How long is this week ?? RUOK?

OK, just sick of staying home. How RU?

OK. But restless.

What’s up?

Church. I just don’t fit in any more.

Same old?

Yeah. Can’t think the way they do any more.

What’s your biggest prob?

OT of course. Evolution v Creation, but could live with that. But Noah’s ark and a worldwide flood? So much killing commanded by God? I can’t believe in a God like that any more.

What are you gonna do?

Stop going? But it doesn’t help me work out what’s true. How do you deal ?

Stopped going too. Was easy when Covid hit. I hang out over coffee with 2 mates who kind of think the same. It helps.

Is criticising OT like questioning God?

I guess. But what’s wrong with that?

Saw a friend from church last week. Told me I was opposing God. What??

Do you think God’s going to punish you?

No. But I feel disloyal.

If Jesus said we should love God with our whole heart and mind. Surely he would want us to use our brain?

I read an atheist blog, said if we can’t believe OT, we can’t believe any of it.

Doesn’t make sense. There were heaps of different authors writing over hundreds of years. Surely some could be right while we doubt others?

Isn’t that questioning the Bible? Shouldn’t we just trust it?

Think we’ve got to take it as is. It clearly ISN’T all accurate history. There’s inconsistencies, different versions of the same stories, strange teachings.

So doesn’t that destroy it all?

Only if you begin thinking it MUST be all true because God wrote it. If you think people wrote it with help from God, who knows?

Just accepting it for what it is was a great relief to me.

Why?

Didn’t have to defend things I couldn’t believe any more. Didn’t have to try to defend evil actions by God.

I see that. Doesn’t that mean NT might be wrong too?

Nah, historians who say OT is doubtful in places also say NT is way more historical. I think belief in Jesus has a very strong historical basis.

But Jesus believed in OT didn’t he?

Yeah. But not like some people think.

What do you mean?

I’ve read that Jews thought differently than we do about their scriptures. They seemed to accept that it sometimes told two different stories. And that it could be interpreted in different ways.

You mean when Jesus and Paul changed things they quoted from OT?

Yeah. Means we’re not being as disloyal as we might think.

So what’s the value of OT then?

It was Jesus’s scriptures. We can’t understand him without understanding OT. I believe it’s the scriptures God intended us to have. Instead of giving us some set in stone teachings about God that we find hard to believe, it shows us the process that God used to reveal himself to the Jews. We can learn so much from it.

Sounds good. But how do you know? Maybe you’ve got it wrong.

Maybe. Maybe not. Helps to pray for wisdom you know.

Pray? What do you pray?

Ask the Holy Spirit to teach me what’s true and what’s not. And how to understand OT.

Any lightning bolts? 🙂

Lol! Haven’t been struck down yet. But I feel at peace about it all.

Has thinking like this affected how you feel about Jesus? You were always an enthusiast!!

I do think differently. But I don’t love him less. Maybe more.

How does that work?

He just seems more real. And I don’t have to think maybe he’s going to smite someone, like Yahweh. He really is love, and I can hold onto that.

And I feel motivated to care for the poor and suffering, just as he did.

Feeling jealous!

Well, hang out with us next Sat am. Meet a few others who are going through the same stuff.

Will do! Thanks heaps.

CU then.

🙂