Today in church we looked at some difficult texts from the Bible including the end of the fifth chapter and beginning of the sixth in Ephesians and the stories in both books of Samuel about the relationship between David and Jonathan. These texts are challenging to many of us in varied ways.
I'd be interested in hearing from you regarding any passages in the Bible you find particularly difficult to deal with.....Maybe it contains something that doesn't connect with something you've understood about your faith ( Ephesian's 'slaves, obey your masters' is a complex one for me!) or maybe it's just one about which you have many questions.
This wrestling with Scripture could become an important feature of this BLOG...............I write about it more in the entry below...
Feel free to comment..
PB
9 comments:
How about Abrhaham and the binding of Issac?
There are so many things in the Bible that have been taken to Justify War, slavery current positions many take regarding homosexuality. Even things like how literally do we take the Sermon on the Mount or so many of Jesus teachings that sound right but are difficult to imagine following living in this world. I think it all requires continual wrestling and we may never still have answers or the answers may continue to evolve. That is what makes the bible so unique and so interesting. I could never get bored reading and thinking about the Bible.
I have my own somewhat serious somewhat humerous overview of the books of the Bible. I can email it if you are interested in reading it.
The Abraham-Isaac story is one of the Bible's most difficult ones and is highly indicative of the many complexities of biblical interpretation. Over the years, 'official' interpretations have dominated the conversation even from sources that do not have'official' teaching authorities.
Suffice it to say for now that the story is a point of intersection for two different theological starting points. On the one hand is the view of God who has the capacity to demand all. On the other hand is the question of ethical conscience as exercised by one created by God with this capacity. With these two perspectives, there is an inevitable crash.
In confronting the story, one is thrown full force into an internal battle of conflicting theologies.
I'd love to hear how people have wrestled w/ this one...
I have not yet had/taken the opportunity to praech on this....It's something I must do sometime!
THANKS!
PB
I really liked your email!
THANKS...
I think that is true. This story reveals a side of God that is indeed hard at times for us to comprehend. It is the side of God that inspires "fear and trembling" and reverence. As a mother from the moment of quickening or even sooner we develop a bond of such deep love for our child... yet we know that child is a gift from God and we know as much as we want to protect that gift our job is also to let that child go, whether the first day of school, driving, going to college or god forbid war. We do have to trust our child to God not being certain of the out come. Which brings me to a second interpretation of this story... Ultimately I see this story as one of trust. As we follow Abraham and his story we see his relationship with God develop... at first he is not so trusting... he fathers a child with Hagar despite God's promise to give him a son with Sarai. At the end of the story his relationship with God evolves so much I really think deep down he trusts that God would never take away his son... or I think he is praying that this is so...Think of the worst thing anyone including God could ask you to do.... sacrifice your long awaited child. I think of this story as a metaphor... Abraham trusted to SO MUCH... he was willing to do the un thinkable. It is an exaggeration... so to speak... to convey to the reader the depth of Abraham's trust in God... This is the only way I can think of to read this story and reconcile the notion of GOD as love. What do you think?
There's a lot of depth in your observations and analysis of this story. I think you do a nice job framing it within the larger story....
I'm starting to think I want to speed up that sermon I preach on it as these posts really ahve me thinking.
In order to do do, there is a lot of 'peeling away' I have to do i.e. getting past the easy answers that have been communicated catechetically through years of teaching and tradition.
I really appreciate your wonderful work in synthesizing this passage....
Thanks very much-
PB
I love thinking about and talking about this stuff and I find it is difficult to find others who share the same interest... so I am thankful for this blog
Glad you enjoy it...It's important to explore these issues and struggle with these questions...
I think there's areason why we were given both minds and emotions...
PB
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