since my rant, of which i've apologized as predicted, i've enjoyed conversing with craig. in one of our recent email correspondences he asked what my view of scripture was, and secondly how that plays in with the rest of the quadrilateral. i'm glad he asked as it helped me to make space to write down about something that i have not put into words in quite a while. it's not great prose, but it's honest, i thought i'd share.
i suppose i couldn't give a two or three sentence on my understanding and faith of and in the bible. quick sentence would be that i believe the bible is living. i believe in its divine inspiration from God. it is in every essence holy and God breathed, but in it's mystery it changes as my relationship changes. i look to my long committed relationship, the context (or those like you more schooled than i, hermeneutic) of our relationship has changed as we have grown, experienced, gained greater knowledge and depth, frustration, and loved. what is funny though, i learn something new about her almost daily, it might be simple thing, but it's something. i have though, figured some things out, but even then it's not guaranteed. i don't use words like: inerrancy, authority, infallible because to me, that sorta pigeon holes the bible into just being a book of rules & worse yet, completely stagnant. i think it is so much more mysterious, much of the reason why it is so brilliant in reaching so many people in so many ways at all different times of life. 'dyanetics' couldn't be considered of the same relevance for the same reasons, much to reason why there are so many articles and books that espouse scientology thinking.
as a child, what i was confused about for so long is that the bible was presented to me as a book of right and wrongs, i think that was fundamental in my difficulty in understanding, what it was to be & how to be a Christian. it wasn't until i just started reading the bible as this living narrative that i found the text come alive where i have been able to take understandings of truth & rights/wrongs. problem with this, is i've also come to feel so tied to the saints and sinners of the bible narrative that i come up with more questions than i do concrete answers, but i have a few. &:~)
the tradition, reason, experience factors i hold really tight too, because that is what kept me in the church & in faith. i experienced grace first hand and in abundance by the people of my church & family. my reasoning as an analytical person told me that i wasn't some cosmic bashing of atoms but a devine design that i didn't quite understand. the traditions helped to root into my heart faith statement & interaction with God long before i knew him. just to name a few
i think that's an honest me when it comes to scripture, plus more. thanks for asking, i haven't thought about this in awhile, so it's good to put into words.
