How Do I Use The Bible to Think About God? Subtitled: Is nitpicking a useful tool?

     Theology, as previously explained, falls at the crossroads of thought expression and the love of neighbor.  It is thinking about God in relation to our neighbor.  Thoughtful expression and the love of God is contemplation (for ease of reference).

    So how do I?  Read the Bible.  Yah, that's one of those easy bits of bumper sticker wisdom that rapidly breaks down on serious consideration.  But why the Bible is a wonderful, confusing, humanly constructed, divinely inspired document is something for a different set of posts.

    In reengaging with social media, I have fallen into a number of discussions surrounding theology.  This has inspired me to update my Facebook profile picture to someone poking a bear with a stick.  

    When I was in Seminary, one of the things we were taught in regards to the Law of Moses is that there are 613 "mizvot".  These are specific 'do's and don't's' drawn and interpreted from the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament.  Our "New Testament" point of view is that Jesus fulfills what came before, including the law.  So it is easy to get a little arrogant and disparage the 'nit-picking' of the Mizvot.  It is unfair and inappropriate, but it was a thing.

    And yet, how many pieces of Christian thought and 'command' have been hung on individual bits of the New Testament and defended as though the whole gospel rested upon a certain interpretation?  If not the whole gospel, at least the vehemence of my arguments are in inverse proportion to amount of Bible I am using in my argument.

     How do we avoid that?  Hanging far too much weight off of far too little Scripture?  A good place to start is with the law as given by Jesus.  There are two commandments, to love God and to love Neighbor.  This does not replace the 613 Mizvot.  Rather, it provides a foundation against which to hold them up.  On these two given by Jesus hangs the whole law and the prophets (and the gospel and the epistles).  

    So in our Bible reading, we come across something that strikes a chord (for good or for ill).  Or, more likely, we come across the words of someone else who makes a theological claim based on a certain verse in a certain light.  Start with Jesus' own guide.  Is there love here for God or neighbor?  Is there not?  Is there more than just love?  

    So, to answer my own subtitle, nitpicking is not a useful tool.  Love must be the first proof we seek in a text.  When our 'proof texting' turns into nitpicking, it no longer becomes useful for building up the body of Christ (another Jesus thing).  Jesus demonstrated love by His death on the cross for us.  God demonstrated love in Jesus' resurrection and the promise of our salvation.  The Holy Spirit is given to indwell us, to be our loving guide while Jesus is in heaven.  

Peace,

Pastor Peter