Wisdom Along the Way: Sacred Writings

I started reading what most people refer to as the Holy Bible when I was eight years old. At that age, I understood it primarily as God’s rulebook. I was taught that it was inspired by God to the extent that the words themselves were God’s exact words. The King James Version was held in such high regard that I even heard people speak as though it were the language Jesus himself spoke.

My understanding has changed considerably since then.

That does not mean I have rejected the writings I began reading as a child. I still read them every day. They remain my primary source as I seek truth. What has changed is how I approach them.

This is why I have chosen to call this part of The Curious Pilgrim Wisdom Along the Way: Sacred Writings.

The word holy means sacred or set apart, and the word Bible comes to us from the Greek biblia, meaning books. So when I use the term Sacred Writings, I am not rejecting the Bible or trying to tell anyone else what they should call it. I am using words that better describe what this collection of writings has become for me along my journey.

I no longer see the Sacred Writings primarily as a rulebook. I see them as a collection of writings containing principles and wisdom to guide us along the way.

There is a difference.

Many of us grew up with rules. When we were children and asked our parents, “Why?” we sometimes received the familiar answer, “Because I said so.”

That may establish a rule, but it doesn’t necessarily impart wisdom.

Wisdom asks us to understand the truth behind the rule. A principle gives us something deeper than an instruction for one particular situation. It gives us truth that we can carry into new situations, where we must use reason and discernment to determine how that truth should be lived.

The Sacred Writings themselves often teach this way.

The Jewish Scriptures contain stories, poetry, wisdom, prophecy, imagery, and teachings that invite us to wrestle with their meaning. Consider the story of Jonah and the great fish. We can spend our time arguing about the fish, or we can ask what the story is teaching us about Jonah, Nineveh, prejudice, repentance, mercy, and the willingness of God to show compassion to people Jonah did not believe deserved it.

Jesus frequently taught through stories as well.

When asked about loving our neighbor, Jesus told the story we call the Good Samaritan. When teaching about what is lost and found, he told of a woman searching for a lost coin. His stories invite the hearer to think, question, discover, and apply the truth.

My education changed the way I approached these writings. In Bible college, I was introduced to systematic theology, world religions, and Bible survey. Later, in seminary, I studied textual criticism, the Jesus Movement, the Jewish Scriptures, the New Testament, and different ways of understanding and interpreting biblical literature.

One lesson from seminary has remained especially important to me. We learned to consider the world behind the text, the world of the text, and the world in front of the text.

That changed the questions I ask.

What did these words mean to the people who first heard them?

What was the writer trying to communicate to them?

What kind of writing am I reading, and what is happening within the text itself?

And then comes the question that accompanies me along my journey:

What wisdom does this offer me for the way I live today?

Life is a journey. From birth through childhood and into adulthood, we encounter God, other people, ourselves, and the universe through which we travel. Along the way, we search for truth.

As a follower of Jesus, I have come to recognize four ways through which I seek that truth: Sacred Writings, tradition, experience, and reason. Sacred Writings remain primary, but the four interact. Tradition helps me hear how others have understood these writings. Reason helps me ask questions and discern principles. Experience brings me to the text with the realities of life.

Other religions also have writings they regard as sacred or holy. During Bible college and seminary, I studied several of these traditions and their writings. I did so not simply to refute or dispute their validity, but to understand the truths they teach and how those truths compare with what I consider my primary source. I discovered that some truths are shared by other religious traditions and by those of us who follow Jesus.

At eight years old, I opened the Bible looking for God’s rules.

More than sixty years later, I still open these Sacred Writings.

But now I come with questions.

I come looking for principles.

I come seeking wisdom.

And I am still learning along the way.

The Curious Pilgrim