepts of God or the Bible based on a few comments.  But I'm glad to be part of a group that won't shun me for having a more expansive concept of God and the Bible.