I read with interest your article in the Dispatch dated Friday July 30, 2010. In fact I was so interested in what you said that I couldn't go to sleep last night without reading it again. Would you please answer these questions for me?1. Do you believe that the Bible is really the Word of God?2. Is the Bible only a "collection of stories" or actual happenings?3. What was the purpose of Christ's death on the cross?4. Do you truly believe He was not a winner?I look forward to your answer.
Here is my response. I hope it was both honest and kind.
Thank you for reading my article and thoughtfully responding. As for your questions: 1 and 2 I think you can quite clearly understand from reading the article. This is consistent with biblical scholarship. The scriptures are our theological inheritance from generations past. They require thoughtful interpretation, critical study, an understanding of the culture out of which they arose and the language in which they were told and written. This is consistent with 2,000 years of orthodox, catholic, and protestant teaching. "Biblical inerrancy" is a 20th century fundamentalist concept, with which I disagree.
3. What was the purpose of Christ's life? That is the more important question.4. Was Jesus a winner? It's a question, not a statement. Jesus was handily defeated by Barabbas in a popular election. He was not a wealthy man. His followers did not constitute the A-crowd. He was betrayed, arrested and executed as a criminal insurrectionist. By all that constitutes "a winner" in ancient or modern culture, was he a winner? In order to answer yes, he was a winner, how would we define winner?
Neither you nor I can "win" any disagreement we have about the faith. I do not expect to win you over. If your faith works for you, then, good for you. Your interpretation of the faith does not fit my understanding of the world, the church, the scritptures, or the life of Christ. I will not try to make you a mainline protestant; and I hope you will not try to make me a fundamentalist.
Winning, however, is not what Christ taught. He taught love, and I trust that is the way to the heart of God.
Sincerely,
Rev. Deborah G Celley
