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36 CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX “To will one thing”: Section 15

The challenge of discernment

In the introduction to his book, Santa Biblia, Justo González recounts his response to a student at a lecture he gave who asked “Do you believe that the Bible is inerrant?” After a pause, he replied, “Yes! The Bible is inerrant. But the same cannot be said for any interpretation of the Bible. The error is not in the Bible, but in its interpreters, who often confuse their own words with the Word of God.” (p. 12) González goes on to point out, for instance, that it can sometimes be challenging to know where to take the Bible literally, since much in it is allegorical (e.g. Jesus saying “I am the vine”). In her book, The Rock That Is Higher: Story as Truth, Madeleine L’Engle confronts that challenge, saying,

There is no way that you can read the entire Bible seriously and take every word literally. Contradictions start in the first chapter of Genesis. There are two Creation stories, two stories of the making of Adam and Eve. And that is all right. The Bible is still true.

Confused interpretation of God’s word is not new— Jeremiah 23: 16 says, ““Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are filling you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.” And Jeremiah 23: 36 continues, “But you must not mention ‘a message from the LORD’ again, because each one’s word becomes their own message.”

Michelangelo often said that “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.” The Bible has the truth you need, but you need to find and discern it. Clearly, some people are more gifted sculptors than others (and therefore better at discovering the statue inside of the stone), and some people are more gifted at discernment than others, but each of us needs to seek guidance from the Spirit and learn (including learning from others) what the Bible has to teach us each day of our lives. One last thought on the comparison to Michelangelo—different sculptors will discover different statues in the same stone, and even the same sculptor can discover different statues in the same stone if given it at different times in life. Michelangelo spoke of doing all of his “work out of love for God” and our efforts at discernment must be similarly motivated and not, as Justo González warned, confusing our “own words with the Word of God.” 


Sections in this chapter:

  • The heart of faith
  • The core message and goal for your life
  • Seeking to trust God and become more like Jesus
  • Knowing your role—and God’s
  • Fruit of the Spirit
  • Managing our priorities and our praise
  • Identity, the creeds, and unity
  • The struggle of finding and holding faith
  • Faith must be our own
  • Levels and types of faith
  • Faith vs. knowledge
  • Faith and the Law and Works
  • Free Will and The Fall
  • Seeking to understand the Bible and life through discernment
  • The challenge of discernment
  • Handling different discernments
  • "Our own words"
  • Exploring challenging passages and ideas
  • The importance of prayer
  • Personal reflections
  • The importance of living the life
  • It’s not too late

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