Was it John who wrote...?
"Suppose you teach it as such to a young person, who later realizes
that it is simply a story. Because of this, that person may decide to
reject Christ, thinking that to accept him necessarily means one has to
accept Jonah as history also."
For me, the above exemplifies precisely why we should not count as
relevant to our faith whether or not the Bible is objective truth,
subjective truth, or myth. In other words, I believe we should teach
our young people that belief in God is much more internal and much less
external causation - such as the Bible. I had very little Christian
experience or education as a young person, yet I have always had a deep
faith in God. It's just "there." Teaching young people to reach inside
THEMSELVES to maintain their faith in God seems a much more meaningful
lesson than teaching them to believe in a book.
So what good, then, is the Bible? It is a book of instruction about how
to live our lives. As such, it is irrelevant whether the stories
"really" happened, or only "appeared" to have happened to the writers
(who may not have understood scientifically that which they observed).
Like all morality tales, the instructions remain valid.
Lucy Masters
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