In the not-too-distant past I was asked by a skeptic of Christianity if a person can be a Christian and not believe that some of the stories in the Old Testament are literally true. The examples were predictable: Balaam's donkey speaking with the voice of a man, Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt, Jonah and the great fish, and the coup de grace—the creation story. It was a legitimate question asked in all sincerity by a person I think seriously desired to know more about the type of God I worship.

My answer may surprise you. I said "yes." My friend seemed greatly relieved, assuming my answer confirmed that even I thought that each of those narratives are simply stories, yarns spun for pre-enlightened people to help them understand a greater truth; myths or fables perpetuated over multiple millennia which people believe because they are told they have to believe. But that's not what I think at all. I believe that at one time in human history, the God who created matter, and time, and quasars, and the Swiss Alps, and grasshoppers, chose to give a donkey the voice of a human, turn a woman into a pillar of salt, commanded a great fish to swallow a fleeing prophet, and spoke our universe into existence.

Actually, these Old Testament stories are the easiest biblical stories to believe, as I shared with this questioning friend. It isn't the Old Testament stories that are the hardest to swallow, it's those pesky New Testament narratives. It's a teenage woman who is a virgin becoming pregnant without losing her virginity and giving birth to the Son of God. It's blind people seeing again at the verbal command of a Jewish carpenter. It's that same carpenter being transformed, in the sight of three other mortals, into a celestial being clothed like the sun, talking with two chaps who had been dead for a really long time. And the coup de grace for me? A dead and buried man walking out of a tomb and into heaven. These stories test the limits of credulity. They baffle me even on my best days. I believe those stories, but only by the grace of God and his undeserved gift of faith. Without those two gifts, I'd be laughing those stories off along with the easier to believe narratives from the Old Testament.

But do you have to believe in talking donkeys to be saved? I don't think so. I think you can believe, deep down and without reservation, that some Old Testament stories are meant only to elicit faith and point to a greater truth. That they do not have to be "true" to accomplish that task. Now hear me clearly: I do not recommend that approach to Scripture. Why? Because it is a slippery slope (and it also is inaccurate). That approach always leads to questions about other narratives in Scripture, which leads to questions about biblical truth claims, which leads to questions about biblical morality, which leads to questions about the reliability of Jesus himself, which leads to questions about why any of it matters anyway. Our own modern judgments seem so "solid" and "real" compared to all those old-fashioned ones in the Bible. Questioning biblical authority never stops at questioning biblical authority; it always leads to further questioning. So, Pastor Jym, are you saying Christians should fear questions and simply swallow the faith pill and move on? Not at all. I do not think we have to swallow anything, nor do we have anything to fear. I think we must ask God to work faith in us or in those who doubt (a faith that stands up to reason quite well). Sometimes that takes time to develop, as I shared with this new friend. Doubting Old Testament stories will not necessarily keep you out of heaven, but denying New Testament stories can.

It's those New Testament stories that call faith to saving action; it's God entering space and time in Bethlehem that shows us how seriously we need a Savior. It's those miracle stories that demonstrate to us that Mary’s boy in the manger was, and is, the God of the universe. And it's that story of a resurrection that Paul tells us is paramount in our confession of faith before others, that "if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Rom. 10:9).  It’s that same resurrection reality that he tells the Corinthian Christians that they must believe or be “Pitied more than all men.” (1 Cor. 15:19).

Some stories in the Bible are necessary to trust to be a Christian, and the interesting thing is, they are the hardest stories to believe. We cannot conjure up a faith to believe them. Good sense and reasoning can help us here, but we need a work of God to take the blinders off (2 Cor. 4:4). My prayer for my friend is not that he will reason his way to God, but that God will use any means necessary, including reason and clear thinking, to bring him to faith and hope in Christ. Believing Old Testament narratives will fall in place in God’s good time. In the meantime, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17).

Grace and peace,

Pastor Jym