Merry Boxing Day

I'm a bit late posting this, but here is a part of the Christmas story. In this part, some astrologers from far away came to see Jesus. Jesus attracted all kinds of people, didn't he? From poor Jewish peasants to royal astrologers who didn't follow the same religion as Jesus did, many people saw something special about him.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.”

King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem. He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?”

“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote:

‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah,
are not least among the ruling cities of Judah,
for a ruler will come from you
who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’”

Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared. Then he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!”

After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.

The Bible--it's good but let's be realistic

A while back I wrote about some ideas I've rejected. Now I want to expand on a couple things.

"I've rejected the idea that the Bible is infallible."

"I've rejected the idea that more church involvement, more prayer, or more Bible reading will automatically make a person happier and closer to God. (Or did I ever believe this one?)"

The idea that the Bible is infallible seems to be based on circular reasoning. I can't believe that it's inspired by God just because it says so. And even if I could believe that, the part that says "All scripture is inspired by God" (2 Timothy 3:16) might not actually refer to the whole Bible. If the timeline that some fairly conservative scholars put in my Bible is correct, 2 Timothy wasn't the last book of the Bible written, so how could that verse refer to books that weren't written yet? And does "inspired by God" necessarily mean "infallible"? If a movie is "inspired by a true story," that doesn't mean it reflects the original story completely accurately. If God himself said the Bible is infallible, I could believe that. And if Jesus is God in the flesh, I could believe him. The Bible says Jesus said, "Scripture cannot be broken," (John 10:35), but that couldn't be referring to the New Testament, and something about how he just gave that a passing mention mid-sentence makes me wonder if that really wasn't his point. Or maybe I'm just looking for a cop-out.

And on the second topic, I used to read the Bible just about every day, pretty consistently. While I can't deny I learned some good stuff, and I matured during that time, it didn't make me super happy and I didn't feel close to God, despite what some preachers promised. So that's why I maybe never believed that reading the Bible would have some automatic amazing effect.

But when it really comes down to it, the Bible is an amazing book. Infallible or not, automatically life-changing or not, I have found it inspiring, convicting, just plain interesting, and sometimes just plain boring. And I still believe a divine message somehow comes through, but not necessarily in the form of answers; sometimes it's in the form of questions. I still try to read it regularly, and I'm still inspired, enlightened, and puzzled by it.

If there are any preachers out there who are inclined to make lofty promises about what will happen when people read the Bible, I'd suggest being more realistic. I suspect you'll get more people to actually stick to reading the Bible if you don't make promises like that.

So if you aren't all that familiar with the Bible, pick it up and read it. I promise it won't automatically revolutionize your life.