What is the Bible? A New Paradigm to Consider

I was raised to revere the Bible as the inerrant, infallible, inspired Word of God.  It was in some ways a rule book, teaching us what to do and not do.  It was like a constitution to live by.  It was a reference book or owner’s manual to understand God and man.  

But there were problems with this approach.  There are contradictions, that despite attempts to reconcile, don’t seem to be resolvable.  There are portions of scripture that leave me wondering if they are examples for what I should do, or should not do!

Now, after quite some time and effort to consider this, listening to many varied voices of authority, I am trying on a new paradigm.  I am approaching the Bible more like a carefully curated anthology of writings, by people, about people and their relationship to God.  They represent humans’ understanding of God and the world from a human perspective at a given point in time and place.  These writers were influenced by God, by others, by their culture, by their environment and by experience.  These writings have different purposes, generally to record a curated history and to influence their readers.  

Because the Bible stories were eventually written down, after the fact (there are exceptions, such as the epistles), with a specific purpose in mind, they were biased writings, historically incomplete in that only details were included thoughtfully chosen by the authors according to their purposes.  Some of the authors tell you this (John and Luke for example).  By comparing portions of the Bible that tell similar stories (Samuel and Kings with Chronicles, and the four Gospels and Acts, for example) you find that details differ; some things are left out, some accounts disagree.  

If you don’t believe this, look at Bart Ehrman’s list to start with: https://www.bartehrman.com/contradictions-in-the-bible/.  There are other lists as well!

There is a choice to be made.  You can deny that the contradictions are real and come up with some explanation that satisfies you.  Or you can accept the contradictions as real.

If you accept the contradictions as real, and believe that the Bible is, word by word, inspired, inerrant and infallible, you have another decision to make, which may present a crisis of faith for you.  You can ignore the issue and keep on going as if the contradictions were not there, hoping that God will work it out sometime in the future.  Or, as Bart Ehrman sadly does, you can decide to throw the whole thing out, including your faith. Or, a third option is that you can reexamine the Bible from another paradigm, preserving your belief in God.

I have chosen to change paradigms.  Through the help of countless authors and podcasts, I have come to peace with a new paradigm without losing my faith.  Actually, my faith is stronger now than ever, and more energized than ever as I believe God is inviting me into an adventure to know him better!

How do I decide what to believe about the Bible?  I run it all through the filter of Jesus who tells us to love God and love our neighbor.  Jesus, as the revelation of God in human flesh, is our ultimate example; all else is interpreted in light of his teaching.  Of course, this might be considered circular reasoning; I believe Jesus because I believe Jesus was accurately represented by human authors, because what is recorded about Jesus is consistent with Jesus’ teaching (as written by people with an agenda).  To get to this point requires some input of reason, tradition / other people, the Holy Spirit, and ultimately requires faith in “things unseen”.

So, when I read in the Bible about slavery, and the way women are treated as property, and genocide commanded by God, and so much more, I have to ask myself, “Is this what Jesus teaches us to do?”  If not, then I need to consider other ways to understand these accounts than to credit God with commanding or sanctioning these things.

Key resources that have helped me become comfortable with this new paradigm are writings and podcasts from Richard Rohr, the magazine Christian Century, and The Bible for Normal People podcast with Peter Enns and Jarad Byas.  Earlier in the journey, helpful resources included Premier Unbelievable podcast when it was hosted by Justin Brierley (I don’t listen much since he left in 2023), as well as books and podcasts by Brian McLaren and N. T. Wright.

 

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