A more relevant thought

...or a more random thought. I want to take a moment to explain what is happening every day in this place, what I have referred to as the fifth gospel. I want to give a few more details about the sermons that are being preached through all five senses every day, about the Biblical commentary that is being learned with every step on the field and mental snapshot of the scenery. This place brings up issues to ponder every day.

Seeming contradictions in Scripture like Deuteronomy 11 must be dealt with. Is this truly a land flowing with milk and honey? There isn't a honeybee around and why would that entice anyway? I have always taken this passage as if God was setting before the Hebrews a wonderful inheritance, a paradise on Earth. But this land truly is no Garden of Eden. The rugged hills, the lack potential irrigation make life very difficult, in fact much more difficult than the life of Egypt. Then one begins to see Scripture in a different light. God's point was not the bounty of the land, but the bounty of Himself, a God who cares for the land and showers a rainfall of blessing on His people.

The people of the land force one to reconsider misconceptions. How is one to think of the Arab people if they descended from Ishmael. Maybe the Northern Kingdom of Israel really did become the Samaritans. You cannot brush aside the fact that God promised to Abraham to make of Ishmael a great nation. Do we really have the arrogance to look down upon the Jewish people who rejected their Messiah? Would we have been less ignorant in their position? Is it not grace alone that has put us in this place during this time with the beauty of Yeshua in view?

I have come to the conclusion that one cannot be afraid of asking very tough questions or be afraid of history. Many questions have been raised in the classroom, which challenge my faith more than immediately strengthening it. Every day I see sights that tear apart my simple Western faith in a Jesus who loves me. I am in fact beginning a list of the mounting questions and problems which I don't have time to consider or figure out and still pass my tests :) However, I am not one bit afraid of these questions. I am not afraid to ask why God seemed to appease the polygamous O.T. culture. I am not afraid to consider how culture, oral tradition, and man's fallenness have influenced the Scripture and tradition of my faith. I am not afraid to see the development of faith and accept the fact that my tradition looks very different from that of the O.T. Jew and the N.T. Paul. None of these questions are too big for God. It almost sounds silly to put that into words, yet I am well aware that many theologians brush these questions under the rug and many bewildered students have turned from God in light of apparent shortcomings in Scripture.

There are issues on which the Eastern Orthodox church have a better perspective. There are ways that Roman Catholic believers are following Jesus more closely than I. There is a charisma of the Spirit that I am far from understanding or with which being completely comfortable. There are Jewish and Arab believers that understand YHWH much better than I.

Ask hard questions. Challenge Scripture. Wrestle with God. Learn to be better prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. In all of this, have a childlike faith that does not understand the ways of the Father, but has absolutely no reason to doubt His faithfulness.