A guide for our lives

Q: Archbishop J, why do you believe that God exists (part 9)?

We have looked at the challenge of belief and unbelief from many different perspectives. I started with natural reason and worked slowly towards faith. All the enquiries began by considering what a reasonable person could accept. We have seen eight different approaches; each one saying why I believe.

Let us look at the topic from a different vantage point—the Bible. The question: Is the Bible the Word of God or not? This is central to Christians and Jews alike; central to belief and, more so, to what we believe.

Without the Bible, we would have no memory of the people who kept faith in God. We would not have a record of what they believed and how their interaction with God shaped their lives and that of so many other people.

The Bible

For us Catholics, the Bible is made up of 73 books, written over 1500 years by at least 40 different authors. What is remarkable is the unity of the text, its revelation, and its purpose.

It is this unity that compels us to believe that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16).

There is a great human boon to reading Scripture and pondering the text. It speaks to so many human situations. It consoles, corrects, calms and challenges; it points to mercy and chastens us when we are wrong.

For three and a half millennia, humans have delved into the text of the Bible with great profit. It is the number one published book with five billion copies sold—and counting. It has been translated into 704 different languages.

There are 52 countries where the Bible is illegal or strictly restricted. In these countries, many people risk life and limb to obtain a Bible. Why would they? Because of what the Bible contains.

Every possible human experience is reflected in its pages. More than that, in this biblical reflection you will find wisdom and a path to becoming a better human being. And there, you will encounter God.

If you are experiencing difficult emotions and temptations: the seven deadly sins—pride, sloth, anger, lust, gluttony, greed, or envy—you can find biblical stories relating to each one. And the stories point to resolution and becoming a better human being.

If you seek the higher way—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—you will find much in the Bible to meditate upon and to assist you in growing into the amazing person you were called to be.

For 3500 years, people have been drinking from this source with great profit. Scholars have spent their lives devoted to the Bible and have not plumbed the depth of it. Children have been drinking without drowning.

It speaks authentically to each generation and to each human situation. As the Psalmist says: “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Ps 119:105).

A Library of books

Many people believe the Bible is a book. That is understandable since it is printed that way. But it is a library of books; each one is unique, written in a specific style and addressed to a specific people.

Imagine 2000 years from now, someone finding a copy of V S Naipaul’s Miguel Street and trying to understand it when the world no longer spoke English. Some of the unique cultural experiences the book describes would be near impossible to understand then.

Well, the Bible is a collection of books from a unique people, history, and experience that we need to grasp if we are to understand it, with all of its richness and complexity.

The books in the Bible are written in different literary styles. You do not read Marvel Comics the same way you read Shakespeare? And these are written differently from Eric Williams’ From Columbus to Castro.

When reading the Bible, it is beneficial to understand the literary style of each book and some of the customs and experiences of those for whom it is written. Yet, the Bible will speak to you, even if you do not have all of that knowledge.

Word of God

Some Christians will tell you the Bible is the Word of God. Catholics will tell you the Bible contains the Word of God. For us, God’s Word existed before the Bible was written.

In the Book of Genesis, the Bible begins by saying: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light” (Gen 1:1–3).

St John’s Gospel opens: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made” (Jn 1: 1–3).

For us, the Word of God is a person, Jesus Christ. We read the Bible to encounter Jesus. The Bible speaks about Jesus from the first page to the last, but it cannot contain all of Him.

More and more, science is challenged by the Book of Genesis. The book was completely dismissed at one point as a nancy story that was unhelpful. More recently, scientists have seen that the truth in the Bible needs to be understood through understanding its literary style and its people.

Remember Robert Jastrow, the atheist and scientist who wrote God and the Astronomers? He concluded his text by saying: “For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance. He is about to conquer the highest peak, as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries” (p 107).

The theologian was guided by revelation: the scientist by creation. Both were led to the same mountain.

Key Message:

The Bible is a guide for our lives, if we want to become better and live happier and love more deeply.

Action Step:

Pick up your Bible and read St Luke’s gospel. If you are more adventurous, subscribe to Fr Mike Schmitz’s Bible in a Year. Be open, to encounter the Word.

Scripture Reading:

2 Tim 3: 15–17