reading the bible with God's help

Hello there,

since about half a year, my reading of the bible has been changing a lot. This also comes together with my plan to convert to a more universalistic christianity depending on whether I can formulate a reasonable and solidly founded universalistic theology. It used to be a simple thing to believe that God loves all and saves all, but lately I have the bible virus again and want to prove things by this book. I don't want to say anymore, this is a book I can't use for thought because it is evil.

So now I am reading the bible prayerfully and switch on speaking in tongues and interpreting them. What came out is that there have been other reasons for the writers of the bible to write as they did, and that much of what they wrote they took out of context and did not seem to allow Jesus to speak the truth. I mean, if you read the bible you're not made aware anymore that most of what is written on it came from oral traditions first. This includes the NT as well. I am actually somewhat upset about the bible authors that they did not write down more of what Jesus did and said. John makes this remark at the end of his gospel that if they were to write down more of what Jesus said and did the world could not contain the books having to be written. I find this really lazy. Many of our current conflicts with and in religion and with the world and with life could be resolved if they had just given us more words of Jesus to think about.

Anyway, Abba seems to be resolved towards me to teach me truth from bible reading. And the surprising thing is, what Abba is teaching me often goes a normal first glance reading of a text. Sometimes I went to reading more about the greek and found out a few things that changed something. But sometimes it was also just the translated text that with Abba contained more than I was thinking.

For example, take the well-known passage of Christ speaking about the little ones who believe in him who may not be offended lest you want to get a millstone bound around your neck and be thrown into the sea. This is really less of a judgment than you think. The little ones in Christ are those who believe in love and it happens often that they get offended by those who ignore the commandment to love. Basically everyone who does not believe in love has a life with a millstone around their neck. They become sufferers who need love and not judgment. The small ones can take it, they believe in love. We are told to help people into Christ's yoke that is better than the millstone of loveless thought and deed. Because, love gives strength and does not burden us. But the millstones of hatred and fear do that much.

At first you read passages like this and say, God, another judgment verse, how can I bear to read another of them. Then you read it through with God and he tells us its different. The bible is really not a perfect book, it is jaded and bitter at places, it is incomplete, it is deceiving, it is written awkwardly, it is not philosophical, it is not clear in many ways. It can serve as material for thought but not as proof text. You think you might be able to find something that could serve as real word of God, but I am not sure this is true. The true word of God is so very hidden in the text, it makes me upset that I am supposed to trust this book that does not help me.

How do you see the bible? How do you read it together with God?

Where does Paul say that the "church is the pillar and foundation of the truth"?

Yes that's true. The church should ideally be a pillar of truth but in reality it sometimes is not. The problem that we have is that our bible reading itself has become as old as the book. We need new material, new holy texts. Because, some of what the bible says is based on the values of an ancient society, not on eternal values. Sometimes the bible is right, for example when Paul speaks about love, because love is an eternal value. But sometimes the book is not right, as for example about slavery. And likewise we cannot say that the book is always right in its severe judgment of sexual relations before marriage, female clergy, abortion, consideration of minorities like homosexuals and transgendereds, and so on. Like Jesus said, the main things in a law book are rights, mercy and faith. We see faith like a bargain for salvation and whoop for everyone who has faith, but many people can't have faith because they are not used to it and because it contradicts the worldviews they grew up with. We must find ways to productively coexist peacefully together. Such things are important in our world that has found new conflicts during the last 2 decades, especially in the Middle East. Even to the peaceful muslims living there we are known as those who wage war, not as peaceful people who help other peaceful people. There must be new light dawning for us, a new sunrise of love and human brotherhood. Christ saw it the same way where he made everyone suffering his brother in the book of Matthew when it came to the judgment coming at His return.

Hi Hedrick,

thanks for the reply. What about Isaiah where God says that his thoughts and ways are higher than ours. That could refer to God insisting on love and forgiveness even when we in our limitedness want to assign wrath. Jesus said a few times that neither He nor His Father would judge anyone. Paul said there is a judgment after death but can't we conceive that we could plead to Jesus there too? Isn't He our lawyer?

What I do think is that God rejects no one but instead some people do not accept God's conditions for living in Heaven. They do not want to enter a good and honest life and instead want a life where they can do evil. They can walk away from God and that way they enter hell. I had been visited by such a hell human once in a kind of wake nightmare. He spoke blasphemies and seemed really perverted, was tattooed with ugly tattoos, was violent, etc. Maybe hell is a place where you can do evil without being punished, and the hell humans want that for them.

The book of Revelation at its end describes a city that has gates and that certain people would end up outside of it. Maybe they could enter if they repented, but as they do not repent they cannot enter the city through the doors, and there is no other way in. Or maybe after some time they do stop doing evil to each other and can enter the city because then they do want to repent to God.

The parables of judgment may be related to Rome's sacking of Jerusalem in 70 AD - what constituted the biblical Day of the Lord. Revelation deals with this too and continues with prophecy against Rome itself, Nero being the beast with the number, etc. It's like in the OT where Israel was chastized by Babylon and then Babylon was chastized itself.