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Perhaps it should be first noted that I am a licensed minister in the Missionary Baptist tradition. I believe in preaching the word of God. I believe in the saving of souls from the clutches of dark forces. I believe that God is all-loving and all-powerful, and that his son, Jesus of Nazareth, was the son of God, who has given us a way to live life fully and abundantly. Yet, I do not believe the Holy Bible is the infallible word of God.
The Holy Bible is a collection of Christian texts that is the result of refinement by men who thought they were led by God to discern his teachings. The early Christian world was diverse and everyone had a different take on the Gospel of Jesus. These disagreements were “settled” in large meetings of high ranking priests called “Councils.” The Council of Hippo (one of the African Synods) drew up a collection of texts, which is now the Catholic Bible (including a class of texts I as a Protestant would call Apocrypha), in 393 AD. St. Jerome is credited with creating the Old Latin Vulgate, which was the outcome of the African Synods and was used as the Bible for centuries.
The Bible’s last book to be penned was the Book of Revelation of John of Patmos in thelate 80’s early 90’s AD. The first compilation of cannon did not come about until about three hundred years later at the Council of Hippo. The iconic (though fictional) scene of Martin Luther nailing his Ninety-Five Theses to the church door until October 31, 1517, over a millennium after the composition of the Vulgate. The Kings James Version would make its debut in the year of 1611 (before the letter J existed, so the name “Jesus” did not appear once). Presently, I struggle to accept this book (a couple of iterations later) as the unadulterated word of God.
As a Missionary Baptist, I believe that God is living today and can play a very active role in our lives. If he would speak to John of Patmos about dragons, beasts, Jesus, and the anti-Christ, then surely he will speak to me on how to love my neighbor and myself.
The God I serve does not show partiality. He, having created us, loves us deeply. The kind of love one may have for one’s arm. One’s arm cannot be separated from the body without extreme trauma. Similarly, I am persuaded that it is only when ungodliness becomes the habitual pattern of the mind do we violently sever ourselves from God.
Hate, fear, depression, guilt, and pride are some of the traumas that can separate us from God. God is unconditional love. Any time one acts out of the parameters of unconditional love, she resides in a Godless place: Hell (the absence of God). If there is any word of King James’s Bible that is not in alignment with the nature of God, I will cast it far away. I will not insult the Creator of the universe to appease the ilk of men who found it necessary to censor the word of the living God.
Having freed myself from the bondage of spiritual captivity by dead men, I live in the splendor of the living God, who guides my feet. God blessed us all with a spirit of love. While discipline and order have their place in the center of the Christian path, hate and animosity are nowhere to be found. I am a Christian that follows the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, a man, the Lord Savior, and a poor boy born on the chocolate side of Palestine.
The Coptic Gospel of Thomas (the Doubter) is a complication of secret teachings by Jesus. Jesus teaches, “Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living father.”
This scripture repudiates the necessity of an outside entity to validate one’s experience with God. The Bible is a confirmation ground, not a transcript of God speaking to man. Therefore, as Aaron, the brother of Moses, said in Numbers 6:24-26:
The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:
The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.