We live in a world that is very conflicted and very confused. This is also amplified by those with very biased agendas who bombard us with deliberate distortions.
There are many competing voices, and even if you are
genuinely seeking truth, it really is hard to find any certainty and reach
conclusions that are both internally consistent in narrative and logic as well
as in strong alignment with the core messages of the Bible.
Yet, to even reach even some sense of balance and assurance
with respect to the Bible, we need to know what are the core messages of the
Bible, and even more, what priority they carry even if we agree on what they
are, as this too can affect our world view and our way forward.
I have written in the past on some of these aspects, such as
how best to approach the Bible.
See ‘Understanding The Bible 101’
In this article which I wrote some 8 years ago, I offered
what I saw as some foundational starting points, as well as some authors I
thought very highly of. Now, in returning to this article, I would seriously
reject the work of one of these authors, yet not his efforts that I was referring
to at the time, but what he writes now, as in my opinion he has really lost his
way.
This, is just another issue that highlights the enormity of
the issue – is it me who has changed or him, or perhaps both of us?
From my perspective, I had always seen this great author,
and my friend, as in some sense in a half-way house between the serious errors
of Hellenistic Christianity and fully embracing a Hebraic and Torah Centric
perspective, which I strongly argue is THE Biblical perspective. But in the
years that have passed by, he has moved further back towards the very Hellenism
that he had at one time rejected.
But the challenge grows even greater as serious Bible
students learn of the elitism and deceptive practices of Rabbinical (Akiva)
Judaism as well, especially in how they practice idolatry as they elevate their
Rabbi’s to an almost God-like status, where their words and proclamations are
considered more important than the Torah itself!
It would seem natural as faithful students of the Bible, of both the Tanakh and the New Testament, to recognize more and more the errors of Hellenism (for more see my book on Amazon, ‘The Doctrinal Pitfalls of Hellenism’), that they may well move toward embracing some degree of Rabbinical Judaism, and then being again caught up in some deceptive practices and falsehoods.
Yet within Rabbinical Judaism we can still find a great deal
of incredible wisdom, including the excellent ethical teachings of Mussar.
Yet, we need to be so careful here as well. A typical
practice within the two thousand year old history of Rabbinical Judaism, is to
subtly alter the meaning of a Bible passage with each new generation of Rabbi’s
until, like a Chinese whisper, we have something that may no longer bear the
imprimatur of truth it once had.
A fellow Jewish student of the Bible who calls Jerusalem home, explained it
thus:
“I am just generally not in favor of what these Rabbis do, namely, take
an ancient text, and then add their own commentary to it, and then successive
generations are left to assume that those commentaries are what the original
authors actually wrote.
When they are later quoted, people will say, “Rabbi A said XXX [as reported by Rabbi B, 300 years later].”
But the truth is that the Torah said “XXX.” Rabbi A added his comments to “XXX.” Rabbi B added his comments to the comments of Rabbi A. Rabbi C added his comments to the comments of Rabbi D, etc.
Two thousand years later, someone comes along and said, “The Torah says “Rabbi Z’s commentary,” when in fact the Torah never said that.
Ha’Shem made each mind to comprehend and make its own deductions. But it is just plain wrong to embellish someone else’s writings, and put words into their mouths by saying that your words are the words of the earlier guy you are quoting.
This is a wide practice in Judaism.”
So, if nothing else, I would argue that it is far too
easy to be led astray and far from easy to separate foundational truth
from human opinion.
As someone trained in Physics. I look for multiple evidences,
not just inference. I also believe we need solid teaching in Logic, including abductive
reasoning which is so critical to the Historical Sciences.
See for example my
article here.
Learning logic and being able to recognize where others
are using logical fallacies such as the Straw Man fallacy, are also part of the
critical skill set needed.
But even all of this may still not be enough, as we
are fallible human beings and our emotional attachments to people, and pet doctrines
may lead to confirmation bias and other limiting perspectives that may result
in our having blind-spots. If it can
take some 20 years for one of the greatest minds of all time in Albert Einstein
to finally accept that his ‘cosmological constant’, his ‘fudge factor’ was a
huge error, just because his ego and his own confirmation bias restricted him,
then how much harder for the rest of us!
These are just some of the factors that contribute to such a
wide diversity of beliefs and opinions, in virtually any field of human
endeavour, including theology.
And sadly, these issues can lead to fractures within even
close-knit groups.
How can such areas of conflict, if they arise, be at all
resolved? Certainly, significant humility may be needed, along with a real
clarity on what matters most.
Or do we just keep silent when we see such fractures
occurring?
My answer at this time is one of uncertainty, though I have
in the past argued that silence in the face of error is wrong:
Yet what does Jeremiah 29:13 promise us:
“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”
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