The Ultimate Authority

For years I used the Bible as my ultimate authority to tell me what was right and what was wrong.  And I believed that the Bible spoke conclusively and clearly on moral issues.  “Uncompromising” was a word that I took pride in.  Gray was not something I acknowledged.  There was no excuse for sin.  The Bible clearly laid out what was right and wrong. 

But a few years ago, I began to face the reality that the Bible frequently contains verses that seemed to both approve and condemn the very same behaviors/beliefs.  I found verses to support both sides of various “moral” issues such as; War, Death Penalty, Assisted suicide, Drinking, Smoking, Marijuana, Polygamy, Slavery, and the submission of women.  And I found verses to support both (or many) sides of various theological issues such as; The tribulation and rapture, Once saved always saved, Predestination, Speaking in tongues, Baptism, Hell, Salvation, Creation interpretations.

For many years I relied on pastors to help me figure out these (and many other) seeming contradictions.  These were respected and educated pastors who were known for preaching “from the Word”.  But if I honestly look at most of the sermons I've heard, I see that they typically consist of "studying" a passage (1-5 verses??), and then using that content as a springboard for the pastor to discuss whatever (usually at least tangentially related) topic they wanted to cover that day.  Sometimes it would be a presentation about the gospel, or some current cultural/political battle, or some fundraising campaign which was sprinkled with other Bible verses (taken out of context).  Frequently they would include personal and humorous anecdotes to illustrate their points.  If they ever did address a thornier theological issue that was present in the text, I've noticed that they always seem quite sure that what they have been taught by their particular professor(s) from their particular denominational seminary is really the truth (and the other pastors who were taught differently in their different seminaries are surely wrong).  In short, they are not really teaching "the Bible", they are really teaching the current evangelical worldview (indoctrination) using the Bible as an unquestionable justification.

And what I see is that intelligent and educated men differ greatly and yet are convinced that their particular interpretation of this "ultimate authority" is the correct one.  I have really come to believe that maybe they are no more capable to find the inherent truth in the Bible than I am.  This is not to say that I am as educated as they are, but perhaps their education/indoctrination into a particular version of Biblical truth is a part of the problem.  And more to the point of where I am heading right now is the idea that trying to find THE particular version of Biblical truth that is the "right" one is a fool's errand.  Maybe we have put so much importance on finding God in the Bible that we are tied in knots trying to explain the contradictions, trying to wave away the cultural contexts, trying to ignore the very human elements of the Bible.

So I am left humbled - a humility that comes from a glimpse of just how difficult it is to interpret a book written over the course of 1500+ years by scores of writers in cultures dramatically different than my own.  A humility that comes from understanding that when it comes to determining morality (the very will of God) or theology (the very nature of God) from the words of these differing authors, that maybe the Bible cannot stand as the “ultimate authority” that I so desperately always wanted and assumed it to be.