The Bible is, of course, one of the most extraordinary books of all time. Yet does that mean that every word in it is the literal truth? If not, what is “true” and what is not? And how can we know for sure?
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Wednesday is Question and Answer Day on the blog…a time for exploring many of the questions that people have recently asked about the nine Conversations with God books and the New Spirituality. Here’s this week’s entry…
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Question: Hi Mr. Walsch. Please help me to understand one thing…what part of the Bible is truth? B/c much of what I understand to be truth about God now through your book (which I believe came into my hands b/c of my search for God) contradicts the Bible. I just want to know what God has told you. Could u please help me? J.S.
Neale’s Response: You should know that even top Bible scholars point out that many statements in the Bible are, in fact, not in harmony with facts. There is not enough time or space to run through the Bible chapter by chapter, line by line, and comment upon which words I believe are “true” or “accurate” and which are not. Allow me to offer you just a few statements and let you be the judge…
In the Book of Deuteronomy it says that if a man marries a woman and finds that she is not a virgin, and if her family cannot prove that she was a virgin before her marriage, “she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death.”
Do you feel, J.S., that this is the true Word of God?
The Bible also says that, if found to be in an adulterous relationship, both the man and the woman are to be taken to the city gates and also stoned to death. If Monday’s allegations are true, that could mean the end for New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer. He’ll have to be stoned.
Do you feel, J.S., that this is the true Word of God?
And God is concerned about other real life matters as well. Apparel, for instance. A woman “must not wear men’s clothing…for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this,” the Bible says.
Also, “Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.”
Then, too, only certain people are welcome in God’s house of worship. If you happen to be a child born out of wedlock, you cannot go to there. The Bible declares that no illegitimate child, “nor any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, even down to the tenth generation.”
Also, if a certain part of your body happens to be injured in an accident or as a result of war, you cannot join with other worshippers of God, either. The Bible says: “If a man’s testicles are crushed or his penis is cut off, he may not be included in the assembly of the Lord.”
Okay, okay, let’s hold it right there, you might say. But these are words right out of the Bible. Do they upset or embarrass you? Turn to Deuteronomy 23:1-2, New Living Translation.
Oh, of course, you might say, one of those modern Bibles. Yes. The King James Version has it this way: “He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord,” but it means the same thing.
And I have some startling news for women who take some of those self-defense classes that are offered these days. They can find themselves in a lot of trouble with some of what they learn in those classes. The Bible says, “If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity.”
Do you feel, J.S., that all of what you have read here is the true Word of God?
Oh, and the Bible also offers some thoughts about children who don’t obey their parents. These are probably not thoughts that many mothers would have, but there they are, right there in Holy Scripture…we should kill them.
According to the Bible, God says to kill them. It’s right there, plain as day:
“If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. They shall say to the elders, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a profligate and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you.”
So what do you think, J.S….are these the true Words of God?
Just a question, mind you. Just wondering here…
Chances are you might be ready to concede, “Okay, not ALL the words of the Bible are true and accurate literally. Everyone knows that.” Then the question becomes, which ones are and which ones are not…
That is a question you have to answer for yourself, J.S., as do all readers of the Bible (and any other book, for that matter). Read the Bible and then ask God for guidance. What’s true, what’s false, what’s exaggeration, what’s cultural contextual, what’s fact, what’s “story telling”…what’s what?
P.S. A blog reader (Kenneth Schwab) comments, just below, that “The Bible is intended to help us with our morals and values, and was never intended to be an accurate history book.”
I should like to point out that we are not talking here about the Bible as an “accurate history book.” The words I have quoted above are not “history.” They are not simply written accounts of life in Biblical days and times. Those words purport to be spiritual directions. They are much more than merely fascinating narrative accounts of day-to-day existence, they are spiritual instructions, to be followed, presumably, by readers of the Bible.
If they are NOT to be followed by such readers, then all future editions of the Bible should SAY, in PRINT, just before these sections….”NOTICE: The words that follow are not to be considered injunctions from God, or from any religious authority. These words are merely historical accounts, and they are inaccurate at that.” Or words to that effect.
My point–which Mr. Schwab, below, seems to have missed: If we are going to simply “write off” certain portions (maybe whole sections of whole books) of the Bible as being “historically inaccurate,” then the entire book is suspect, is it not? Which is precisely what I am saying here. Each person must decide for himself or herself what is “true” and what is not. Obviously, the Bible itself is not literally true.
Obviously.
Oh, and if any of my readers would be willing to re-read my direct quotes from the Bible above and tell me how those scriptural teachings “help us with our morals and values,” as Mr. Schwab says that the Bible was intended to do, I would be most grateful. I’m a bit confused here.
(Ask Neale may be accessed on a daily basis in the Messengers’ Circle at Neale’s personal website: www.nealedonaldwalsch.com. Each week Neale selects a question from those posted there and publishes it in this blog.)