Hi Kevin
I enjoyed your conversation with Bart recently.
I noted you spoke of reading his material, has the reading diminished your faith in the Bible’s message? I’m reading also and wrestling with these idea’s.
Regards
Kris
Hi Kris,
I’m glad you enjoyed the conversation, thanks for the feedback. So, your question can be tricky, because it gets to the very heart of what is the Bible’s message? Of course it has many, but the reason behind that statement I made (Bart’s work not affecting my faith adversely), which is absolutely true, is this: Bart is a Bible scholar- and one of the best in the world- someone whose scholarship you can trust. He doesn’t say things because he believes or doesn’t believe or because he’s trying to convince anyone of anything as pertains to faith. He just reports the facts as pertains to history, translation, language, etc.
Let’s just use hell as a working example, because you heard that covered in our conversation: For ages, and currently today, many of us have been taught that the Bible’s message is that you will burn in hell for all eternity after you die if you don’t believe in Jesus. But actually, the Bible never says that at all. Jesus never said that. Men said it, over a century after Jesus died. The word “hell” itself is a mistranslation of the word Gehenna in Greek, which refers to a real valley outside Jerusalem that is still there today. This is why it is a mistranslation, and this is why Bible scholarship is so important:
- If you want to take the Bible literally, when Jesus used the word Gehenna, he is referring to a place where sinners and evildoers will be thrown on the day of judgment at the end of the world as we know it—when Jesus returns to the world to judge all humanity. 10 out of 11 times Jesus uses the word Gehenna are in Mark and Matthew and Jesus tells us that judgment will take place at that time.
- According to Jesus, the evildoers are going to be destroyed at that time. They are not going to suffer for all eternity. That was another invention, not in the Bible, long after Jesus died. You just have to look at the Gospels to see (I outline all of this in my book).
- Our “hell” is a place where people can go after they die (not at the end of the world), where people can suffer for all eternity (not be destroyed), therefore, our common understanding of hell is not the Bible’s message.
This is the type of work Bart does in every area of examining the Bible. If you are interested in his work, I recommend starting off with his first book written for us (non-scholars). See what you think. There are a lot of basic facts of Bible scholarship there that are most illuminating. When you or I read the Bible, we read it in English. Bart reads it in the original ancient Greek! When he reads the Old Testament, he reads it in the original Hebrew. That alone shows vast differences from the English. So, Bart’s work as a scholar is not undermining faith, in my opinion. That is why my faith was strengthened through his work, because, if something about my beliefs wasn’t supported by the facts, I wanted to know. I want to live by faith AND truth and make adjustments when any are warranted. I view that as staying humble and open and honest. It is one of my deepest beliefs that God would never ask anyone to turn from the truth…wouldn’t you agree? I believe in God through and through, and I believe God is truth.
I hope that helps. My book covers the Bible scholarship on hell and a lot of other teachings of Jesus, but it is also deeply rooted in faith and is a very spiritual book. Feel free to ask any other questions.
Best,
Kevin
