Latest / Rooted & Real With Keenan / When the Bible Makes You Uncomfortable: How to Wrestle With Difficult Passages
Transcript
- Keenan: Hey y'all, welcome back. This has been a crazy week here in the Crowley House. All right. My daughter started kindergarten. had ⁓ baked bread three times this week. Like, dude, it's been a crazy I don't share a lot of personal updates ⁓ here. I usually just jump into it, but I felt the urge to share that. Also, You know, got new credentials. I'm a national certified counselor, NCC. Doesn't mean I'm licensed, just another great addition to my credenti credentialing. ⁓ had a drone ⁓ groceries to me this week. Yeah, if you go check it out on my Instagram, I post it there. It was pretty cool. But anyway, yeah. That's about it. So just want to thank you all for listening and subscribing. back. This is Rooted in Real with Keenan. Been doing a lot of intro too, which has been really exciting. Haven't turned a lot of people away, had to turn some, but that's okay. That's part of the process. because on this show we talk about mental health. faith relationships what it looks like to actually live those things out in real life. And if you aren't about mental health, you're not about faith relationships, but you ⁓ wanna learn about those things, then this is the show for you. So today, while we're addressing all that, we're going to continue on our Foundation of Truth series. And I want to talk about something that I think a lot of Christians experience, even the ones that I know. But it's not something we all want to admit. What do you do when you read something in the Bible and you have this thought? I have no idea what to do with that. Maybe the passage confuses you, maybe it bothers you, it seems ⁓ little inconsistent with something else you've read in the Bible. Maybe somebody has used that passage against you in a negative way. Maybe you've heard five different Christians explain it five different ways. Or maybe you've read it and your immediate reaction is, I don't like this. I don't like how this makes me feel. And sometimes, if we're being really honest about it, we're really being honest. The question becomes even bigger. If I have a problem with this passage, can I still trust the Bible? what we're talking about today. And I want to start with one sentence ⁓ I think is important. A difficult Bible passage is not automatically a defective Bible passage. Let me say that again. A difficult Bible passage is not automatically a defective Bible passage. Something something being difficult to understand does not mean that it's untrue. And something making us uncomfortable does not automatically mean that it's wrong. At the same time, I don't think Christians should be afraid to ask difficult questions. I don't believe faith requires us to pretend that every verse is immediately simple. Scripture itself encourages careful study. So we take a look at 2 Timothy 2:15. It talks about correctly handling the word of truth. Acts 17 describes the Bararians examining the scriptures carefully to evaluate what they were being taught. I'm pretty sure I said Bararians wrong, but that's okay. A group of people in the Bible was looking at the scriptures to figure out what it was saying. And then Proverbs chapter 2 describes wisdom and understanding as something we actively seek. So, wrestling with scripture is not necessarily the evidence of a weak faith. Sometimes it's exactly what serious faith looks like. So, one thing I want to make clear early in this episode questions are not the enemy of Christianity. Christians become nervous when somebody asks difficult questions. And sometimes people who are struggling with faith assume that having the questions itself means something is wrong with them. don't think ⁓ response is helpful. There is a huge difference between I don't understand this, and it cannot be true. Big difference there. There's also a huge difference. ⁓ Between this passage makes me uncomfortable, therefore this passage must mean what I fear it means. Those jumps ⁓ And this is where I think some principles ⁓ mental health and cognitive behavioral therapy can actually help us understand what happens ⁓ when we encounter difficult passages. So in CBT or cognitive behavioral therapy, we talk about cognitive distortions. I've said that on this show. These are patterns of thinking that can cause us to interpret situations differently. And before somebody emails me, calls me, I'm not saying that disagreeing with a particular interpretation of scripture means you have a cognitive distortion. That would be crazy. What I am saying is that all of us bring thinking patterns, we bring emotions, assumptions, histories, and biases into the way we interpret information. We all do, including when we read the Bible. me give you a few examples. Emotional reasoning sounds like, emotional reasoning sounds like, I feel like this is wrong, therefore it must be wrong. Now, don't get me wrong, feelings matter. If something in scripture disturbs you, don't suppress that. Don't ignore that. Pay attention to it. Ask why. Explore it. Take a look at it. But your emotional reaction and the actual meaning of the passage are not necessarily the same thing. You can feel afraid of something and misunderstand it. You can feel angry about something and misunderstand it. You can feel comforted by something and still misunderstand it. Our feelings are important, but feelings are not infallible interpreters of truth. So here's another one. You find one passage you can't explain, and suddenly the thought becomes if I can't explain this verse, maybe I can't trust any of scripture. That's a big jump. Imagine doing that literally anywhere else. You read a paragraph in a complicated legal document and don't understand it. Would you immediately conclude the entire document is fraudulent or just not true? not. You'd probably say something like this: I need more context. The same principle applies here, especially in the Bible. Not understanding something today does not mean there is no explanation. Sometimes the most intellectually honest answer is simply don't know yet. And I want to hear that word yet. I want you to hear that word. Yet. I don't understand this yet. It's very different from this cannot be understood. So another pattern is focusing only on information that confirms what we already believe. This happens on every side of theological conversations. Sometimes we search for scripture looking for truth. Other times, if we're not careful, we search scripture looking for ammunition. already decided what we believe. Then we find the verse that proves it. That's backwards. ⁓ If Scripture is actually authoritative, then our goal should not be, how can I make the Bible support my position? The goal should be, what is Scripture actually saying, even if it challenges me? So here's the question I want you to sit with. When Scripture and I disagree, which one of us I automatically assume? Needs. That's uncomfortable because culturally we are often taught that authenticity means trusting ourselves above everything else. My feelings, my experience, instincts, ⁓ truth. But Christianity makes a very different claim. Christianity says there is a truth outside of me. And that means there will be inevitably moments when I want to be true and what scripture teaches are not identical. Now, this is important. That does not mean every person who says Bible says is correct. People misinterpret scripture all the time. Church leaders can get it wrong. Pastors can be wrong. Counselors can wrong. Podcast host, we can be wrong. can be wrong. That's why careful interpretation matters. The authority belongs to scripture, not automatically to the person interpreting it. So what do we do? I want to give you a practical framework. And because apparently everything is easier when we turn it into an acronym, that's what I've been learning in these podcasts. That's what I've been learning in these interviews. So I'm gonna give it a shot. So we're gonna use the word pause. That's spelled P-A-U-S-E. When you hit a passage that confuses you, frustrates you, scares you, or challenges you, think pause. Take a pause. P pause before reacting. Before deciding what the passage means, notice your reaction. Maybe you feel angry, maybe you're afraid, maybe embarrassed, maybe confused, maybe defensive. You don't need to shame yourself for that response. you need to do Is just recognize it. You might literally say, immediate reaction to this passage is Or this me nervous because it challenges something I already believe. That's useful information because then it separates, then ⁓ separate What I feeling What does the text actually say? Those are related questions. They are not identical questions. So after P comes A. what the passage actually says. Before asking, what does this mean to me? Ask. does this mean? What is actually happening in the passage? Who's speaking? Who are they speaking to? What is the argument? What is the command? What is being described? What is being prescribed? Because those distinctions matter. Just because Scripture records someone doing something does not mean Scripture approves of what they did. The Bible talks about murder, betrayal, adultery, war, abuse of power, idolatry, family dysfunction, political corruption, and some incredibly questionable parenting. Describing something is not necessarily endorsing it. So slow down and ask this. What does the text actually say? And then P A U, U. Understand the context. This might be one of the biggest mistakes we make in scripture. We put one sentence, we pull one sentence out of an ancient document. And try to interpret it independently. Context What comes before the verse? What comes after it? What book are we reading? Who wrote it? Who is it written to? Why was it written? When was it written? What was happening historically around the world at that time? What type of literature is this? Is it poetry? Is it wisdom literature? Historical narrative? Prophecy? Is it a letter? Apocalyptic literature, a proverb is not interpreted exactly like an epistle. A psalm is not interpreted exactly like a historical account. Revelation is not interpreted exactly like Romans. Genre Historical context matters. Language matters. Authors matters. And sometimes a passage that initially looks incredibly strange becomes much clearer when we understand those things. So S search scripture with Scripture. One verse should not carry an entire theological position when dozens of other passages speak to the same subject. Scripture helps us interpret scripture. passage, if passage seems confusing, ask yourself this. What does the Bible say about this? What does scripture consistently teach about the character? Of God, justice, mercy, human dignity, marriage, sin, forgiveness, ⁓ ⁓ we isolate verses, we can make the Bible say pretty much ⁓ And it can be pretty ridiculous, too. The larger biblical story matters. So now explore. Explore trustworthy resources and stay humble. something freeing this. You are not the first Christian to have your question. You probably aren't even the millionth Christian to have your question. People have been studying these texts for thousands of years. Read commentaries, compare translations, learn from historians, theology, look at the original language when that's helpful. Listen to scholars who may disagree with each other. ⁓ and when you read about these with through these scholars, be willing say this. I need more information. Humility is not an intellectual weakness. Sometimes humility is the most intellectually responsible position available. So here's an example. What this might look like emotionally. someone reads a difficult Old Testament judgment passage. Their immediate response is: How could a loving God do something like that? ⁓ Now, that's a legit question. That's real. And unfortunately, sometimes Christians respond to questions like that with something like: just have faith. that doesn't really help. Instead, let's slow the thought down. The thought might be: a loving God would never judge people. The emotion might be anger, fear, or confusion, but underneath that thought is an assumption. Love and judgment cannot coexist. Now, can we take a look at that? Let's talk about that. Is that necessarily true? If a judge allows someone who intentionally harmed another person to walk away without consequences, would we call that loving? I mean the Clancy trials are going on, there's a judge involved. Like that judge cannot intentionally let that woman walk away. And without a consequence, would we call that loving? If someone abuses another human being and God simply doesn't care, would that make God more loving? Suddenly the question gets more complicated. we may ⁓ to explore what does scripture mean by justice? What does scripture mean by holiness? What does scripture mean by mercy? What was actually happening historically? What warnings preceded the judgment? ⁓ What role does human play? How does this passage fit within the larger biblical story? Notice what happens here. We don't dismiss the person's emotion. We also didn't allow the initial emotional reaction to end the investigation. We move from ⁓ to reflection to investigation. That's a healthier process spiritually and psychologically. So I want to give you a short phrase this week. Feeling something strongly does not make it false. But feeling something strongly also does not make it true. You can feel disturbed by scripture and still misunderstand scripture. You cannot feel confused. You can still feel confused and still trust God. You can even feel angry while you're wrestling with something you believe is true. Those experiences can coexist. Faith does not require emotional dishonesty. You can pray, God, I don't understand this. Simple as that. You could also pray, I don't like what I'm reading. Be honest. You can pray, this scares me. You can also pray, help me understand. Psalms 119-18 says this. Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. Think about what that prayer assumes. The person praying real recognizes I may need help seeing what is actually here. That's humility. There's another difficult possibility. the passage isn't confusing. We don't like what it says. Plain and simple. And Christians need to be able to distinguish between these two experiences. ⁓ They are genuinely complicated passages. There are genuinely complicated passages. There are textual questions, historical questions, cultural questions, translation questions, interpretive disagreements. those are real things. But sometimes we that teaching, but sometimes we understand the teaching perfectly well. We simply wish ⁓ it something else. These moments reveal something important because if Scripture only has authority when it agrees with us, then Scripture doesn't actually have authority. We do. We've simply recruited the Bible to validate decisions we've already made. That's something every Christian has to guard against, including me. But I want to balance that statement. Because the opposite problem happens too. Sometimes someone has to be taught the Bible says this. And What they are actually taught was particular person the Bible this way. They're not ⁓ automatically identical. Maybe you grew up hearing a verse in a way that created fear. Maybe someone used scripture manipulatively. I know people who have. Maybe somebody ripped a verse out of context to control you. Maybe you've associated God's word with somebody else's unhealthy behavior. Part of wrestling. honestly with difficult scripture may involve going back and asking, does the Bible actually say what I was told it says? And that can be an incredibly important question. So when you encounter a difficult passage, are three things you not have to do. First ⁓ You don't have to panic. A question does not destroy Christianity. two. Second, you don't ⁓ to pretend. If something bothers you, admit it. Tell somebody about it. Tell a therapist about it. Tell your friend about it. God is not threatened by your anxiety. And number three, you don't have to solve it today. Some theological questions take some time. Some require ⁓ study, research, on which faithful Christians disagree. And sometimes our answers remain. I don't know. And that's okay. So here's what I want you to do this week. Pick one passage you've struggled with. Could be anything. Old Testament, New Testament, whatever. And you know, maybe you've avoided it, maybe you've heard arguments about it, maybe you simply don't understand it. That's fine. Then use pause. Pause before reacting. your emotional response. Ask the passage ⁓ actually Read it carefully. Understand the context. Read the entire chapter. Maybe even the whole book, if it's short enough. Search with scripture. Look for other passages. Look for other passages addressing the same subject. Sometimes those study Bibles have that on the on the sides. ⁓ this passage correlates with this and this and that. ⁓ then after you do that, explore trustworthy resources. Read several perspectives. ⁓ Not just TikTok or Instagram or Facebook or social media or whatever, not just Google. And definitely not just the interpretation that agrees with you. Actually study, actually research. Second Timothy two fifteen reminds us to handle the word of truth carefully. And then Acts 1711 says, believers ⁓ scripture. It shows that. Proverbs two tells us to seek wisdom like a treasure, something valuable. Biblical faith is not lazy. So before we close, ⁓ want to leave you with one question. When something in Scripture challenges you, what happens first? Do become ⁓ curious, do you investigate or immediately Do you ask what the Bible means? Or immediately ask how you can make it fit what you already believe. Because sometimes spiritual maturity looks like having every answer and more like being willing to keep searching for truth. So we're going to close with this. Bible passages don't have to destroy your faith. They ⁓ Sometimes can even deepen it. And they can enhance it. sometimes the passage that initially frustrates you becomes the passage that teaches you the most. Sometimes question that scares you becomes the question that leads you into deeper study. And sometimes growth begins with three simple words. I don't know. Followed by ⁓ yet. I don't know yet. You don't need to fear the truth. You don't need to fear truth. If Christianity is true, honest questions are not the enemy. So stay curious, stay humble, study carefully, and ask God to open your eyes. Because your goal isn't simply to make scripture fit comfortably into the story we already believe. goal is to allow truth ⁓ shape the story we live. Thank you for listening to Rooted and Real with Keenan. If this episode helped you, send it to somebody who's wrestling with scripture. Send it to someone who's wrestling with faith, with doubt, or difficult questions. And wherever you're listening, follow the podcast so you don't miss the next episode of our Foundation of Truth series. If you or someone you know needs counseling, feel free to reach out. Shoot me a message, send me an email. Stay rooted in truth. Stay honest about about what you're feeling and keep doing the work becoming God. Who becoming who God is calling you to be. Thank you.