Some Ways College Got Me Thinking

I want to take a minute to thank my readers. I’ve loved all your input! Thanks for all your honest thoughts on these complex issues. I love the furthering questions many of you have posed, and I really appreciate the points that some of you have contributed more to or expanded upon. That is exactly what I want this blog to be about. 

I will do my best to answer your comments, but I want to apologize in advance if I don’t have the time to get to something you posted or don’t address them as extensively as you might like. I’m taking a full load this quarter, plus working as a nanny, so I don’t have a ton of free time.

Now, let’s get to the subject of today's post. I thought I’d write a bit more about how being in college has forced me to start asking myself some of those “big questions” about life and faith.

Me (far left) with some cousins at a birthday party.

 

I “asked Jesus into my heart” when was 3 years old, and I have no memory of it. I have, however, been told the story on numerous occasions. It was my older brother, Josh’s, Christian birthday (the date he became a Christian). I don’t remember my family normally having a party or celebration for our Christian birthdays, but I guess that year, Josh was getting cake.  

I liked cake. 

Now, I’ve been told that my parents explained to me the reason why he was getting cake, and I said I understood, but I’ve never been quite sure whether I became a Christian more for Jesus or for cake.

But that’s another point for another post. What I'm saying is, I have considered myself a Christian for a long time. But in my 18 years following Jesus, no stage of my life has involved as much critical question asking as the past three years at college. 

Psychology classes made me ask whether guilt I feel is really God’s spirit inside me, or if I only feel badly because my parents and culture have trained me to feel that way.

Literature classes made me consider if the writings of Apostle Paul (author of much of the New Testament) really align with the teachings of Jesus, or if they are actually in conflict with each other.

Anthropology classes made me wonder if the God of Christianity was a god that could transcend culture, or if he was merely a “rich, white, American” god.

 

Some of these questions, after prayer, research, and much thought, led me to the answers I held all along. Other forced me to change my thinking.

An example a point on which my thinking has changed is about the first chapters of Genesis. (One of the reasons I use this example is to answer a question that was posted in response to my last blog entry).

Four years ago, I would not have tolerated anything but a completely literal interpretation. There was a physical place called Eden, a man and woman named Adam and Eve, and a real snake. 

Then in college, I heard sound, logical, fact based arguments that didn't seem to fit with my understanding of creation. I thought a lot about them. I wondered changing my mind would mean invalidating my faith. I talked with other wise Christians and listened to their views.

Now, I am ok with the Creation Story not being literal. I actually am leaning towards thinking it is most likely not literal.

The author was not an eyewitness. In fact, he lived thousands of years later. I’m ok with Adam being an archetype. In fact, his name is a play on words.  God made Adam out of dirt. In Hebrew “Adam” means mankind, and "adama" means dirt. Adam out of adama.

The writer also used imagery from cultures around him, but changed it in significant ways to show how this God is different. In those days, idols where created in the image of gods and they were believed to have that God’s spirit living in them. Man was made in God’s image, and he breathed the His spirit of life into them. In addition, the Sun was a very common god in many surrounding nations. I don’t think it’s any mistake that God created light and day before he created the sun. It’s like the author is saying, “Our God is so powerful, he doesn’t even need the sun for there to be day.”

 

The man who wrote Genesis was using human words, written in was his current culture would understand it. He was striving to tell the story of an event that no human witnessed and is probably so extraordinary that it is beyond human comprehension. I think his main concern was to establish Yahweh God as the Supreme Being and Creator of All Things, setting him apart from the gods of other nations.

I now believe that that is the important part of the story. The “how” behind creation, while interesting to think about, is not as important to me as the “who.” Too often, I think Christians cling onto one detail, while not looking at the big picture.

Just look at Galileo, almost excommunicated because he challenged the "fact" that the earth was the center of the universe.

What do you think? Are you comfortable with my take on Genesis 1-3?

Do you have any beliefs you’ve had to reconsider after asking yourself some tough questions?