Theology and religion as a whole is a broad topic with many differing and conflicting
worldviews that often leave people wondering what is even true about seemingly fundamental
aspects of reality. Is faith unreasonable in the modern age of science? How does the presence of
evil and suffering lend to there being a God that loves or cares to allow these things to happen or
exist? Of all the religions in the world, is there a right religion at all, or are all of them merely
man-made answers to life’s seemingly impossible questions? For the Christian, these questions
come up as well as for the non-Christians. The Christian navigates these in a manner of different
ways that come together to form the Christian worldview. The Christian may come to a rational
explanation of certain laws of nature that point to a lawgiver, a universe created so meticulously
that it points to an intelligent designer, and mythology that became reality. The mythological
reality of Jesus Christ is how we bridge the gap of knowing how the world and its creation point
to its Creator. But more than that Jesus is now seeking the Christian to get to know Him
throughout salvation. The way He has invited them to know Him is through the Bible, the Logos,
the Word of God.
The Bible is a collection of books, originally manuscripts in the forms of scrolls and
letters, written by many authors throughout thousands of years. It is the source for the Christian
to turn to to get to know the person of Jesus Christ and listen to God the Father through the Holy
Spirit. But how does a Christian know how to do that and know that what they are hearing is the
voice of God and not just their own thoughts? Christians and even non-Christians can approach
this book with an agenda without realizing it. The person’s upbringing, the cultural environment
they find themselves in, and important people such as parents, teachers, or peers can have an
impact on the way a person approaches the Bible. It is understandable that those who have been
hurt by others wielding parts of the Bible that suited their personal worldviews can look at the
Bible as a whole and simply deem it untrustworthy based on the kinds of results it seems to
produce. Then in the Christian community itself, there are lots of believers that stay within the
confines of the easy doctrine” don’t murder, steal, lie to anyone. But then they are confronted
with hard issues such as slavery, polygamy, and adultery from prominent characters that they
were always taught to hold in high esteem to the point of being perfect.
Then there is the issue that the Bible has been presented as a rule book, a book of
instructions, or a book of sage wisdom. All these issues combine into a text that doesn’t seem to
know what it should be. Is it a storybook, wisdom book, or law book? Versepicking and chapter
verse additions haven’t helped either. The Bible has been reduced to a place to go to find the one
phrase that might bring comfort. This is why a proper understanding of the Bible is so vital.
Specifically getting back to the roots of the original text. Learning that the first part known as the
Old Testament is a translation of the Hebrew Bible in one way or another. Learning how to read
the Hebrew narrative compared with modern-day storytelling gives the reader a greater sense of
the stories being told and the pattern it sets up for the New Testament.
Having a proper understanding of how to read Biblical text deepens the stories that the
reader finds. The creation story in the Bible is no longer a scientific or static account of the
origins of the universe but now it is understood that it’s a story about a loving God who wanted
to create a people to be and partner with and set a blueprint of love and worship for eternal bliss
with each other. Then it leads to the first humans Adam and Eve who go against God by
choosing their will over God’s will at the temptation of a serpent seemingly destroying the
blueprint God had created. God then promises to redeem His people back to Himself. That plan
would be the incarnation of Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection This becomes the pattern
for the whole of the Bible. Knowing this pattern and tracking it shows Jesus Christ in various
ways symbolically, poetically, and even in the presence of a seemingly heavenly person that
people know as being the Lord.
The Bible is not the only place that we see these patterns. They show up in various
mythologies throughout history. Some gods are born of a virgin and ones that died and were
resurrected. It’s pretty well understood that most if not all of those mythologies are not factual
accounts. Atheists use them to discount the gospel accounts of Jesus Christ. It’s claimed that
Christianity simply borrowed from those other myths to prop up their own religion. The flaw in
that assessment is that the life of Jesus is not a myth but accounted for. The gospels are not mere
fabricated stories designed to sell a convincing religion for the new day of the time. C.S. Lewis
and J.R.R. Tolkien describe these myths as being the shadows of the real thing. Ingrained in
people throughout history was this idea that the world had fallen and needed to be redeemed and
so stories began popping up with details that eventually culminated in the real thing.
Once the Christian has finally settled the matter and decided to surrender to what God’s
word says and set aside what they hope that it says, God’s voice begins to come through clearer.
People have different ways of hearing His voice as God interacts uniquely with His creation both
individually and in community. He wants a person to set aside time to listen to Him. There are
things that a person will want to be revealed to them but God for whatever reason doesn’t seem
to answer. Maybe that means that God is planning on revealing that answer through another
believer. This is how He connects with people in community. A shared pursuit of getting to know
Him. The Bible properly read gives the Christian the ability to hear God properly