Spiritual status quo, or the Bible in a box

Last updated on: January 17, 2023 at 10:32 pm by Kathryn Shihadah

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Spiritual status quo, or the Bible in a box 2023-01-17T22:32:43-05:00 Kathryn Shihadah

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Many of us never really think about our spiritual status quo. We don’t question our beliefs or their source. And that’s reasonable. People we trusted taught us from an early age what to believe. They gave us no reason to doubt them. We were not taught to think about these things for ourselves, not really. “The Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it.”

But did we learn what the Bible says, or did we learn someone’s interpretation of certain, handpicked parts of the Bible?

For me, and I’m positive for you, it was definitely the latter.

I learned Martin Luther’s doctrines – and it occurs to me that he was a fallible human. Of course, he did a great thing, questioning the power of the Church and its faulty doctrines. And he no doubt sought the heart of God as he reformed said doctrines.

But seeking the heart of God is not the same as knowing the heart of God. And wanting to get everything right is not the same as getting everything right.

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

And Luther’s doctrines were then filtered, over hundreds of years, through theologians and preachers and authors and translators before they came to me in Sunday School.

Ergo: I did not learn from the Bible. I learned from people with an agenda – to teach me to be a good Lutheran. That was my box.

It’s important to recognize the box in which I live – the status quo – and be willing to put it to the test.

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My box included deep, almost worshipful knowledge of certain doctrines drawn from certain passages, and zero knowledge of certain other passages. I studied theology for decades and read the Bible cover-to-cover multiple times, but some parts remained alien to me – that is, someone decided for me which parts of the Bible were important and which were not.

I have since realized how shady, albeit possibly well-meaning, this was.

As part of my own spiritual healing in this new year, I will be taking a close look at the box in which I grew up, testing a number of evangelical and mainline teachings. I want to see for myself how they relate to the overall message(s) of Scripture. (I have deconstructed Scripture passages before – for example here, here, and here.)

I approach this exercise without hostility – only seeking to honestly reckon with my status quo. Your status quo may not be much different from mine, so join me!

(If you are energized by challenges to the evangelical status quo like this, you’d enjoy my blog. Sign up for my free newsletter here!)

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Featured Image: Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

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