Wednesday March 16, 2011

Matthew 4: 5-7

"Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: "He will command his angels concerning you" and "with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone."' Jesus answered him, 'Again it is written, "You shall not put the Lord your God to the test."'"

I'm fond of occasionally saying that there's nothing that annoys right-wing Christians more than arguing back to them Bible for Bible. I used to make something of a sport of it - mostly freshman year at Rice. And you could do it.

You can argue whatever you want with the Bible, more and more the smaller chunks you take it in. So then how can we be sure we are being guided truly by it? The heart of the Bible is given to us. Jesus tells us how to find the core of the Old Testament and clarifies the renewed message of the New in doing so:

'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Matthew 22: 37-40

And the first part comes from Deuteronomy 6:5 apparently. I actually totally didn't know that.

It's too easy, somehow, to say then that as long as you abide by these two principles you must look to your own conscience for interpretation of the rest. After all, there's a difference between wanting to do the right thing and living your life by a moral code, I agree with the Little Black Book on that. There's a difference between looking to the Bible for confirmation of what you already think and looking to your Guide, the Word of God, for answers.

Perhaps as usual our only hope is prayer. Perhaps another way to weed out the false interpretations is to think about which came first. Did we or the person pontificating have their mind made up before they went to the Bible, or did we sit down and ask our God for guidance and then examine His holy Word?

I know that I've often been guilty of the former. But I found when I'm surprised by what I read as affirmation of beliefs I have come to is far more rewarding than trying to seek out some kind of theological or Biblical argument to confirm my own opinions. Because in the latter way I'm just making excuses and trying to make arguments to God with how I think He should be. When I find Him preparing the answers for me and putting them in my way, I feel blessed by His care.

I still don't know if I get all of it right. I come up against the interpretations of the Catholic Church in a lot of my personal beliefs, after all. But I don't think that any of them violate the core of the scriptures or of the tenets of faith of Catholicism. Except perhaps obedience to the clergy, in rejecting their opinions in the first place.

We need to not think of the Bible as a source of easy answers - and not just in the answers it gives. It's all too easy to find "easy answers" and "simple answers" and justifications for whatever we thought before. The Bible is a long book that's been through a lot of time periods and had contact with a lot of cultures. Looking to the Bible takes work and humility and prayer. And it takes letting go of what we want the Bible to say and truly listening.

That's kind of frightening.

Dear God, please give me the courage to look. And the wisdom to discern truly. But the courage most of all.