Inspired: Origin Stories

1) The closest memory I have to an "origin story", is the Kraus Family Code of "family first" My parents drilled this into us kids over and over. As a result, all seven of us remain close, with little or no acrimony among us. Also, growing up in a large family required cooperation and service. We had to get along, and also help each other. This instilled in me, at an early age, a compassionate service outlook on life. It was the "right thing to do" to help people, be nice to people, and respect people. I have tried to live this way my whole life.
2) I recall reading about Billy Graham's "crisis of faith". He had to decide if the Bible was true despite its many troubling parts. He decided just because he can't understand it, that doesn't make it untrue. This is the approach I take. I believe the Bible is true, though not always fact. It is the story of humanity's relationship with God, how then and now we struggle within that relationship, and our relationship with each other.
3) Little Haggai's creation story involved many gods, playing many roles, competing with each other and creating chaos. Marduk prevails, bringing some order, but creating humans as his slaves. "Papa's" story is how Elohim (God) alone created everything, bringing order out of the chaos, but creating humans in his image as stewards, not slaves. Unlike Marduk, "our God doesn't need a temple; he rests and rules everywhere."
4) For many years I viewed the Genesis creation story as fact. God created everything we see in six days, resting on the seventh. Science's inability to explain it was science's problem. Now I am no longer bound to literal Creationism. I do believe God created everything everywhere, but it is no longer important that Genesis lines up with science. Genesis (and the Bible) is not a scientific treatise. It is the story of the relationship between God and his Creation, then and now. The "story" is true at a level deeper than fact.
5) An important family origin story (to me) is how Grandpa Kraus converted from Lutheran to Catholic in order to marry Granny Kraus. It reinforced at an early age the supremacy of Catholicism over all others as "the one true faith."  Over 60 years later, when I (Catholic) married Martha (Lutheran) we still had to account for this dynamic by having co-celebrants (Lutheran minister and Catholic priest) at Martha's Lutheran church. Granny probably would not have attended without this accommodation.
6) I have had an interesting faith journey. Moving from "one true faith" (Catholicism) to literal, infallible Scripture (BSF), to my current more open, less dogmatic position. Again, I believe the Bible is true in ways that are deeper than fact. There is a "deeper magic" (CS Lewis) that governs the cosmos. I bristle whenever someone says "The Bible says..." or (worse) "God told me..." Almost always the very next words are self-serving. I was appalled when AG Jeff Sessions quoted Romans 13:1, stating we should obey and not question our government officials because their authority is from God, while conveniently omitting Romans 13:10; "Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." I almost vomited at this blatant hypocrisy.
7)  I had not previously considered the circumstance behind how the Hebrew Bible (HB) was written. If most of the HB began with the reign of King David (high point) and continued through the Babylonian exile (low point), we must view it through a new contextual lens. The Jews in captivity, and those left behind in the decimated Jerusalem, had a huge crisis of faith, and struggled mightily with how to understand their new situation as "God's Chosen People". How could they be "chosen" and yet suffer this catastrophe? Is God still there? Does God still care? Questions we still ask today.
  I appreciate RHE's concluding remarks for this chapter: " If I've learned anything from 35 years of doubt and belief, it's that faith is not passive intellectual assent to a set of propositions. It's a rough-and-tumble, no-holds-barred, all-night-long struggle, and sometimes you have to demand your blessing rather than wait around for it.....With Scripture...We've been invited to a dynamic, centuries long conversation with God and God's people that has been unfolding since creation, one story at a time. If we're lucky it will leave us with a limp."

Inspired:Intro

Hey Brian, I finished the “Inspired” intro, and here are a few of my thoughts:

·         Early thoughts/feelings about the Bible, for me, are nonexistent. My Roman Catholic (RC) upbringing was more indoctrination than discovery or exploration. We were taught to never question, just obey. It wasn’t until I met Martha and heard about God’s grace that I began to explore God’s Word for myself. In the early-mid 80s, I went to a Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) class, my first Bible study. It changed my life and how I encounter God. And over the next 35 years, my idea about what the Bible is and what it means for us, has evolved.

·         Rachel Held Evans (RHE) asks, “What was your favorite Bible story as a child, and how do you read it now as an adult?”  For me, I guess it was Noah’s Ark. Obviously it was a miracle how God saved all the animals. How could they all fit on the boat and survive (not eat each other)? Well, now I look at it as a metaphorical story, that God will go to any length to protect His creation. Also, as kids there was never any talk of “How could a good God commit genocide on the world’s population (except Noah and family)?”

·         One of the most confusing things of the Bible is the post-Eden populating of the earth. Adam and Eve had Cain, Abel, and (later) Seth. After Cain murdered Abel, he was cast out of God’s presence. And settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Well, where did Cain’s wife come from? Did God ‘start’ a whole different family tree outside of Eden that was populating Nod? Cain’s wife, and therefore the people of Nod, just show up!

·         If I was to describe the Bible in the 1980s, I would say it was inspired, inerrant, infallible, trustworthy, authoritative, and sacred. Today I would say it is inspired, trustworthy, and sacred. I believe God “breathed” His story into many authors over many millennia. Not every bit is fact, but in some mysterious way, every bit is true. And because God Himself inspired it, at some level the Bible is sacred; and it is therefore trustworthy as a revelation of God’s character and plan.

·         I was attracted to BSF to help me understand the Bible better. Reading the Bible straight through (GEN – REV) was a bit of a slog the first time, but I persevered. Like RHE, I discovered my “life verse”. It literally jumped of the page when I read it. “For to the one who pleases him, God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy…” Ecclesiastes 2:26a. Also. Matthew (MT) was my first BSF study, and MT 5:17 rebuked my notion of believing only the New Testament (NT), when Jesus said, “I have come to fulfill the Law and the Prophets…” i.e. the OT and all it’s confusing bits.

·         RHE encourages us to write our own Bible story, so here goes.  “Once upon a time there was a boy who, for decades, was told there was only one way, one story to believe. Then he met a girl who believed in God’s grace which he had never heard of. This was a much better story, so he started to follow that story. It changed his life in profound ways, and made him a more compassionate and loving follower of Jesus. He now knows it is OK to not have all the answers; questions and doubts are permitted. He is eternally grateful to live in grace, and do what he can to move God’s story forward.”