“God said it, I believe it, that settles it.”
Is this a helpful ‘creed’ for thinking about the faith and the Bible? I don’t think it is.
There’s a lot of commend about this approach, people who say either the cliché or a more nuanced view of it tend to trust God. They tend to take the Bible seriously. They want to follow God’s commands, often in the face of strong cultural opposition. These are good things to be strongly encouraged.
The concern isn’t with their love for the Lord or his commands, but I do have two concerns.
The first is more practical. There’s a maxim about institutional drift that suggests that the first generation are strong in their doctrine, understanding why something is vital and so they stress the vital things. They know what and why. The second generation follow the same doctrine without knowing why, or being able to articulate why, but they follow it. The third generation reject it entirely.
Why does that pattern keep recurring? I think it may be because the second generation weren’t taught why the what is true. They can’t teach the ideas well because they hold them as discrete facts rather than a tapestry of thought. They become points on a diagram rather than a web of meaning. They become aphorisms rather than stories.
Of course, this pattern doesn’t always happen. This is the problem with these sort of maxims, they universalise a true thing. It’s a pattern that does recur, though. The simple belief in something God said is absolutely fine for the individual believer, but when found in the teachers of the people will, over time, result in rejection of these doctrines. There is an alternative too, sometimes instead of rejection you get an ossification into a sort of ‘fundamentalism’ (a loaded term, but I’m using it in the sense that the general public does rather than its original use—we should all be the original kind of fundamentalist) where over successive generations more and more things become immutable doctrine that weren’t to begin.
It’s vital that those who teach the people understand why we believe these things and pass that on to those who will teach and anyone else who expresses an interest. We might discover that Christianity has thousands of years of reflection on almost any question we might consider.
I fear that the British New Churches, which I love dearly, have had this sort of problem passing on their own doctrine.
We can go a step further though, which brings me to my second concern. If we don’t ask why something is the case, we won’t reach wisdom. As Matthew Lee Anderson puts it:
“To understand why Christians confess that Jesus is God, we have to consider the reasons He might not be. For our orthodoxy to remain alive, we must momentarily think like heretics. Questions and opposition generate a fruitful and creative tension. We can affirm marriage is between a man and a woman because the Bible says so. Or we can ask why the Bible says so, which means thinking through the whole of God’s revelation of Himself.”
Called Into Questions, 149
Especially with the beliefs that push against the cultural current we need to know why they’re the case so we can not just defend them but enjoy them as God’s good gifts to us. We shouldn’t be embarrassed of them as though they’re the dirty laundry you have to hold if you want to get Jesus too. If the Lord commands something it must be a better way to live. If that’s not obvious we should carefully ask why and explore the texts. We’ll find ourselves drawn back to the traditional beliefs with fresh understanding and creative insight.
I notice this particularly with Christian beliefs that touch on gender and sexuality. If you believe that Pastors are, by definition, men then I think we must ask why that would be the case. The converse is true too, of course. I think we tend to be shyer about the beliefs that are deeply unfashionable. But if you think that the Bible genuinely teaches that then you need to ask why it does.
I think sometimes we’re tempted to shrug our shoulders and say something like, “we don’t know and it doesn’t make sense to us but God commands it so I guess we’ll go along with it.” I’m caricaturing for rhetorical effect, but I’ve seen people say things roughly along those lines. I do think that’s infinitely better than not doing what God commands, but we are missing something. If God asks us to do something there will be a reason and we should assume it’s better for us than the alternative. If it’s good, we should herald it as good!
Now, I’ve not waded into the actual questions here and given any opinions, I appreciate that. I’m trying to make the broader point, and do think it’s employed Pastors who should take the public hits here.
If you don’t understand why Christians believe something and you’ve just sort of gone along with it, ask why. If you know the Bible says it (great!) but you don’t know why the Bible says it, ask why. Even if you don’t get to reach a full conclusion the assumption that there is a reason is a good one. The pursuit of that reason will be a step on the path to wisdom, which is a tree of life (Proverbs 3).
That wisdom will make the Bible’s precepts much easier to apply to new situations too. You’ll come to understand the world in which the idea is set and the reasons for the commandment. You’ll move from being a Priest who obeys to a King who can give judgement.
How do you do this? Start by assuming you can know why. Then ask your Pastor awkward questions. Read what they suggest, especially things written before you were born. Think hard. Talk about it in your community, you’ll find some people who want to think along with you. Don’t settle for easy answers. Don’t assume anything will come quickly. Chew well before swallowing.
How do you do this? There was an assumption sitting behind the previous paragraph, of a community of people you can wrestle things over with. We call it the church.
And, if you’re a Pastor and think you couldn’t help people in this sort of questioning journey, then do consider getting some further training so you can. More importantly though, pursue the question of ‘why’ yourself, that’ll do your people good.
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nuakh 