or…
“A letter about my anxiety
at a weekly Bible Study Group”
I’ve been thinking about a particular night at our weekly Bible Study Group. If you were there and I hurt your feelings, I apologize. There was something nagging at me that night, and although I used the wrong approach to try to describe it, it was an important point to me.
We stumbled into these verses in Mark’s gospel:
Mark 10:10-12
In the house once again, the disciples asked him about this.
So he told them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another,
commits adultery against her.
And if she divorces her husband and marries another,
she commits adultery.”
That’s a hard saying.
I’m not sure I understand it.
I’m not sure it helps anyone, or ever has.
What He said bothers me, but it’s not what was bothering me that night.
If you know anything about my spiritual journey, you know that in the religion I grew up in, I was taught some things that are not supported by scripture. It took some time to get away from it, and in the meantime I have tried to forget everything I was taught and start over. What does starting over mean? Well, my primary interest is in getting to know the person and teachings of Jesus, because I believe He is the most interesting and important person who ever lived.
I believe there are only three ways to learn about Jesus:
1) WE CAN LEARN FROM ANOTHER PERSON – but experience has shown me that this is the LEAST reliable way. I can look at my own past and also at countless bickering denominations that can’t agree, so learning from other people is my LAST choice.
There could be a billion books on spirituality in its various forms and expressions, but right now I don’t trust them. I’m not buying into what philosophers say, or theologians, or poets, or church leaders, or rabbis, or televangelists, or anyone else. If that were the only way to learn the truth I suppose I would have to accept it. But there are at least two other ways. So, for now, I may be INTERESTED in what you say but it doesn’t mean I TRUST what you say.
2) WE CAN LEARN FROM SCRIPTURE – We really only have one historical source that seems coherent and detailed enough to be significant, and that is the New Testament. There are a few other historical records that attest to the existence of Jesus, but don’t provide much insight into his life and teachings.
So what does the New Testament contain? Well, first we are given four different accounts of Jesus life written by different people and using different words. The four gospels are slightly differing accounts of the same story. The fact that they don’t always agree is encouraging to me, because we all know that writer’s struggle with words in their attempt to convey meaning. Words sometimes fail us, so hearing the same account expressed in different ways provides a richer depth, and helps me understand. If they all told the story in exactly the same way we might as well just have one instead of four.
Then we have the book of Acts, which explains what his followers did after his resurrection and ascension. What did they do? Where did they go? Who did they talk to? What did they say about it?
Then we have a lot of letters that describe how various problems were being dealt with in the early church, fleshing out how WE are to live as Christians, and then the final book by John contains seven letters to seven churches, and finally a vision of the end.
Some bibles have the words of Jesus marked in red text instead of black (called “red letter” bibles), and I think we should pay close attention to those sections.
3) WE CAN LEARN FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT – This was His promise to us. In fact, some of “the red words” (quotes by Jesus) in the gospel of John say this:
John 14:25-26
“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you.
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit,
whom the Father will send in my name,
he will teach you all things
and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
Here’s another one,
John 14:16-17
And I will ask the Father,
and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive,
because it neither sees him nor knows him.
You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
Anyway, that’s a deeper subject, but I have to mention it to be complete.
-=-=-=-
So, one particular Wednesday night we were reading some of “The Red Words” in Mark chapter 10, where Jesus made direct statements about divorce. It said the Pharisees were trying to TEST HIM. It seems common sense to me that if He was being tested, He would choose His words carefully, don’t you think?
And after it was recorded what He said in response to the test, the people said,
whoa, Whoa, WHOA…
What a minute!
Didn’t Moses allow us to get divorces?
What are you talking about?”
And He responded by explaining that Moses allowed divorce, because he knew that if he DIDN’T allow it, the result would be worse.
(and we agreed that night that sometimes divorce, although painful, is far LESS painful than staying in the relationship. I think everyone agreed to that)
but
He went even farther than that, because they pressed Him about it later on privately, and He flat-out said in no uncertain terms that whoever divorces and marries another is committing adultery.
wow.
harsh.
Someone suggested that he maybe he didn’t really mean that.
They wondered out loud.
Maybe the writer got it confused.
Maybe the writer distorted “the red words” because they were influenced by something else that was happening at the time he wrote it.
And THAT is what got my discernment guard up.
The “Maybe” is what put me in full defense mode.
For the record, the gospel according to Matthew says the same thing:
Matthew 19:9
And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality,
and marries another, commits adultery.”
That verse is also “written in red”.
But again, it is not the verses that bother me as much.
It is in how we try to interpret them.
The important point to me is not the statement about divorce.
Most of the people in that meeting have been divorced at least once.
(and I should have been more sensitive to that)
but
The point I want to make is that maybe it is better to admit that
we don’t like a particular teaching
or it makes us uncomfortable
or it makes us feel bad,
and just
Move On.
That’s perfectly acceptable.
The DANGER is in trying to twist something we don’t like into
“Maybe He didn’t really mean what He said”.
Especially when He is pressed on it by OTHER people who didn’t like what He said,
and He didn’t back down from it. In fact, His following statements were even worse!
In my opinion,
all kinds of crazy interpretations
and downright harmful heresy
and so much damage in the church today
and people falling away
has resulted from exactly that kind of wishful thinking.
Because what you start down the road of “Maybe scripture doesn’t mean what it says”,
It never stops.
“Maybe” doesn’t mean ANYTHING after a while.
The text says what it says.
The listeners back then heard it the same way we do today,
and they had the same reaction.
They didn’t like it.
We don’t like it.
But that doesn’t mean we should try to change it.
We don’t have to construct some kind of reasoning around it to make it more palatable.
Just
Let
It
Be
-=-=-=-
So let me close by saying, “I will try not to be so intense”.
You may call me a “fundamentalist” because I want to build my foundation on what the scripture teaches, and that’s okay with me.
I’m excited that others are interested in finding out what the bible REALLY says instead of listening to what other people SAY it says, and I am kicking myself for missing the times I could have been there with you and wasn’t.
I feel that it is important and meaningful to look at scripture for ourselves, even if we don’t understand it, and especially when we find it difficult, because that’s a time of growth.
I love all of you.
Please don’t give up on me…
Jbro
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