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Let me explain. To begin with, I am homeless. I live in the woods. I am able to obtain my basic necessities (food, clothing, etc.) by salvaging things that people throw away. I do not drink, smoke, use drugs, watch television or movies. I suppose most people would consider me to be a recluse. This is true. I have no desire to be a part of the world because I believe that it is evil. I would rather die than be conformed to the world and partake of the spirit that other people have.
Of course, I have not always lived the way that I do now. I was born into a middle class family. We lived in a small Midwestern town. Although not overly religious, we did go to church on Sundays. I graduated from high school and went to college. In short, the circumstances of my early life were not particularly unusual. But for as long as I can remember I've always felt different inside- I didn't really feel at home in the world. As I grew older this sense of alienation from human society grew stronger and stronger. I hated my life, and eventually I tried to kill myself, but did not succeed. It wasn't until I sat down one day and read through the entire New Testament (something I had never done before) that I realized why I was such a misfit. God had been working inside of me to make me His. All that I was interested in from then on was to get closer to Him, and to follow Christ wherever he led me. A number of years have passed since that time, and I have encountered many twists, turns and dead ends in my spiritual quest, but through it all I know that he has been helping and teaching me. My former life is just a distant memory.
All things considered, I believe that God has been very good to me, and I am thankful now that I am different.
What follows is a collection of short discourses on various topics which I consider to be pertinent to the subject of God/Christ. These are things which I have given considerable thought to and which I feel motivated to share with others. Being able to access the Internet at the public library which is near to where I am presently encamped, I have been provided with a means of doing so. I hope that my motivation is love, and I hope that they are of value.
Table Of ContentsMKH Page 1About The Bible
MKH Page 2
MKH Page 3
MKH Page 4
Addendum |
I am not a bibliolater. I do not believe that everything in the Bible is the infallible, inerrant, Word of God- written directly by God in the same sense that I am sitting here at a keyboard typing out this sentence, or in the sense of giving oral dictation directly to a human intermediary. This obviously is not the case. The books of the Bible contain numerous factual errors and contradictions which any reasonably intelligent and unbiased person can recognize.
Of course, those who would like to believe that the Bible is inerrant often claim that these are transmission errors (i.e. copying errors, glosses erroneously incorporated into the text, etc.) which have corrupted the text over the centuries, but that the original autographs are perfect. This is very unlikely. I am sure that many of the minor errors in the text could have originated in this way, but some are simply too major and too integral to the text to be explained away in this manner. For example, compare these two versions of the story of the healing of the centurion's servant found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke respectively:
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Matthew 8:5-13 - And when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, pleading with him, saying,"Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, terribly tormented." And Jesus said to him,"I will come and heal him." The centurion answered and said,"Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one,'Go', and he goes; and to another,'Come', and he comes; and to my servant,'Do this', and he does it." When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to those who followed,"Truly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! And I say to you that many will come from the east and west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." And Jesus said to the centurion,"Go your way; as you have believed, so let it be done for you." And his servant was healed that same hour. | Luke 7:2-10 - And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear to him, was sick and ready to die. And when he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to him, pleading with him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they begged him earnestly, saying that the one for whom he should do this was worthy,"for he loves our nation, and has built us a synagogue." Then Jesus went with them. And when he was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying to him,"Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof. Therefore I did not think myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one,'Go', and he goes; and to another,'Come', and he comes; and to my servant,'Do this', and he does it." When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed him,"I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!" And those who were sent, returning to the house, found the servant well who had been sick. |
Since the similarities between these two accounts are so great (e.g.
a large portion of the dialogue is practically identical), it is
reasonable to conclude that they must refer to the same incident, but
note that in one version (Mt) the centurion himself comes and
speaks directly to Jesus, while in the other (Lk) the centurion
communicates with Jesus through emissaries. It is not logically
possible for both of these versions to be true witnesses of what
actually happened. They are irreconcilably different. Likewise,
in the book of Genesis, chapters 1 and 2, there appear to be two
different and contradictory stories that have been spliced together
(the order of creation is different for one thing). It is
extremely difficult to imagine how these differences could have
resulted from transmission errors, or to imagine what the original
'inerrant' document would have looked like.
For me, the Bible is something that God has used to lead me
to Him. It is a collection of writings- some fact, some fiction,
some a combination of the two- whose human authors were, to
varying degrees and in various ways, inspired by God to write
what they did. As a Christian, however, I do not consider all of
the books to be of equal value. God's revelation of Himself to
men has been progressive through time- that is, the books of the
Bible show a progressive increase in spiritual understanding
from beginning to end. The New Testament constitutes an important,
qualitative advancement over what came before it. With respect
to Old Testament religion, Christ's doctrine was quite
revolutionary- though not in the sense of totally nullifying
basic principles.
Yet, I know that the Bible is not the be-all and end-all of
everything. It is essential to spiritual maturity that one be
led by the Spirit and not simply 'live by the book'. I have on
occasion seen cars with bumper stickers that proclaimed,"God"
(i.e. the Bible) "said it, I believe it, that settles it." I
need something deeper than that- I need, for example, to know
WHY God may have said something. This, I believe, requires that
one actually have His Spirit.
The Bible, then, has tremendous value as a means to an end.
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