Thoughts . . . (Sorry so long!)

I figured I would let everyone know how I’m doing apart from all of these trips.  It is true that the field-studies are a large part of the schooling here, and that they are crazy-fun, but there is more that has been on my mind besides seeing the country-side.  Yesterday, I guess, prompted me to let those of you know of this part of my time here because I have not yet mentioned it.  I had a difficult day yesterday to say the least.  No worries, for I am going to the surrounding area of the Sea of Galilee for the next four days, trips always made the difficult things seem smaller, although not go away. 

Yesterday, I had a tough day of classes.  I started my day with a Rabbinical Thought and Literature Class.  This class has always been troubling for me.  Parts of me think that the only things that I can take from the class were learned in the first two class periods.  We are continuously going over Classical Rabbinical teachings (Mishnah), and have just gotten into reading the Talmud.  Our teacher obviously has a biased being a Jewish Rabbi.  Recently, I had to write a response paper about the influence of Midrash in the New Testament.  It is true that Jesus, as well as the writers would have lived among the Rabbinical teachings of the Jews, but it has been hard for me to draw a line of how much.  Were the writers of the New Testament include Midrash on the Old Testament within their N.T. writings?  Did Jesus, being a Rabbi, think that there was more than one source of truth for each of His teachings (we learn that every aspect of Scripture can have 70 different meanings, even opposing interpretations, and that it is all truth)?  Is Paul, being a Jew most of his life, a product of Jewish thought, and refer to many O.T. references that we don’t notice?  Is the entire book of James a Midrash upon five verses in the 12th Psalm, which is it’s own Midrash upon a chapter of the book of Hosea?  These are the things that we are being taught, and proven through many “tools” that Rabbinic Literature uses.  Honestly, I’ve had a very harsh reaction to all of this teaching.  There is no way that I believe that Christ rode the same donkey into Jerusalem, that was the same donkey that Abraham used to go to the place where he was to sacrifice Isaac, that was the same donkey that was used in an O.T. story, that was created in the 6^th day at twilight, and just chilled between each of its divine uses.  That is crazy!  If I cannot accept this, then I wonder how much of the seemingly legitimate claims I can believe.  In thinking this through, I’ve kind of said that it is all nonsense, and take the fact that this was the background that the N.T. authors would have lived and written in, along with Jesus.  I do wonder, though, if my idea of truth is confined to my western world-view of one truth, and the rest being false.  Eastern world-views can accept many opinions, all being equal truth, even if they oppose.  In my mind there is one Truth, and that is Christ, He permeates throughout all Scripture including the O.T. as he showed the two on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24. 

After my time 2 ½ hours in Rabbinical Thoguht, I had to quick study for a Greek Mid-term exam, which I’m petty sure I bombed; it was so hard.  And then I had 20 minutes to regroup and got to my History of Ancient Israel class that was also 2 ½ hours.  In class we talked about the Patriarchs, the Exodus, and the Joshua’s account of the conquest of the land of the Levant.  At the end of he hour our teacher, who is a practicing Jew, basically told us that the Patriarchs are just a myth that were to represent the actual people of Israel during the divided monarchy, and the tradition was fashioned to give them a history to the right of the land of Canaan.  The stories were to show that God had followed through on His promise and it was now time for the people to follow with their part.  Along with this, out teacher, also, pointed out that the Exodus also couldn’t have possibly happened.  He was not just telling is these things were wrong, he is a very, very intelligent man and “proved” it to us through ancient documents, archaeological records, and the by the holes in Scripture.  Basically, he gave us three possible views on each.  In each case, though, none seemed quite satisfactory.  I, at times, am feeling naïve in my belief that it is just all true.  He told us that the only way that it is possible to believe that the exodus happened is by having complete faith against all the unproven evidence. 

In both cases, I just wonder if my thoughts on Scripture are too narrow.  Even Christians here have a bit different takes on the historicity of the Bible than I would say.  Are we too closed minded in America?  An even bigger question for me had been, “When I continue to teach these passages to youth of whomever, how will I approach the teaching with all these things in mind?”  Can I really just say that against all opinions we have faith that these events happened.  I would say yes, but these kids aren’t stupid.  They, at some point, will have to come to grips, like I am, with their faith in the Bible and in the Lord.  I’ve seen many people back away from faith because of some of these issues that they couldn’t just accept them under faith.  Should one force them too, or it is ok to say that these ideas might be true, and still have faith in the Lord that supposedly wrote all these stories?  Our teacher has no problem in still believing that God’s sovereignty is over the Bible despite these issues.  He says that God’s revelations to the people (the authors of the Bible) were written in these narrative forms so that the people would understand and be able to remember and pass the traditions on.  God’s purpose was to remind the Israelites that they still had to follow through on the covenant that the God had followed through with. 

As you can see, some of these things have ruffled my feathers a bit.  Nothing is shaking me to my core, but one has to decide how he or she thinks of their faith and Scripture through these views.  I wanted to let you know a little about some of the ideas I’m learning and the classes that I am taking.  Also, I wanted to let you know of these ideas so you, yourselves, can roll over the possibilities in your minds.  My pray for myself, and for your is that you would be “quick to listen, slow to speak [and believe]” and to “not be deceived” for the father of lie can work through bent truth better than recognizable lies.  Also, remember that “the man who perseveres under [spiritual] trial will receive the crown of life.”  For trials will produce an abundance of faith and spiritual endurance.”  Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord who follows through on his promises!