Infallible Bible or flawed understanding?

While I personally have no problem with the Bible being less than "infallible", I generally do not
question the infallibility of the Bible in my postings because I never see that as the point.  What  I do question, is people's interpretation of the Scriptures.

Let me ask some questions. Has the Church changed in the last two thousand years? Has the Bible (our infallible Bible) changed, or have we?

Between 1842-1846, when anesthesia was "invented" and available, a great controversy erupted.
The issue was whether or not it was "morally right" to give it to women during childbirth. The dilemma was that if it were given to women, it would violate God's precept that women must deliver their children in sorrow and pain as a punishment for having brought sin into the world.

This was a position intensely fought, and the Archbishop of Canterbury confronted Queen Victoria herself on the matter. She pointed out that Genesis told us to eat bread by the "sweat of our brow" and His Grace, the Archbishop did not look like he was doing much work to get as plump as he did.  Now these days I know of NO ONE that truly advocates the position that women should continue to suffer in childbirth as a result of the sin of Eve, yet... has the Bible changed or has our interpretation of it?

There are other examples, such as thinking the sun revolved around the earth, or legal slavery.

Again, has the Bible changed? No.. has man's understanding changed? Yes.

There is a lot of turmoil in the Church these days coming from a changing understanding of what it means to be a homosexual. The Scriptures are used to bludgeon gays and lesbians in ways that damages the traditional understanding of contextual readings. I believe that if you read the "clobber verses" in context, you will find that the core sin is idolatry, not the methods used to perform it.

In past times the Church actually persecuted people who were left handed, and if you weren’t careful you would end up being burned as a witch (that is if you did not have good connections in the community). Now my own daughter is left handed. It makes me shudder when I think of what could have been done to her if she had been born in another time.

I would say that lots of heterosexuals practice birth control who are reading this blog. I know my wife and I did. No Church in the history of the world permitted that before 1930 (yes, we Episcopals started it). It was immediately met with screams of outrage and our own Bishop Gore (yes we permit alternative opinions in our Church) lead the fight to stop this “birth control movement” that threatened the “whole religious and moral tradition of Christianity.” You can read one of Bp. Gore’s seminal papers on the subject here: http://anglicanhistory.org/gore/birthcontrol.html

Those of us Christians who scream and yell about homosexual persons need to remember that what we know as romantic heterosexual marriage is only about 200 years old, and has very little basis in Biblical traditions, those marriages were arranged and mostly polygamous.

All of these issues seem kind of quaint to most modern Christians, yet at the time they happened they where intensely argued, and people of genuinely different opinions fought both sides. I submit that Christ's Church has not only withstood these changes, but has flourished.

Just so you know, I am NOT advocating anything, except realize that in fact we have changed our view of the Bible, and the Church has gotten along just fine. Fear not! Jesus is Lord and God is on
His throne.

Comments

[Brian]

Very well.
I am glad that you believe... how should I say this... the... principles of the Bible. (that still isn't the best word...)
It is always encouraging to meet fellow believers.

I am sorry for going slightly off topic on your post.
Also, thank you for your input and interest. I am always looking for corrections/verifications/different points of view/etc.

[Monk-in-Training]

Brian,
I will go check out your link, but my post here isn't about if the text we have is reliable, it is about our understanding OF that text.

I am very confident that modern Bibles contain all we need for salvation and information on how to live our lives. Variations are fairly minor in the Christian texts, and somewhat more so in the Hebrew, but make no major changes in the Christology or how we understand Salvation.

[Brian]

Hm... nice post... you made some good points...

Want to learn more?
Is the Bible Reliable?

[luke hartman]

This is an excellent post. It highlights the struggle between studying and knowing first century culture and surroundings and then making the necessary transition and translation to modern times and working through the differences. It's a difficult, life-long task, but necessary if flawed understanding is to be overcome.

[CGMOM]

Thanks so much for sharing. I am blessed by the things you share! AMEN

[Annie]

If people want to insist that it is infallable, then they must keep what it says comes first, first.

[Monk-in-Training]

Thanks for that comment, Brian Riley.

Yes, I have found that since I first defended certain racial groups when I was in high school, merely saying the 'others' have a point gets a lot of vitriol hurled at you. Didn't the same sort of thing happen to Jesus? :)

[Bryan Riley]

Well said. And I agree. It's too bad you have to qualify it by saying you aren't advocating anything, but as we have seen all too often lately, when you use an example to illustrate, you may suddenly be accused of a myriad of unchristian things.

[BruceA]

I believe that if you read the "clobber verses" in context, you will find that the core sin is idolatry, not the methods used to perform it.

For that matter, throughout the whole Bible the core sin is idolatry. If we would keep our focus solely on God, and not let ourselves be distracted (myself included) by so many things, a lot of these disputes would fade away.

[gavin]

excellent!

as i read this i smiled, partly because the infallible (or verbatim law that is generally associated with that word) of the bible puts people in tough spots saying they have figured out the bible and figured out God through that. both instances stifle the spiritual life and relationship.. it's much to say my marriage gets old quickly if i actually claim that i've figured out my wife.

[Monk-in-Training]

Kevin,
I agree, and as I have come to know you, I know you are one of the most impressive Christ followers among the Southern Baptists that I know.

The question is, what is sin? Compound interest is called an abomination before the Lord, yet I don't hear many sermons against it.

:)

[Kevin Bussey]

MIT,

I don't want to club anyone. But sin is sin no matter what it is. I think we can't ignore it.