Today, we're going to talk about some of those outdated beliefs or even just wrong beliefs about the Bible that may still be in our mindset that have kept us from engaging scripture fully again.
Kate Boyd - Book | Newsletter | Instagram | Twitter
Today, we're going to talk about some of those outdated beliefs or even just wrong beliefs about the Bible that may still be in our mindset that have kept us from engaging scripture fully again.
Kate Boyd - Book | Newsletter | Instagram | Twitter
You're listening to the Untidy Faith Podcast, where we have honest conversations and gentle encouragement for when following Jesus gets messy. I'm your host, Kate Boyd, author, speaker, and gentle guide for Christians who are disentangling their faith from culture and desiring to find joy in following Jesus again. There can be life of faith after deconstruction. Let's find yours together./ Welcome to the show. I am really, really excited to bring you. The first of what I hope are many solo episodes. As I finish up my own time in seminary, my schedule is opening up and I wanted to be able to bring my voice to help you in other ways than discussing scripture. And so that's what these solo episodes are going to focus on. And then hopefully in the new year in 2024, I will actually be bringing in. Some more discussions, but also interviews and more solo episodes. I am really looking forward to engaging with you this way. Um, a little bit more so. Let's just dive in with our first topic. Let's explore today what it looks like to start to re engage Scripture in the middle of or after your deconstruction, and we're going to do this by looking at some of the myths that maybe you've been told about reading the Bible and engaging with it frequently that may be holding you back from jumping back in. I'm Kate Boyd. Author of An Untidy Faith and creator of the Threaded Bible Studies. And with a master's degree in biblical studies, I help those who are rebuilding and re evaluating their faith to rediscover scripture and rebuild that relationship they once had, but as the person with the faith that they have today. So if you're anything like me, you loved the Bible. in the past version of your faith. It was probably even the foundation of your faith. How many of us grew up thinking about whether or not something was biblical, but now because of whether it was weaponized against you, specific interpretations, or people have misused scripture. Or your faith has just changed so deeply, you may find that you actually hesitate to get back into scripture again. And that is completely normal. So many of us have been hurt by people who have wielded interpretations that hurt us, right? Um, and they've even been barriers to some of our relationships. because our beliefs have changed and because we look at the Bible differently and seeing the way other people use the Bible and wield those interpretations that they have or the proof texts that they have can really make us feel confused and hurt so that we need to actually find compassion and understanding in ourselves. And. Realize that the way we engage the Bible needs to change. Now, some of that means that sometimes we have to stop reading it for a while, engaging it for a while, because so much of our faith has been wrapped up in how we view those things. So sometimes taking a step back is, is the job, but also When you're ready to move forward, we can recognize those barriers and we can challenge those outdated beliefs that we had with new information and we can approach the Bible with fresh eyes when we're ready. So that's what we're going to do a little bit. Today, we're going to talk about some of those outdated beliefs or even just wrong, um, potentially beliefs about the Bible that maybe have kept us, that are still sort of in our mindset that have kept us from engaging scripture fully again. Myth number one is the Bible should be read literally. Now, this one is kind of tough because this is probably what a lot of us grew up with. The problem is that even in some of those literal interpretations, there was still picking and choosing what is literal and what is not. For example, with something like purity culture, right? We're told not to do anything sexual, not to have any of those things. But the Bible says, greet everyone with a holy kiss. Well, we obviously decided that was a cultural thing that we didn't need to take literally. So there are lots of examples like that. That's kind of a silly one. Obviously, these go much deeper into some of the ways in which scripture has been used against women. Or, you know, the queer community against, um, slaves and all sorts of populations. And so this can be a very rigid and challenging way to look at the Bible. And it can actually Disrespect what the authors intended, maybe even the message that we're supposed to receive because we're looking within this very narrow framework that while seems plain on the surface does not actually work. Not in their time and not in our time. So what we need to do instead is realize that the Bible is a literary piece. It is made up of a lot of different genres and a lot of different authors styles and voices that I still believe are inspired and that God used to communicate with us. But by looking at it more as literature that is sacred and inspired and authoritative, we can kind of Give ourselves permission to dig into some of those layers, whether that is history or our shared tradition and theology, or its cultural context, or even its literary context. All of these things are super important when learning to engage the Bible. And so that's literarily. Our next myth is that you have to have a personal quiet time. I don't know about you, but this was sort of like... A cornerstone of my engagement with the Bible as a young person. This was the kind of thing that I was supposed to do by myself a lot. And that sounds good and it is always a good thing to read the Bible and engage with it. The problem is that I am one person. The problem is that I am shaped by my cultural environment, by my experiences. And I might be missing something by not engaging in it. with other people. And in fact, early readers of the Bible didn't have personal copies like we do now. That is, you know, something that came out of the Reformation and the printing press and the way in which we're actually now able to engage scripture on our own personally because it is in our languages and it is printed. And heck, I've got five copies right over there on my desk right now. So the idea of personally engaging scripture is actually very new in our entire Christian history, but also in the world's history. So the idea that it must be read every day, frequently, or personally. is not an expectation that most people would have. And so we need to think about the ways that we can engage other people in community, not only through our own traditions, but engaging with a diverse variety of voices so that we can get more experiences, more perspectives, more points of view at the table. And in doing that, we actually can find ourselves. back at, um, closer to what it would look like to have engaged like the early church did. And that's pretty beautiful. Our next myth is that you have to read the Bible every single day. day. I don't know about you, but you can raise your hand, just like I'm raising mine, that you've ever felt guilty that you didn't read the Bible every day. Maybe you were super disciplined for a little while, and then you fell off the wagon one day and you feel that intense guilt. Um, or maybe you've just never been able to get in that habit and that has been a place where you feel like, You had been stunted for all of those years. Now, since you've deconstructed, you might have left some of that legalism behind, but I also want to give you the encouragement that again, like our last myth with the personal quiet time, which then would be a frequency of every day, there was not an expectation of reading it alone or even being able to read the Bible every day for so much of history. Because... It was engaged in community and engaged in communal gatherings, and that is part of what makes the Bible such a rich document, such a rich, um, set of literature and history is because it's always been engaged together and everyone has been finding meaning in it through our engagement. So, I mention this too because we can sometimes, even if we've left the belief system behind or some of those frameworks and legalistic moments behind, we can still feel that nagging in our bodies, in our minds, in our approach to the Bible, and that can leave us stuck, right? So, then maybe we feel obligated to get into it. And that stresses us out. And then we don't do it at all. Or it can be one of those things that just brings all of those overwhelming and anxious emotions to the surface when you read the Bible, because now you feel like you're not doing it right, or you're not capable, or that you haven't done it enough. And we don't need all of that. We can leave some of that. behind us. So instead, I want to encourage you that reading it infrequently is fine, that there is space to engage in community, in community and on your own, and that you can dip your toes in ever so slightly and that's still a good thing. So rebuilding a relationship with scripture doesn't have to go from zero to a hundred in just a second. You can actually take your time. Getting back in and readjusting as you go. So the next myth that we're dealing with is that reading it verse by verse and digging into the Bible verse by verse is the superior way to read the Bible. Now, I don't know about you, but I have I have browsed a lot of websites that have Bible studies on them, and a lot of the ones that I used to gravitate towards would have said, in a verse by verse, look at the book of whatever, right? Or at the story of this. And that would have been really appealing to me at one time. But what I've discovered in the intervening years is that actually proof texting is kind of a big problem within the tradition that shaped me. And that's how we get some of those interpretations that have hurt us, um, or that I have found limiting or hurtful is because It was a verse plucked out of context. For example, modesty. This is one of those concepts that gets a lot of play on the internet. Everyone wants to talk about modesty. But if you actually look at the verses around when modesty is discussed, it's about flaunting wealth. It's not about clothing, um, that, you know, shows. sexuality. Um, it has nothing to do with that. It's one of those things where we can still have that conversation about what's appropriate to dress and how we treat each other in that circumstance. But to call it biblical modesty? Isn't exactly doing the trick, right? But that's built on a proof text. That's built on one verse that someone decided to dig into. So when we do that, we not only miss the broader context of the book or the paragraph, but we also miss the big picture of the Bible. in some of this too. There is a big story that's being told behind the scenes through history, through these letters, through the unfolding of the beliefs and the actions of the communities of God. And when we go verse by verse and word by word and like little accent mark by accent mark, we're we may be missing some of that bigger picture. And so I think it's actually really great to read big chunks at a time and to not think too much about those details, but to see how those themes fit together or to always be thinking about where you are in the story of God's redemption in the story of God's salvation history as you engage the Bible. So that you can figure out how to think about this verse. What is the way that you engage with this part of scripture? And of course, allow yourself to take in the context around a verse, especially one that someone is Throwing at you for a particular topic to make sure that that's actually the intent of what's going on so that you get a broader Understanding of what may actually be the principle at work that you're meant to live into and follow So tell me I want to hear from you in the comments on instagram Um, yeah, has there ever been a verse that has been taken out of context that has been proof texted lifted out? That when put back in context has changed something for you. I'm totally curious what you would say. So drop that over on Instagram. Let me know. Our final myth is that if you don't believe in inerrancy, then you don't take the Bible seriously. Now, my opinion on this has changed, obviously, because now I'm calling this myth, right? Whereas, you know, 10 years ago, me would be horrified that I'm thinking about the Bible in any other terms besides inerrancy. But part of the problem is that inerrancy is as much a cultural thing, um, as a doctrinal thing. And it even has become a framework if you, for example, look at the statement on inerrancy, right? The Chicago statement on inerrancy that was created. That it's actually a framework, a hermeneutic, a way of reading and interpreting the Bible that then becomes very restrictive and, um, boxed in. That keeps us from engaging the Bible in a lot of different ways. So it again hinges on some of that literal ness. that it hinges on the historicity of the Bible and all of the events being exactly, perfectly true. And so there's all of these ideas around in A and C that make me really hesitate to engage it in the same way now. Because I now believe in engaging the Bible in its many contexts, whether that is literature, history, the theology, um, and the community reading, right, of scripture, that I think we end up in a place that makes the historicity of the Bible and its accounts of things kind of challenged, whether that's archaeology has shown us different, or even that we've realized that they were borrowing, um, ideas and literature of the time. And giving us a different perspective than the gods of the time. And in a way that's beautiful because God is communicating through their history and through familiar literary forms, but it's giving a perspective that's different. And then we have to look at things like scripture around slavery or the subjugation of women that has now, we've now decided isn't. inerrant, isn't literal, or that we've found our ways around some of those things. And so we have to ask ourselves if that's really the right framework through which to look the Bible. And I would argue that actually through that framework and all of the things that come with it, whether it's literal or just sort of believing that there has to be this approach, that everything is historical and accurate as is, means that we're missing Not only a lot of beauty in the Bible, but some of its meaning. Some of what God was trying to tell us and express to us. So sure, it is really challenging to figure out what is cultural and what is quote unquote Christian, right? But that's the challenge of the community of the of God right in our churches. We are discerning that all the time. So in order to take the Bible seriously, sometimes inerrancy isn't the best framework, isn't the best idea because it's not what the Bible was intended to do. So instead, we can look at the stories and we can look at the letters and we can say, what is happening here? What is intended to be happening here? What are we trying to understand from the details in the story, from the literary design of it? And we can find that big idea that then can help us now in our current time. But assuming everything in there is 100 percent accurate would kind of be silly because they didn't have the same scientific or archeological information that we have now about some of these different ideas. We understand more about the world. We should be able to bring that into our reading of scripture. And I think that's beautiful that the Bible can still be translated and interpreted into our lives. Even though some of the quote unquote science, right, or history might be outdated, might be wrong, might be different. And we can still find a way forward by understanding what the story is trying to tell us. So with all of these myths, and with all of this baggage, Why do I think that you should still engage in Scripture? Well, if you have engaged in Scripture, or if you have come through your deconstruction period, and you still find that you are committed to Jesus, that God is still good, even though you're figuring out what that looks like for who you are now. I think you should engage Scripture partly as an act of defiance, right? There is a part of us that through these myths and through all these rules and lenses that we were handed that some of the beauty of God's story, some of the beauty of our rich history, some of the beauty of our belief and tradition has been taken from us. And so in an act of joyful defiance, we can start to re engage it on our own terms today. The second reason is I think There's still beauty in there, still great stories, still things to be taken from it. First of all, we find Jesus. And Jesus is the center point. If Jesus is God as man, showing us how to live, how to engage other people in the world, then Looking at Jesus, gazing at Jesus is a great way to begin engaging with scripture. And it's a great thing to look for in scripture that can really change your faith and transform it in so many different ways. And I think the third thing is that it keeps you connected. It keeps you connected to this historic, beautiful, you know, timeless. This story that God has been telling and that God has invited you to be a part of and the whole world to be a part of, and the end is actually really beautiful and hopeful. And so coming back to scripture with your fresh eyes, leaving these myths behind and learning to engage it with the faith that you have now, it's not just an act of defiance, but it's also an act of wisdom and an act of repentance. building of courage of stepping back in so you don't have to jump in with both feet. You don't have to go 100 miles a minute, but learning to dip your toes back in and taking it a little by little and going as you can and as you feel comfortable is a way that you can not only rebuild your faith, but show people and show yourself that the Christian faith isn't what some people think, and that it can be this beautiful, rich, wonderful thing. And sometimes getting into scripture is the best way to do it because you can do it alone. You can do it in community and you can learn to rebuild your faith by looking at some of those big picture. Things in the Bible. So if you're wondering how, then you can start dipping your toes in how you can meaningfully engage the Bible without some of this baggage, leaving some of these myths and misconceptions behind. I've actually created a special video series. for you. That'll be available very soon. So head on over to cateboy. co slash series and sign up, learn more about what we'll be covering and learn to rediscover the beauty in the Bible and to respect the Bible's boundaries and to engage it. After you've left evangelicalism. So with your post evangelical eyes, you can still find beauty and truth and hope in the words and pages of scripture. And I hope that as we dig into some of these things, you will come to find that. Okay, so now that we have navigated some of our myths and misconceptions or hesitations around the Bible, there is still so much more. to do in our rebuilding work. And so if you enjoyed some of these dispelling of myths that maybe have kept you back or made you feel guilty or overwhelmed at engaging the Bible or even engaging your faith as the person you are to now, you should definitely stay tuned for our next solo episode, which is about how to navigate spiritual imposter syndrome, which I think a lot of us have felt before and still feel today. So, if you enjoyed this episode, I would really love it if you would subscribe, share, rate, and review so that we can continue to walk this road together and so that more people can come along and find the joy and freedom that life in Jesus provides for us, even when it's really messy. Thanks for joining me. See you next time.