Monday, February 22, 2010

Why didn't God made the Bible simple?

One of the most common arguments made against Christianity (that I know of) is "Why is the Bible so hard to understand?". This is usually coupled with some notions of divine omnipotence and inspiration. If God intended for us to understand through the Bible, then why did he allow it to be subjected to multiple interpretations and it takes tons of biblical scholars to resolve some controversial matters.

To that, I now have a new response: Why should it be simple? Seriously, think about it. Nothing in life is really simple. According to Simplexity, only absolute anarchy or absolute totalitarianism is simple. Truly fruitful things are complex because of the countless factors involve that can tilt the situation one way or another. In communication through language, truly meaningful things will never be simple. Like the description of life. Or suffering.

But my main gripe is towards Christians and not others. This expectation that the Bible should be easy to read is an immense fallacy. Sure, God wants us to know him. But I can also say that God also wants us to know the world he created. Yet, we know for a fact that the world takes true hard work and exploration to understand. Physics, Geology, Astronomy, Sociology etc. None of this is simple when you want to go deeper. It is not in the failure of communication. The subject matter is deep and rightfully so. Why some Christians expect God to be simple is just confounding to me. I've been married for more than 7 years. I can't say I can predict everything (if even anything) about my wife. Good luck being simplistic about God.

WoW41: The Bible is not simple because the subject matter is deep. And rightfully so.

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