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Posted 02:40 PM by Kynn Bartlett
It's interesting to me how many of you folks seem to have the same kind of attitudes that drove me away from Christianity for so long. The kind of self-assured, self-justifying type of "infallibility" which was previously only attributed to popes, but is now sanctified in the form of the interpretations which someone told you were the "right" way to read the bible.

And based on those interpretations, you feel emboldened to not only disagree, but to callously mock, condemn, ridicule, and abuse those who hold differing opinions. To me, this seems to go against the spirit of Christianity, including years of historical discussion and debate on the nature of God, the world, and humans.

Such debate, mind you, led to the very creation of the orthodoxies which are held dear by so many around the world. Far from being a sign of a lack of faith and commitment to Christianity, debate and dissent are the tools by which God has led Her church at different times throughout history. Were dissent and "heresy" truly as important to God as we're lead to believe, there would be no codification of beliefs in the 4th century, no protestant reformation, indeed no canon at all of the books of the bible.

"Heresy" is not the ultimate death of the church -- it is part of the process by which God works and reveals Herself to a huge diversity of people....

...Basically, this goes to the nature of truth, though. Myself, I don't like to go around claiming that certain religious beliefs are or are not "TRUE" -- such an emphasis can blind me to a number of truths that can be expressed in ways which are not necessarily true.

As an example, Jesus told many stories which were blatant falsehoods: He made up parables. The parables of Jesus, by and large, were not "TRUE" -- but they contain ultimate truths. Was there ever a case where a man got beat up, ignored by Jewish religious leaders, and saved by a Samaritan? Well, probably not, except coincidentally. Jesus made up the entire story -- he certainly wasn't recounting history. However, the story of the Good Samaritan contains fundamental truth which goes beyond the fact that a non-true statement led us to that belief.

Similarly, Paul's writings are full of analogies -- deliberate untruths used to convey truth. Are Christians really running a race? No, clearly not. But fundamental truth is conveyed through this. Did Paul literally die with Christ? No, Acts does not give us any reason to believe this. But truth is still presented.

I say this to head off the classic question presented to people who do not accept the infallible authority of the bible: "How can you believe the bible if you don't believe it's TRUE?" The assumption that truth cannot proceed from untruth is fundamentally flawed and a false dichotomy. The bible, as I view it, is a wonderful testament to the experience of centuries of people trying to find God, and I use it as my primary source to know Her. To do that, I don't have to believe it's perfect, no more than I have to believe the Constitution of the U.S. is perfect to see it as a source of justice and liberty in our country....