On one hand, it is not so good to explore for alternative texts, commentaries, or interpretations ...as knowledge often builds, and many rabbit trails may lead us here & there & everywhere ...yet, pretty much tend to lead us nowhere.
The Bible is the truth ...and it's the absolute we must all draw truth from. Other trails only lead us away from the truth.
Like many textbooks, the Bible is quite extensive. Similar to when we take a college course, we may attend the lectures, or sermons. Yet, we often even begin attending at an age much before our college years. At an early age, some of the stories listed in the Bible become somewhat memorized through much repetitive teaching. Many pictures and cartoons are often used to help interest children ...and soon they accept the depiction of Adam & Eve eating an apple in the Garden of Eden. We also sing songs of three wise men, and we place the figurines in the manger scene during that exciting holiday season (two weeks vacation from school, and visions of so many gifts & toys).
Often we don't question how these stories are depicted ...until someone points out in the Bible that it isn't quite how we were taught. It becomes an uncomfortable moment to discover part of what we were taught is not true. And during that uncomfortable moment, what awaits us as an alternative to the group who have somewhat let us down??
The theory of evolution is presented, with much documentation and peer reviews from institutions of higher learning. We become like the naive Adam & Eve, and we consume the fruit of what we feel is not forbidden us ...and instead of the apple, we cling to carbon dating.
We look at the Bible believers as those who've committed collusion against us ...and we no longer really believe the one who is the author of great deception.
With evolution as the foundational teaching that is widely accepted in our colleges and universities ...we get lost in the millions and billions of years, not wondering if that all-faithful carbon displacement would have depleted itself long ago, with nothing left to measure.
But, we certainly can't measure up to the professors and scientists who profess it to be true ...as our own peer group would think us quite unwise to challenge them. We can only appear wise by aligning with the intellectuals.
Yes, there are difficult things to understand in the Bible ...and we want to be seen as good students, so we repeat what we've learned.
And especially concerning the Bible ...who would want to be depicted as having radical thought??
Yes, the Bible is lengthy ...more so than most textbooks, but it benefits us to read it ourselves, not to diverge our thinking from that of years & years of scholastic studies, but to find truth.
No comments:
Post a Comment