Friday, January 29, 2016

Authority and Integrity

January 29, 2016

Sometimes the Bible raises as many questions in my mind as it resolves. This morning my reading took me from Joshua chapters 10 through 12, recounting the conquering of Canaan by Israel. City after city was "devoted to destruction," which means they killed every man, woman, and child in it. When I was a teenager just getting to know the Bible, I was taught that this rather drastic action was justified because the inhabitants were so wicked. This was the justification given in the Bible itself in Genesis 15:16. Reading it this morning in the light of what is happening in the Middle East as ISIS is sweeping through places like Syria and Libya, this justification rings hollow to me. Israel was engaged in ethnic cleansing on a scale that dwarfs the atrocities being committed by ISIS.

I've listened to pastors who rail against Islam, citing certain sections of the Quran that command Muslims to kill infidels and engage in actions we consider barbaric. "It's right there in their holy book," they point out. But it's in our holy Book as well.

One way of handling this conundrum is by taking the stance that the Bible is simply the record of peoples' experiences of God, some of which were deficient. They wrote down what they understood, but they at times just got it wrong. We've learned and grown along the way, and have come to a more perfect understanding, so Israel's actions, although attributed to God's command, were misguided. God never actually commanded such atrocities. This is the view taken by my more liberal brothers and sisters. It solves one problem, that of the parts of the Bible we don't like, but creates another one: who decides which parts of the Bible are authoritative and which can be discarded? In reality, the reader becomes the final arbiter of truth rather than the Scriptures themselves. It's a slippery slope that leads to downright spiritual and moral anarchy.

On the other hand, if Scripture is inerrant and infallibly true; if it is indeed God's self-revelation to mankind and not our understanding of God, then we have a problem with passages such as Joshua 10-12. What do we make of a God who commands the total annihilation of a population? How is this different than what we are seeing at the hands of ISIS? We have Scriptural authority to be sure, but with it comes the question of Scriptural integrity.

I must confess that I don't know how to solve this problem. Like New Testament believers, and like the Reformers, I know to read the Bible in the light of the Gospel, which instructs us in compassion, grace, and forgiveness, but Joshua 10-12 still remain. The soldiers of ISIS would have no problem with this text, but they do have a big problem with Jesus Christ, the Son of God, crucified for our sins, raised for our justification, and coming again to judge the world. My problem is just the reverse: I have a problem with Joshua 10-12, but not with Jesus Christ. I much prefer it this way, and am thankful that it isn't necessary to have all the answers to have Christ and salvation. I don't have the former, but by the grace of God, I do have the latter.

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