Test Everything

Today's readings: Psalms 65; 147:1-11, Genesis 16:1-14, Hebrews 9:15-28, John 5:19-29

Some days the biggest stumbling block to faith is scripture itself. Amid its inspiration, today’s passage from Genesis contains some truly horrifying ideas. God promised Abram he would father a nation, but he and his wife Sarai did not conceive a child. An impatient Sarai suggested Abram impregnate her servant Hagar. Under the laws of the time, Sarai could have claimed legal possession of the child. The law also claimed that if Hagar started acting “uppity” after conceiving, her mistress could punish her – so naturally that’s exactly what happened. When Hagar ran away, God advised her to return with the promise her child would also beget a nation.

Forced surrogacy. Abuse. Slavery endorsed by God. Is it any wonder many people find it so easy to reject the Bible wholesale?

Many Biblical literalists and militant atheists approach the Bible in the same way: either it’s true or it isn’t. They simply come to opposite conclusions. Moderate and progressive Christians can find themselves caught up in defending why they bother with the Bible at all, if they don’t find scripture inerrant. Convoluted excuses and justifications for stories like this one (and worse) erode faith rather than strengthen it.

The Bible is not God. Treating it like it is might be the most acceptable form of idolatry going today. God can withstand our questions and criticisms of Bronze Age culture. Just because Jesus didn’t speak out against slavery doesn’t mean our attitude toward it remains unchanged over 2000 years. 1 Thessalonians 5:21 advises: “Test all things; hold fast what is good.” God has given us the ability to discern what is moral and what is immoral, though in cases like slavery it takes us far longer than it should to make the right call. Acceptable practices become unacceptable, and “abominable” practices such as short hair on women grow inoffensive.

The fact that people have used the Bible both to justify and condemn slavery tells us the truth it contains needs more thought than the popular “The Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it.” Trust that truth is Godly, wherever it is found.

Evening readings: Psalms 125; 91

Polly-animated

Today's readings: Psalms 48; 147:1-11; Genesis 12:1-7; Hebrews 11:1-12; John 6:35-42, 48-51

In the decades since the book Pollyanna was first published and popular, references to the title character have devolved from implying a spirit of tireless optimism into a perjorative with connotations of naivete or even simple-mindedness. In some circles, the word "faith" has similarly fallen out of favor. Anti-religious social critics have used the description of faith in Hebrews 11:1 as "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" to characterize Christians as weak-minded and even willfully ignorant. Some of these critics go so far as to say faith brings out the worst in people and that without it our better nature is free to shine through. To the contrary, history demonstrates both the faithful and the faithless are capable of goodness and horror in equal measure. Could anything be more naive than an insistence that people left to their own devices are basically decent?

The story of Abraham and Sarah's faith, as told in Genesis and recounted in Hebrews, is not one of denial of life's harsh realities. Nor is it one of the shoddy philosophy of Voltaire's Candide who declared this creation the best of all possible worlds (and was more of a "Pollyanna" than Pollyanna ever was). It is a story of faith as a call to anchor ourselves to God's presence in the brokenness of the real world, and to allow that presence to work through us to heal the brokenness. Such faith is not a simple, mindless optimism; it demands hard work and a willingness to face the challenges of life head on. Faith did not simplify life for Abraham and Sarah. It did not provide easy answers. It did use them to transform the world. Faith is not something we posess. Rather, faith posesses us, in every sense of the word.

In a world of increasing cynicism and materialism, faith like that of Abraham and the Disciples may be ridiculed but it is not a sign of naivete or intellectual surrender. It is bold. It is revolutionary. It gives us courage to shed the armor of ego which has done nothing but conceal the light. It is a call not to arms, but to loving action.

Evening readings: Psalms 9; 29