The Thornier Issues

01.29.12

Acts 5.41 41 So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. NASB

Apparently these zealous nuisances didn’t get the message the first time. Apparently it was going to take more than a verbal threat to get them to shut up. So this time they got a threat and a flogging. The flogging hurt; it was meant to! They needed something to help them to get it that speaking out in that Name was not going to be tolerated…

Yesterday, a friend of mine posed this thought: Have you ever had a context in which you could be completely honest about scripture and spirituality questions, large and small, without having your foundational faith questioned or without danger of causing someone to stumble? I do love God's Book, but I have some suggestions he might want to consider if he does another one! He posed this in reference to this thought: “If a man beats his male or female slave with a club and the slave dies as a result, the owner must be punished. 21 But if the slave recovers within a day or two, then the owner shall not be punished, since the slave is his property.”  (Exodus 21:20-21 NLT)

An e-discussion of sorts has ensued with others offering their opinions regarding some of the thornier issues of Scripture and whether we’re to take them literally or figuratively (e.g. Noah’s ark); or whether there are legitimate overstatements in Scripture that are questionable, inaccurate, or flatly impossible. Did the ancients embellish then as we tend to do now? Were their fishing stories then, like ours now?

Here’s one more thorn to add to the mix: So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. (Acts 5.41 NASB) I’m not sure which is harder to believe: the account of Noah’s ark, or the disciples leaving the Council, rejoicing (in their pain, brutal, and bloody bodily injury) that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for [Christ’s] name. What happened to these men that they would react this way?

The Bible is probably one of the most enigmatic books on the planet. Most people (I believe) gloss over the thornier issues of Scripture by either ignoring the obvious, or concocting some kind of cover that makes the hard stuff easier to swallow. The bottom line is, with the Bible – warts and all – are we able to get to know God in a way that our very lives are changed and transformed into something of use for God? Does reading the Bible draw us closer to the Almighty or drive us away? Does it change our lives in such a manner as we would endure 39 lashes (or whatever modern equivalent) from an oppressive civil authority and walk away rejoicing that we had been found worthy to suffer such treatment for the sake of Christ and our speaking out on His behalf? What then has our belief done to us?

If we choose to compare everything in Holy Writ to our experience (or culture) today then we may bump into some difficulties in making all the ends meet squarely. But if we can, without making excuses for the things we can’t mentally reconcile, draw closer to God through His word as it is presented to us (i.e. without our input or approval) then what is important in life will truly become clear to us: that God has made us specifically and specially for the purpose of our becoming His friends and allowing our lives to be transformed into something of remarkable beauty because of that relationship.