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Foundations and Boundaries

The Bible is a magnificent book full of wonder, poetry, and epic stories that doesn't shy away from what the world is really like. It is a complex work written by many different authors over hundreds of years, unified in one overarching narrative and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It is a gift from God, help in time of trouble, and the chief revelation of Jesus Christ.

Everything I just said is true, but the problem is I don't always want it to be true. While at times I can admire the complexity of scripture I would mostly prefer it to be simple and straightforward. I want something that will tell me what to do, believe, and what to avoid. I want a quick moral reference handbook or a systematic theology encyclopedia that I can easily reference on the go. 

That isn't what the Bible is.

I think many Christians feel the same way I do. It can be nice to admire the Bible's complexity and variety from afar, but when it comes down to it we want something simple. We want a book that will tell us the "do's" and "don'ts" and spell out in an easy to understand way what exact theological positions we should hold and which we should avoid. 

Sadly I think we often let our desire for simplicity override the truth of what the Bible actually is. We treat the Bible like a moral handbook or instruction manual in our churches. This comes from a noble place, the desire to live righteous lives, but it isn't true to what scripture actually is.

The Bible's purpose is not to provide a complete list of moral obligations for us to live our lives by. It's purpose is not to systematically and explicitly outline every theological truth we should affirm. It's purpose is not historical or scientific. The Bible's purpose is to facilitate a relationship with the living God.

All the things I just mentioned are in the Bible. The Bible contains moral teaching, and it is important. The Bible contains theological doctrines, and they are important. The Bible contains history and helps facilitate scientific discovery, which are both important. It's just that none of these things are the primary purpose. They all serve the larger goal of helping us meet and grow closer to Christ.

This means that the Bible is not the book of answers I think we normally treat it as. Are there answers in scripture? Most assuredly there are, but again that isn't the primary point. The point is Jesus.

Over the next few weeks we will be discussing what this means about the answers we can get from scripture about important topics and questions. While these may not be the primary focus of the Bible, they do serve a function in helping us know Christ. We will discuss two concepts that I think the Bible lays out in our quest to Christ better.

The first is foundations. The Bible does not have all the answers in the universe, but it does lay the foundations of our understanding. The foundations are things that to be a Christian we must submit to and accept. For example, the fact that Christ rose from the dead is foundational in our understanding of pretty much everything.

The second is boundaries. The Bible makes the foundations of faith pretty clear, but beyond that is it a free for all? Well, no. The Bible is a complex book and allows for differences of opinion in many areas. However, the Bible does establish boundaries for our discussions. Not all opinions on a given topic are valid or faithful to the biblical witness.

I think as we go through these two concepts in more detail over the next few weeks it will become clear. It's also true that we do this unconsciously a lot of the time. We recognize that there are people who disagree with us on minor issues but can see that they aren't way off base. So we agree to disagree.

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