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Posted by Kate on 11/23/2008, 10:07 pm, in reply to "the Valley of the Shadow of Death"
So, I was advised to go to a ladies' Bible study to get some instruction in the sound doctrine of my new-found faith. They were already halfway through the book when I joined, and the scripture we were discussing was in Job.
Now, in the Bible I brought with me, a old RSV, the preface to Job said it wasn't literal history, but more of a morality play to teach a lesson about faith. That was fine with me, because Job has a lot of stuff in it that just doesn't make sense to me if it's taken as literal history. Why would God play poker with Satan and gamble on Job's life? It seemed like God was messing with Job, tormenting him just to prove a point. Why would God kill Job's entire family, bringing a house down on them, and then the book wraps up with, "Everything was fine, God gave him new replacement kids." I have kids. If I lost them, it would be devastating. Yes, I could have more children, but they could not replace the ones I lost.
But oh, the ladies in the study went into a tizzy...how could my Bible say that the whole thing wasn't absolutely 100% true, literal, and correct? They practically RAN to the pastor's office to get me a different Bible -- a mass market NIV that they handed out to new believers, that didn't have any of that silly stuff about the Bible being anything less than literal.
So at first I had easy questions. And I found answers and they made sense.
Then I had deeper questions. And I found answers that...weren't easy, but okay, made sense.
Then I had harder questions. And I found answers that...well...yeah, it could be that way, I guess. Maybe.
Then I had even harder questions. And the answers I got were, 'Well, God's ways are so much higher than our ways, we can't know the mind of God, we only see through a glass darkly now, but one day we'll know...' Okay...but my questions were still unanswered. And uncertainty began to grow.
Then...the more I studied, the deeper I got into scripture...I asked the hardest questions of all. Things that make absolutely no sense to me. Things that I read that contradicted everything I believed about the very nature of who God is. I searched for answers. I asked Bible study leaders, church elders, pastors (of more than one denomination), I read books, commentaries. I asked friends on line who are Christians. I prayed and begged God to help it make sense to me...
...and then the answers I started to get were, 'Why are you questioning? Don't you have faith? Are you really a Christian? Who are you to question God?'
But...I'm not questioning God. I'm questioning a book written about God. There may be things in the Bible I don't accept, but that doesn't mean I don't believe in God, that my faith is not in Jesus.
Exodus 21:20-21 'If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property.'
So, it's okay to beat your slaves as long as they get up after a day or two??? And it's okay with God if you own slaves in the first place?
Leviticus 19:20-21 'If a man sleeps with a woman who is a slave girl promised to another man but who has not been ransomed or given her freedom, there must be due punishment. Yet they are not to be put to death, because she had not been freed. The man, however, must bring a ram to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting for a guilt offering to the LORD.'
Let me get this straight: you can have sex with your slave girl if she isn't promised to another man, that's alright with God. If she IS promised to another man, you can have a ram killed, and then that fixes everything.
My head was reeling...
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