To the Editor:
I read a recent column in the Herald where a Christian woman was discussing “a teaching,” although it wasn’t clear if it was a teaching of Christian values or a teaching of the Bible.
She wrote, “… if wrong teaching occurs, the students end up with a misinterpretation or wrong interpretation of God’s word and it follows that then the application of Scripture in their lives will be wrong.”
There is a bit of a problem – why does anyone need to interpret or teach the Bible? Is she saying that God can’t write clearly?
If the Bible is in fact God’s message and/or instructions to mankind, then it should be clear and easily understood. No need to discuss it; just look up the proper way of behaving and act accordingly.
In some cases, the Bible does say it clearly, like if a child dishonors his parents by cursing or mocking them, or angrily talks back to them, he should be put to death.
Unfortunately, if the Bible is the actual word of God, then we are forced to say that God can’t write clear prose. And Jesus can’t speak it.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Nice poetry, but is it instructive? The Bible purports to give guidance to life. I want guidance on housing and food supplements for the ‘meek’ and the poor.
The famous Sermon on the Mount doesn’t provide much clarity on ethical or moral issues. Nor does pretty much anything in the Bible, nor does anyone who “interprets” the Bible, which leads me to think either that God doesn’t care what we do or that if He does, He can’t be bothered to explain what He would like us to do.
Then there is another possibility: Christians are simply incorrect; the Bible is not the word of God.
I’m leaning towards the latter because I think it’s reasonable to say that an all-knowing, all-powerful God should be able to write instructions as well as a reasonably intelligent high school junior. For that matter, a loving, all-powerful God could solve all the problems on earth with a snap of his fingers, but as far as I can see, that hasn’t yet happened.
None of the above requires much intelligence. I, for example, realized as I sat in the dugout of the Little League field in the Crest watching my baptism classmate make silent prayers at the end of the inning for his team to win the game, just as I was praying for Scrivani Buick, my team. Even God couldn’t make us both win. That was when I had just turned 12 – normally not an age of maximum critical reflection. Later, of course, I realized the absurdity of a loving, all-powerful God allowing 5-year-old children to die of bone cancer.
So, I don’t find it surprising that the countries of the world, which rank highest on the United Nations National Happiness Index are drifting away from Christianity. They tend to be healthy, wealthy, and wise. The average person in the U.S. is reasonably wealthy, not all that healthy, and how wise is a seriously open question.
