Editor's note: As part of our commitment to foster civil conversations in Viewpoints, we're inviting faith leaders to submit edited versions of their homilies that transcend religion, with messages that can appeal to people of all faith traditions.
Not long ago, students from a nearby prominent private Christian school were bused to the church where I pastor as part of a faith tour intended to provide opportunities for them to be in conversation with people who maybe see things differently than they do.
Most would claim that there is no “maybe” about it. We definitely see things differently. To begin with, the students were not shy about expressing incredulity that a woman would be called to ordained ministry, much less to the role of senior minister. As one asked, “So, you’re, like, their real pastor?” That a preacher can have two X chromosomes was just the tip of the “we believe differently” iceberg.
Among the things we talked about was our varied understanding of the Bible. While their school’s statement of faith includes the claim that Scripture is “the only perfect, inerrant, inspired, infallible, authoritative Word of God,” the congregation who worships in the sanctuary in which the students were sitting consider the Bible sacred, but not FedEx’d directly to us from heaven. As renowned Baptist preacher Harry Emerson Fosdick noted, “Finality in the Bible is ahead. We have not reached it. We cannot yet compass all of it. God is leading us out toward it. There are multitudes of Christians, then, who think, and rejoice as they think, of the Bible as the record of the progressive unfolding of the character of God to his people from early primitive days until the great unveiling in Christ; to them the Book is more inspired and more inspiring than ever it was before; and to go back to a mechanical and static theory of inspiration would mean to them the loss of some of the most vital elements in their spiritual experience and in their appreciation of the Book.”
There were several moments of surprise and upset. For most of the students, this was the first time someone had pointed out that there are two creation stories. They were also unaware that the story of Jesus’ birth is found only in two (not all four) of the Gospels, and those two retellings are not identical. They were shocked to hear the doctrine of the Trinity is not found in Scripture. They were stunned to know that of the various reasons listed in Scripture for the destruction of Sodom, homosexuality is not among them.
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Some might be surprised that children who attend a school that strives to equip students to, “Know, understand and abide in the Word of God, and steadfastly defend the Gospel in a post-Christian culture,” aren’t quite up to speed about what’s actually in there. Don’t be. It is common for conservative religious institutions to teach students what to think, but not how to think.
As tends to happen when any human is confronted with information that challenges or contradicts a closely held belief, some of the students became defensive, angry even, and anxious to prove me a heretic. But here's the good news: The students kept asking questions. Upon being surprised that there is more to the Bible than what they’ve been taught, they asked me to prove it . When I invited them to take a Bible from the back of the pew in front of them to check my work, they took me up on the offer.
What an example these students set for the rest of us. They may not know it, but this certainly seems like taking seriously the Apostle Paul’s instructions to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”
Let’s hope the rest of us follow their lead.
The Rev. Lori Allen Walke is senior minister at Mayflower Congregational United Church of Christ.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Think you know the Bible? What Book says not always same as what's taught | Lori Allen Walke
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