I think many of you are wondering why I've thought so long and so hard about biblical inerrancy. For many, this seems like a useless case of intellectual gymnastics, having little relevance to daily life. I'm afraid that isn't so. I think that my views of the inerrancy of the Bible have had a very direct impact on my life.
During my first and second years of university, I was aiming to go into graduate studies in Christianity and become a New Testament scholar. I had always thought that my scholarship could be of service to the Church; my little bit in helping the whole 'body' move along. "The Bible is sacred text, the word of God, so we need to understand it as best we can and live by it." Or so I thought.
Soon, I came to realize that I just can't believe in biblical inerrancy. With this, came a depreciation of the value of the Bible in my life. It was no longer the very words of God, like the Christian version of the Holy Qur'an. Now it just a mish-mash of religious literature written by Jews and Christians over about a thousand year period. It became to me, in every way possible, a human text.
As this happened, I became less and less motivated to study the Bible. Now don't get me wrong, I still love the Bible, and I think it is one of the most important books ever. Personally, the Bible plays a big role in my life and in my interests. However, it no longer was about "scholarship for the Church". Losing my belief in the inerrancy of the Bible was intertwined with the rise of critical attitude in me. No longer was the Bible off limits for me - "question everything", I said.
Could I really spend the rest of my life--my whole career--studying a collection of texts, supposedly authoritative for my faith, when I no longer saw much authority or certainty in them? My faith was shaky, I didn't even know if I was still going to be a Christian in 10 years. Could I still devote the rest of my life, with considerable financial and emotional hardship, to studying texts of Christian faith. No. I couldn't.
Then I found that several things started to change. All along during my undergraduate studies, I had been pursuing concurrent studies in Religious Studies and Biology. The Religious Studies was because of my initial desire to become a New Testament scholar. The Biology was--VERY long story short--because of background interest and family wisdom. (Family wisdom turned out to be so, SO true). For several years, I wasn't very interested in the Biology side of my degree. I invested a lot more time in my Religious Studies. After all, it was my first career choice. But then with my transition away from biblical inerrancy, away from a certain and strong faith, I found myself gravitating more and more towards Biology.
I began to live a simplified message of Christianity: love God and love your neighbour. Helping people in definite and concrete ways seemed much more valuable in life than throwing around ideas in towers made of ivory.
It was at this point that a career in medicine seemed to make so much sense. My reconstructed Christian faith placed much more value in helping people in their lives than trying to "save them for eternity". I was starting to regain interest in Biology. I could definitely see myself as a physician. I realized just how rewarding such a career would be. I talked to people, I did research, I did lots of thinking. I would really love to be a doctor.
In fact, this is nothing new. I once memorized some 30 major bones in the body - on a family vacation. In elementary school. Also, my goal in initially going into Engineering out of high school was to go into biomedical engineering - I really wanted to make prosthetics and devices to help injured and sick people. But the year or two that I was all wrapped up in Religious Studies had turned me aside from what was a lifelong passion. But it was back.
Giving up biblical inerrancy, and the certainty in faith that came along with it, led to a complete change in career aim: from New Testament scholar to physician.
I hope you all now see why inerrancy is such a big deal to me. It has truly changed my life.
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3 comments:
i'm a second year theology major in lithuania christian college. i've been struggling with similar issues for about a year now, and i've come to similar conclusions. in fact, i had to break up with my boyfriend because he just wouldn't give up his belief in inerrancy. so, yeah, nice to meet you. thank you for this post.
Wow, that's very interesting Kevin. I didn't know that about you. Well, i'm glad that your are going to be doing something you will be passionate about =)
As for me, I am also going to do something that I'm passionate about, and that is becoming a pastor. Even though I believe that certain stories in the bible aren't necessarily historically true, I still believe that God was behind them and that he uses those stories to impact and change people's lives.
I personally love reading the bible because to me, it is the word of God that is the basis of my faith.
That was an awesome dialogue we got going on man, take care.
YAY! i'm commenting on YOUR site. *hint hint* someone should tag me back! dude it's summer =) yay for fun stuff to do. anywho, i hope i get to see u lots and that our work paid off. thanks for helping me today. you ROCK. and i loovve your chatlog shirt. it's so AWESOME. HMmmm what else should i write? I need to write you a book. MMM ... interesting post! my favourite part? the part about you memorizing all the bones. SEEE? i know you're gonna be a faboulous DRAFRA someday! yaaaaayyyyyy......im tireeeDD.and you're playing your civ game. darns. i need a game to keep me awake. okay sir. help me get a blog. dude. WERD Up!-KaRl.
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