Why I don’t Believe the Bible is Literally True
James Alexander
Lately, when I have been driving, I have been listening to Marcus Borg. Of all those Jesus Seminar folks, he always was my favorite. Maybe that is because he seemed to have less of a tendency to jettison spirituality. Instead, he found a new way to frame it. Lately, I have been listening to him talk about his views of the Bible.
I liked what he had to say. I long ago gave up on trying to prove progressive positions by quoting chapter and verse. Oh sure, some good stuff is there. There is stuff about justice, peace, and love. It’s all very nice.
Then there is the stuff about hate and war and violence. The Bible is hopelessly misogynic. It’s racist. It is homophobic. It’s prejudiced. It’s biased. In short, not good stuff at all.
Now I have heard folks try to prove the Bible isn’t anti LGBTQ+ by quoting chapter and verse. I did a stint as a minister in one of the Historic Peace Churches (Quaker, Mennonite, Brethren). I have heard those folks go to great lengths quoting chapter and verse that the book is not pro-violence. I have heard many women quote verses supporting women priests.
Posh to all of it! For every one passage you show me to prove all that, I will show you ten that don’t. Truth be told. You just can’t “prove” stuff from the Bible. It speaks with too many voices.
So many voices that there is no way it is written by one Big Guy in the sky. Like Borg says. It is a human book. Not a divine book. Not a divine/human book. It is a human book. It is a book of people writing about their encounter with God and religion.
Please note, I’m not saying nothing is literal. Far too many quite liberal archeologist have verified locations, people, and some events in the Bible to doubt that kind of stuff. Even a “doubter” like Bart Ehrman admits Jesus existed and some of what he taught is accurately recorded. (Of course what you make of it is a different matter with many opinions)
From that basis of a human book, it is a very useful book indeed. We can use it like talking to a friend. What in your experiences of God resonate with mine? Where do I say, “that’s nuts” I’m not going that way? (I say that to my friends sometimes!). It’s all there. I have written at some length about how crazy the Bible can get, and I just scratched the surface.
Is there a God? For me, the answer is yes. It just seems to me that all human history and the fact that there is anything in the universe at all (or even that there is a universe) says there is a God to me. (You might want to argue that with me, but I won’t. Your view may differ.). What is that God like? It seems that most folks have felt in some way, that in essence, God is Love. Of course, the God of the Bible doesn’t always go around acting like God is Love!
Not so much in the Hebrew Scriptures, but definitely the New Testament, there is “Hell to Pay,” for sinners. Oh, you can make a very good case from the Bible that eternal hell just isn’t a reality. I did for years. You can read all about the anti-hell arguments. But you can also “sure as hell” “prove” eternal perdition from the book.
But then it hit me. I must be true to myself. Hell has nothing to do with the God I know. So, I just don’t buy it.
Borg says there are three ways we need to view the Bible:
- Borrowing from the Buddhist, it is a “finger pointing to the moon.” The Bible is a finger that points to the writers’ experiences of God. But, just like the finger pointing is NOT the moon, the Bible is not God, nor the words of God. And someone could be fibbing about the moon being out there when they point. So, if you look, you might see the moon, or you might not. What I am saying, is that the Bible might lead you to an encounter with the numinous or maybe not. You look. What do you see? If I see hate, violence, or homophobia, I am not seeing the moon, just the finger pointing. Is that picking and choosing? Damn straight it is. We’d better pick and choose. If we follow “eye for eye and tooth for tooth,” we are all going to “end up blind and toothless.” (Quote from an old Mennonite bishop I knew.) Jesus said the Spirit would lead us into all truth. Okay. Well, the spirit tells me the hate, and violence, and vengeance, and misogyny and homophobia are not the truth
- The Bible is a sacrament. I consider myself a follower of Jesus. Christians have a notion of sacrament. The definition of the word is an “outward and visible sign of an inner and spiritual grace.” You know, like a wedding ring. I wear one. You might. The ring is not the marriage. It’s just a symbol. It reminds me of a commitment I made (46 years ago! Where has the time gone?). Yet, in a way, it is more than a symbol. I’ve probably got 5 rings. But, really, only my wedding ring is special to me. Somehow (at least in my mind) it partakes of something of that February day so long ago. That’s how it is with the Bible. A sacrament. A human product. But it can speak something true to you sometimes. At least it does to me. Outward sign. Visible. Human created. Invisible grace, a possibility of encountering God. But still 100% human made and not God.
3. The Bible is lens. I wear glasses. Blind as a bat without them. But I can see much clearer with them. That doesn’t mean perfectly. I still don’t have 20/20 vision. When I read, I still mistake words from time to time because I can’t make them out. Still, I do better with them than without them. Guess that is how I see the Bible. I do better with some aspects of its message. Other parts not so much. Seeing isn’t always believing in the case of the Bible.
So, if you want to fight over Bible verses with me about sexuality, or violence, or women’s rights, or what have you, well… you can win if you want! But so, can I. But I’m not going to fight about it. Waste of time.
I know how important it is for my gay Christian friends to prove the Bible is not inherently homophobic. I know how important it is for my peacenik friends to prove the book is antiwar. I know how much I want to prove to you that the Bible doesn’t preach hell. I think it is ruining your life.
The reality though is that the Bible is indeed, in the aggregate, antigay. It is violent. It uses hell as a scare tactic. You can find exceptions; but overall?
Just seems more honest to me to say the Bible is wrong. I have met God there. It helped me before. I have also been abused by it. At least in my book, right? But it is also, quite honestly wrong. Of course, that doesn’t mean it is not allegorically, metaphorically, or mythologically true. Those are all methods of conveying truth as well. But literally? I don’t buy it.
I met a guy in the bookstore at my seminary many years ago who told me that the Bible was absolutely, undoubtedly true. I asked him how he could be so sure. He quoted a Bible verse saying it was true.
How odd, I thought. How could you prove a book was true because it said it was true to someone who already didn’t believe it was true? I walked away shaking my head. Circular thinking.