Ten Top Truths to Live By: Verities to Live By, to Teach the Kids, and to Win Arguments With

By Robert H. Schwartz

The leads one to look deeply at life, as to what really is important, lasting and helpful. It is composed to Statements of Truth, a Reflection on it, Bible quotes, quotes from other authors, excerpts from some of my sermons (all these with further reflections) and then autobiographical comments along the line of each Truth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Dec 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781665507592

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2021 Robert H. Schwartz. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 12/07/2021

ISBN: 978-1-6655-0760-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-0758-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-0759-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020922544

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and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®). Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

CONTENTS

PREQUIL TO THE PROLOGUE’S PREFACE

PREFACE TO THE PROLOGUE

PROLOGUE

INTRODUCTION

THE TEN TOP TRUTHS

TRUTH #1

THE BIBLE IS OUR BEST STARTING PLACE

TRUTH # 2

We Find the Standard for Truth Centered in Jesus Christ.

TRUTH #3

The Church is to Continue the Impact of the Life, Message and Meaning of Jesus Christ.

TRUTH # 4

GOD IS TO BE UNDERSTOOD IN TERMS OF A TENSION BETWEEN LOVE AND JUDGMENT, FREEDOM AND CONTROL.

TRUTH # 5

WE ARE TO LOVE GOD WITH EVERYTHING IN US AND WITH ALL THAT WE HAVE AND ARE.

TRUTH # 6

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF, PERHAPS EVEN MORE.

TRUTH # 7

LIFE IS A BLEND OF CHANCE AND CHOICE.

TRUTH # 8

CREATIVITY IS A QUALITY AND ABILITY THAT GOD SHARES WITH US.

TRUTH # 9

KNOW THYSELF

TRUTH #10

ETERNAL LIFE BEGINS NOT AFTER DEATH BUT RIGHT HERE AND RIGHT NOW.

SURPRISE: Special Gift Section

TRUTH #11

TRUTH IS UNLIMITLED. IT CANNOT BE SUMMED UP BY, NOR LIMITED TO, ANY LIST OF TEN COLLECTED TRUTHS (OR A HUNDRED OR A THOUSAND OR…...?)

MULTI-DEDICATION

POSTLUDE

PREQUIL TO THE PROLOGUE’S PREFACE

What follows here is highly subjective in nature, so objectivists, beware! It deals with how Life and Truth have impacted me over many, many years. You probably have had different impact points in life, so your lists of Truths and insights from them might differ from mine. So, let’s compare notes sometime. Coffee? I do lunch.

Nevertheless, what I present here is intended to probe, to stimulate, to amuse and to keep you spurring on as you go rolling along in your own ever-widening search for Meaning, Truth, Beauty, Justice and Life. No part of this work should be seen as the last and most complete scholarly work on any given subject. It’s simply, over a lifetime, what has stirred me deeply. May it have the same impact on you.

PREFACE TO THE PROLOGUE

The following labor of love is not simply a dry, scholastic enterprise, thoroughly researched and completely recorded. Yes, much objective and detailed work has been collected over a life-time. I save not only old sweaters but also my books, my sermons and memories, so there is a definite personal side to all this. Thus, part of what is included here is not necessarily because it has been universally acclaimed as the highest examples of thoughts, concepts and quotes. There may be items overlooked because I’m not smart or studious enough to have found them. But what IS here is at least substantial, sufficient and, hopefully, satisfying. I have found what follows to be illuminating and inspiring. Perhaps it will shine a little light in your direction as well. Also included are some autobiographical material from my personal, intellectual, spiritual and social life, interlaced throughout here. It serves as a tracking device of my developing thought world. All in all, what follows then, though not pretending to be complete, is at least sufficient to serve as a valid and provocative quest for Truth.

Sufficiency is a key word for Christians. It speaks of what God gives us anywhere in life, except in terms of His Love. That’s much more than sufficient. But God also gives us insight, direction, correction and strength, sufficient to the tasks and trials that lie ahead for us in life. Trials will come; count on them! What follows here is not intended for a one-time splurge of a feast in reading. Munching on this material slowly, during a series of occasions will probably be more helpful than slogging straight on through in one sitting. It may have special usage for individuals not able to get to church, for couples to deepen their relationship, and for study groups.

A further alert: this was written over a ten-year period. Thus, you might notice that the background of various items is in flux. The world keeps changing, but I’m sure you’ve gathered that on your own. Isn’t that just like life! And if I seem to repeat myself, I probably have. I’ve just forgotten what I have already written or the computer failed to erase what it should have. There are gremlins in my computer and they are always trying to trick me up.

PROLOGUE

Everyone wants to have the best, right? Or at least dreams to attend a top ten university, or to dine in one of the top ten restaurants, or to have instant access to all of the ten top tunes. But whatever the category, we know how fleeting those categories these can be—riding high today and just about lost and forgotten tomorrow.

I have always wanted to write some monumental work on a list of Top Ten something or another of my own. Be an authority on at least something! I realize that much time and effort might lead nowhere. To be involved, so I would hate to begin something today, but find by the time I finished, my list of Top Tens had already passed into oblivion. It wasn’t even in the Top Thousand anymore. Ah, then what kind of Top Ten can I find that would have some lasting quality, that would stick around for a while? Hey, how about something that might last forever. Something like Truth! It was H.L. Mencken, who wrote, If I knew what was true, I’d probably be willing to sweat and strive for it, and maybe even to die for it to the tune of bugle-blasts. But so far I have not found it. If Mencken were still alive today, I’d urge him to keep on trying. I know I am.

I know, for my work to be worthwhile, I would have to look in the right places and with the right attitude. Ah, but where to look? How about everywhere? There is Truth all around us and hopefully some of it even within us all. Tell you what, I’ll tell you what I have found, and you tell me your Truths. Yours may be a Truth that perhaps I might have missed somewhere along the way, so I need always to be open. You never know who might unveil the next great Truth for us. Anyway, here’s what over a lifetime I have discovered, a lifetime soon to end here and to expand somewhere else where the real learning begins.

INTRODUCTION

In 1982 we took a 8,500 mile family trip across the country in our Silverado pickup truck with a camper shell on back. Nancy and I treated our young teenage kids to a month’s worth of the wonders of America. Lots of ooohs and aaahs! But in time I became a distraction to them because as soon as someone would use a certain word or say some given short phrase, I’d sing a little song about it: Deep in the heart of Texas. New York, New York, it’s a wonderful Drink to me only with thine eyes. Oh, we ain’t got a barrel of money. Etc. That’s enough Dad!!!

There is one old song (I’m full of them, so there are many more to come) that I will use one to start off this massive work on the Wisdom of a lifetime: Give me a kiss to build a dream on. Better yet, give me a Truth to build a life on! Even better yet: give me Ten Truths to build a life on! This is what I seek to do here by distilling the best of sixty conscious years or more of the wisdom and experience of a thinking and feeling pastor, an enthusiastic family man, a Yankee fan, and a lover of life. Someday I’ll be gone, and my little space on earth that I now occupied will be swallowed up in short order. Puff! Gone! Will I leave anything behind? Yes, shirts, ties and suits. Did I mention sweaters? Perhaps a bunch of old file papers someone else will have to empty out and toss away, plus piles of old sermons (some actually aren’t bad) that no one will ever preach or read again. Ah, un-sweet ignominy!

Hey, how about one last stab at making my mark on the world with some noble effort. At least I want to leave something organized behind that perhaps my grandson, Malcolm, might muse over in his spare time (if spare time in the future ever becomes a reality again). Anyhow, following here are my thoughts and findings as to those basic Truths that can make a real difference in life. These Truths are enhanced with enrichment from my personal Bible study, my own experiences, my sermons and other of my writings, and other great expressions from other sources all on that Truth’s theme. You will notice that there are many quotes from John Wesley. This is not done under compulsion just because I am a United Methodist pastor. It’s because I recognize him as an intellectual giant, a well-read, persuasive Christian, and a master of word craftmanship. His impact fades only to our detriment.

As I read through all what I have already written, I realize it is a mass of material! If you read all of this, I trust this will be an enriching experience. Well, at least you won’t have been running around stealing hubcaps. A further thought: by wading through all this, perhaps you might get inspired to compile a list of your own Best Truths. What Truths have you discovered and lived by in Life? For the negative-minded maybe it might be Ten Worst Lies to Avoid. Whatever! Ponder: What of yourself in the depths of your Life will you be leaving behind when it’s your time to leave? And who will ever know?

Everyone has Truths that they live by, whether they be recognized as such or not, verbalized or not. Many of the current Truths popular today are of limited substance and of minimal value. Here is one short list of some that was posted recently on the Internet:

Minimal Truths

Don’t open the door to strangers, especially when not at home.

Pay cash, unless you can get away with paying nothing at all.

A stitch in Time keeps Time from ripping open.

I propose to go further than just the minimal. There is such marvelous thinking that has been going on in this world and it’s been a pleasure the last ten years or so collecting some of the best thinking and spending a lot of time with it. For example, I just came across this gem:

Blunders of the World that Lead to Violence.

1) Wealth without work

2) Pleasure without Conscience

3) Knowledge without character

4) Commerce without morality

5) Science without humanity.

6) Worship without sacrifice.

7) Politics without principle.

Mahatma Gandhi

Now that I’ve gotten things warmed up a bit, let me share my own list, a list of Truths, assembled over my lifetime, and preserved till….? I hope they find a wide acceptance, because they can be of significant value. They can be more protective than good walking shoes. They can provide better guidance than a Tel-star system. They can provide more enthusiasm than found by the most talented TV contestant, winning it all on American Idol or by the materialistic contestants, jumping up and down with glee on The Price is Right. The prize here is right, right for the enlightening of the mind, the broadening of one’s horizons, and the deepening of one’s soul as only Truth can do. My goal is not mainly to argue or even try to convince but simply to present, hoping perhaps to ignite some spark of reaction, recognition and enrichment.

The format for each Truth shall be as follows:

1) Present the Truth itself.

2) Comment on that Truth at length, a Reflection.

3) I will include a hymn that will help set the stage for what is to follow. These are not necessarily the best hymns ever written, but they’re good. These hymns have been useful to me in the formation of my thoughts on that theme.

4) Next will come some Biblical quotations from the NIV Bible that echo something of that Truth, each also with a Reflection. Yes, there could be yet other texts that I’ve overlooked, but the Truth is, my scholarship is flawed, or at least incomplete. Forgive me. I didn’t intend to omit some of your favorites.

5) Then will come quotes from someone, somewhere, saved quotes from a lifetime of reading of those writers and thinkers who could phrase things better than I could do. (What oft was thought but ne’er so well express’d. Alexander Pope). Included among these thoughts of many of the greatest minds that ever lived, you will find here a healthy dose from John Wesley. You don’t have to be a Methodist to appreciate him. I find him to have been an outstanding intellect, a great Bible expositor, and a man extremely well-read as a scholar of both ancient writings and works of his own time. It’s amazing what he was able to cram into just 86 years. He was not only a man of religion, a saver of souls, a man of great organizational ability, plus being a caring human being, effectively involved in the social problems of the day: child labor, slavery, extreme poverty that led to unbridled alcoholism, horrible working and living conditions and on and on. If you’re not particularly familiar with him, he’s worth encountering. If you have known him, it’s worth spending even some more time with him.

6) The Best of Schwartz comes next. I’m a pastor with almost 50 years of preaching experience (mostly in English but a little in German. I was a pastor in Germany for five years). I estimate that I have preached well over 2,000 sermons. Surely, some things from them are worth saving. I have found that on rare occasions, I, too, have produced a few literary nuggets. Years later people have said to me, Bob, I still remember when you said…. Just recently someone asked me for a copy of a sermon I preached 35 years ago. Wow! Some people didn’t always remember things quite the way I said it, but that’s OK. To be credited positively for things I never said is not all that bad, as long as it was found to be helpful. That’s better than to be condemned for things I never intended to say.

7) I plan then to move on along to Memory Lane, things that happened in my own life that seem appropriately connected to that particular Truth. I myself have encountered Truth along the way in my everyday life, perhaps sometimes at a distance, as an observer, or sometimes as an active, though perhaps struggling participant.

8) I plan to conclude this entire work in some rousing, summary fashion, leaving many cheering in the aisles. Well, at least not having fallen asleep in their chairs. But first, I begin with words of apology.

A disclaimer: I declare myself guilty, being stuck in using some sexist language about God. I do this, not because I believe God is somehow masculine, but because our language is faulty. It betrays us. We are not given the option to use words that really fit what we want to express, or what or how we intend to say something. A current interim solution for many, for example, is to use the word God instead of a personal pronoun for God (He, His, Him, etc.): God loves God’s people. But this sounds awkward and stilted. It makes God sound just a bit remote and schizoid. We do this nowhere else in our language. It almost seems as if two different beings are involved, God #1 and God #2. God #1 loves the people of God #2. It’s unfortunate that the concept of God has to be a battleground to struggle through the inadequacies of our language. Wouldn’t it be wonderful someday soon that a call would go out for a great conference somewhere to create sensible alternatives that will allow us to say what we really intend. Let’s clean up the language once and for all. This has been going on too long. Recently a recent small step has occurred with a term for a mixed group of Latinos and Latinas. Instead of using those two words, some are now using Latinx. May this trickle swell up into a tidal wave of word reform! Also another reason that causes me to be stuck using sexist language for God is that God is personal and current alternatives diminish God’s Personhood. It almost seems God has become an It.

A second apology. In preaching, often when I would quote a source nobody even heard of, I wouldn’t sidetrack the thoughts themselves by elaborating on that unfamiliar source. I wanted the idea itself to be paramount in focus. I would simply use the formula: It has been said that…. thus identifying the following thought as not having originated with me. One can’t be too careful about plagiarism these days. In extracting these quotes from the old sermons of mine, I have no idea at all now who the original authors of a variety of texts may have been. Sorry about that. I quote them here and make it clear these words didn’t start with me. I give credit to my longtime ally: Anon.

Another problem: In a final run-through of correcting, the Gremlins in my computer ate up a variety of these corrections. Where? I haven’t the slightest idea. But you’ll probably find them and send them to me. Please excuse.

A final confession: As I started collecting my resources for this work, I realized how big Google is and all the places it can lead us. I also picture how many books are in a local library. I confess I haven’t taken Google up on going everywhere with it and I have haven’t read all the books in the library. I’ve missed a few, especially by Russian authors in their original tongue. A further thought shook me: there are so many books in my own library that I have intended to read someday. Early on I have confronted the reality that if I did a complete collecting for this modest endeavor of amassing and presenting Truth, I would have to take my notes along with me into the next life to finish them off. There I would have all the time in the world. Here I don’t. So, again, pardon me if there are quotes from the Bible that I seem to have overlooked. Also, there are also so many marvelous quotes from so many major writers not to be found here that maybe you think should have been included, so many great thoughts that I have left unthunk! This reminds me of a further disclaimer: I’m originally from NYC and I have an off-beat sense of humor. It slips in every once in a while. Grin and bear it! If you can’t grin, you’re free to groan and bear it.)

Thus, I am aware there is so much more to be said on the matter of Truth, ideas not considered here, sources not quoted, debates avoided, and… So, forgive the omissions and simply enjoy the wit and wisdom that the limits of my time, attention and energies have allowed me to research, to appreciate, and to present. I think there is a lot here- and that’s the Truth!

THE TEN TOP TRUTHS

(When you get these down right, let me know, and I’ll give you ten more.)

TRUTH #1

THE BIBLE IS OUR BEST STARTING PLACE

Reflection

We have to start somewhere in a search for Truth, and the world’s best seller, the Bible, isn’t a bad starting place. However, to be fair, I realize there are alternatives, which I’m acknowledging though not necessarily recommending. From whatever place you take that first step will impact all the rest of the steps that follow. Some people start simply with their own impressions and inspirations, being open to stimulation from whatever source that’s starts stimulating them at any given moment: totally random and subjective. It‘s the old the way I see it approach! And tomorrow they may be at a different place in life and thus seeing things quite differently. For most Christians, however, the starting place is the Bible. It’s more reliable.

The search for Truth has been going on for a long, long time. The Bible is a partial record of that search. It is not necessary for us to wander around to stumble onto our own starting place, when a worthy and time-tested option has been available for centuries. This does not negate input from other sources along the way, which might enhance the Biblical approach, but the point is that a lot of good solid progress has already been made over time in the search for Truth ever before we showed up. We can take advantage of it. The Bible gives us a good head start. This is a faith-statement, validated by countless billions of people down through the years.

Other people may have been led to other starting places, well and good for them. Somewhere along the way, let’s compare notes and see how the various searches have been going. Here, we’ll be talking about other searches for Truth in Truth #10. We can gain from others who used a different starting place for Truth and thus gain enrichment from the sharing with other insights. Though we can gain further perspective from others, we believe nothing essential would change for us by comparing notes. Just because others have other starting places does not mean I must diminish my starting place. It does mean that though this is my starting place, it does not mean it has to be my ending place. We should not feel a self-imposed limitation in our search, just staying with the Bible, but neither should we lose our Biblical focus of who we are and what we believe just because there are other views. We are on a never-ending search for Truth, which always leads us a little further down the road than we have reached so far. There’s ALWAYS at least a little bit further yet to go with the real break-out in the world and life to come.

OK, then. We start with the Bible. Next question: how do we use it? Many options. Some say, you just open it, start to read and then take from it what seems apparent. But a great theologian reminds us that our minds don’t function as rationally as we think they do. We actually do much of our thinking through our symbols. A red traffic light while driving tells us to stop. While parking, we may see someone getting out of a BMW, so we think, this person has it made. Next car over is a banged-up jalopy with some tasteless bumper stickers. This person is a loser! Elsewhere, were we to meet someone who spends a lot of time reading Playboy and the like, we’d think this person is preoccupied with sex. And if someone else spends a lot of time reading the Bible, we are apt to think, here is either a godly person or a religious fanatic. Our lives are full of symbols.

The Bible itself is our symbol that there is a pathway to God, which God Himself has provided, with willing human assistance. The Bible as symbol is itself filled with symbols. This should be no surprise. The Bible is a Book of Life and Life itself has so many symbols as well. Say, in football. Much has been made of football players who didn’t stand at attention for the Star Spangled Banner; they knelt instead. That flag is a symbol, just as their kneeling is a symbol, a mixing of symbols. Their kneeling action is symbolic in the thinking of many, especially President Trump, of a lack of patriotism. The protesting football players, in kneeling, say that they are protesting against a land that is only partially free. Too many are forced to live along the sidelines in the game of life and are just spectators of those who are accepted to play the game and reap its reward. The kneelers insist kneeling is a traditional symbol, a sign of deep respect: people kneel at an altar, or kneel before royalty, or kneel before a conqueror. What we have here is a clash of symbols and their meanings. Such is Life!

We find the same problem with the Bible: symbols and their clashing! The symbols therein may have a different meaning for us today than they had for the original writers a long time ago. More, meanings today may vary among different people today. Thus, our reading of the Bible is not limited to our ability to reason our way through what we read, but is also impacted by the frequent clashes of symbols. The Bible is full of them. Our minds are also full of them. How important it is to get the right symbols together. So, we need to dig deeply for the originally intended meaning of Biblical symbols and then we also need to be alert as to how we and others today may be reacting to these symbols, being aware how others today may have different reactions.

A case in point: the word king. In ancient times, most lands were led by kings. It was a given. But originally the Hebrews needed no kings. God was their king. But later, when the Hebrew people insisted on being like everyone else, they too started having kings. But their kings were different. The Law did not begin at their decree. They themselves were not above the Law (of God). The prophets often called them to account if they became Law-breakers. But today, we don’t want a king, at least most of us don’t want such a ruler. Many secular moderns don’t even look upon God as king. He is their Guide, perhaps, or their rich uncle in heaven, or their Savior and Redeemer. Yet we sing The King of Love my shepherd is. Shepherd? That’s another symbol from the past and I’ll deal with that one later. Anyway, symbols! Lots of them! Lots of meanings. Lots of disagreements. But you came to the right place!

As I said, the Bible itself often is a symbol. For some, it’s a symbol of an approachable God. To others, it can be a symbol of ignorance and superstition. These toss it aside as a useless book of antiquated understandings, filled with myths and fables and drenched in cruelty and barbarism. But over the centuries, billions of others have looked to it as being a key to unlock an understanding of God and of how God would have us live our lives. We feel it to be a living record of a long historical search, God’s search for us, even as we are on our search for God.

There was a time among Christians that the physical book itself was a holy symbol. It was not to be treated lightly. It was a sacred book to be reverently handled. There was a time when it was thought to be sacrilegious to mark up the Bible and to underline favorite verses for personal use. That would be a desecration to handle it as a text book. One should not toss a Bible around carelessly. It is to be handled with reverence and respect. Nowadays, however, it’s not surprising to find Bibles on a table at a junk book sale. The times are a-changin’ and the meaning of our symbols are constantly changing as well. With so many different versions of the Bible now available, we tend to think a book’s a book. What makes a Bible special are the deepest contents of the book. These remain as revered symbols for so many of us. However, not all sections are respected equally. People tend to deal with it piece-meal. For example, most people get more out of the Sermon on the Mount than they do out of Old Testament sacrificial instructions or how to build a temple. Big chunks of the Bible can be skipped over easily without short-changing the reader, or at least read at a later day.

Almost all of us nowadays are drawn to certain sections of the Bible and we are repelled by others. Different sections for different folks! When was the last time you sat down for a lengthy, inspirational reading of genealogies, for example? Elsewhere in the Old Testament, we read reports of bloodbath upon bloodbath. But who needs a Holy Book to do that? We can read Stephen King if that turns us on. We learn to be selective with our reading in the Bible. Yet, in spite of distractions, there is still something about the Bible that grabs a hold of us. We know that the Spirit of God can lead us fruitfully through it as it resonates with God’s will and hope for us. For us! We mustn’t get distracted that other people might seem to have a different opinion of the Bible and its message than we may find, or that other users of the Bible may be finding an alternate message therein than we do. It may be that that is the message, for the time being, that they need to hear. Isn’t it wonderful how God can work with all of us at the same time with the same material in the Bible yet lead different people in different directions. He can deal with so many divergent views and needs simultaneously. Me? I have a hard time eating, watching TV and answering the phone at the same time. God’s much better at muIti-tasking than I am. I guess that’s why He’s God and I’m not. With the Bible, it’s not necessary for all of us to be on the same page, much less on the same wave-length at the same time and at the same point of spiritual growth. Let the differences abound. I believe, in a way, God is behind so many of the differences we face in life. More on this later.

There are many ways to be introduced to the Bible. Some get it through comic book form. That at least is an introduction to content. I was raised at a time when memorizing sections of the Bible was part of our Sunday School experience. Much of that has stayed with me to this day. It has been a source of understanding and comfort. It has been a guide in dealing with the perplexities of our world and of the conflicting challenges for my attention and devotion. Some others, however, and unfortunately, use it mainly as a sourcebook for doctrines with which to hit others over the head, seeking to beat others down and to flatten them out if they have other understandings and rules for living. Sad! I believe that God seeks an ultimate oneness amongst us and with Himself, but the finding doesn’t come easily. I approach the Bible as a means of freeing my mind up in a search for God and Truth and as a guide for living. It should also be drawing me nearer others and to God. It’s not mainly a searching for source material as we enter into the great debates of life (except to answer those challenges that come charging privately at us). It works for me; may it work for you. If you seek something else to work for you, when you find it, let’s talk.

There are many basic ways of accepting and using the Bible. Some feel it is best to go blank before the Bible and simply and indiscriminately to let the Truths of the Bible grab a hold of them to be etched onto their willing sensitivities. They might stick a finger anywhere into the Bible and follow the dictates of whatever is there at the tip of their finger. This is the The Bible says… approach. They suppose any one Biblical statement is as valid and commanding as any other because they find it in the Bible. Others share this every word concept but are more diligent and disciplined about their approach. I have a problem with that approach. An example: I have a problem putting the following two Biblical quotations on equal footing of value and of being equal in teachable importance. These concern the invasion of Canaan:

Numbers 31: 15-17:

‘Have you allowed all the women to live?’ he (Moses) asked them. ‘…Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourself every girl who has not slept with a man.’

Contrast that with:

Matthew 5:44

‘But I (Jesus) tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.’

Are these two verses to be accepted on equal footing and of equal value? Hardly. There are high hills and deep crevices of importance in the Bible. The instructions to kill are not to be given equal weight and validity as the commandments on compassion and service. In this killing case, it has to be understood simply as a description of the history of thought and not as direction for dealing with others. It’s an accurate record of an inaccurate understanding of God. Jesus moved our understandings to a higher realm.

The words of Jesus, accompanied by the Spirit that was in him, should be our guide, here and everywhere. This is true not only in daily life but also in delving into meanings in the Bible. What we read in the Bible in its earlier teachings is to be evaluated against the standard that is presented in Jesus Christ. He himself set aside many of the older teachings with a given formula: ‘You have heard that it was said in the days of old….But I say unto you…’ . An old truth was being repudiated. He set aside what many generations had accepted as the Truth, as in Matthew 5: 43-44a: You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor but hate your enemy’. But I say unto you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you. A new Truth! Elsewhere, Jesus presents himself as the embodiment of the Truth: I am…the Truth… (John 14:6). It is in the Bible and only in the Bible that we find the historic record of the revealed Truth that came from him and through him. To learn anything firsthand about Jesus, use the Bible.

The Spirit that was in him can be in us as well. It can help us sort through all kinds of worldly claims to be the Truth, even supposed Truths that come from the Bible. He is a kind of Mt. Truth for us and we must never lose sight of it, nor wander far off from it. Recently a friend told me of a hiking experience in the forests of northern California near Mt. Rainier. They had broken their compass and wound up being lost. The day was overcast and the forest thick, so they couldn’t even use the sun to help sense out directions. They kept coming to forks in their twisted paths and were uncertain which way to turn. But then around one bend that got a view of Mt. Rainier and from that point they got their bearings. As long as they kept the mountain in view, they had confidence in the direction they were headed.

So, it is with our wanderings over the paths of life. As long as we keep Mt. Truth in view, we know where we are heading. That goal should be to scale that mountain itself, ever scaling upward on Mt. Truth. What a view we can get from the top, if we ever get there! All other Truths slope down from there. Some Truths are even below see-level. We can’t see what value can be found there. We no longer see those claims as being True. For example, I could never accept as a true statement on face value: …the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. (Exodus 34: 14b). But Jealousy is listed among the 7 deadly sins. Nor was the promise true: …I will drive out the Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. (Exodus 34: 11b) Many of those tribes never did get fully eliminated but co-existed with the Hebrews for many, many years, leading to clashes of loyalty concerning the various gods. Nor should we accept as a Truth, the Biblical command to take the babies of the enemies and smash them on the rocks. (Psalm 137: 9) This was a hateful expression of rocking a child to sleep, even to death. Hardly a command from the God of Love! The fulness of that understanding came eventually through Jesus. It is said that verses like that came from a time before God became a Christian. Whatever.

The standard we have in Jesus Christ leads us above and beyond such earlier thoughts, thoughts of brutal hostility and revenge, thoughts of greed and a lust for power. In Revelation we read: ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ (Rev. 21: 5b) God in Christ can constantly make new even our understandings of Truth as we search for it in the Bible. Thus, in the Bible we find material of varied value. It is not all pure gold in every clump that we find there. We, myself included, find ourselves needing to mine for the gold that is in the Bible, needing to hack out a lot of raw rock that’s in the way.

There is another problem with the Bible, beyond comparative values. For example, though the Bible has gone through generations of astounding and outstanding transmission, somethings in the Bible have been damaged in transmission or perhaps the original meaning has been completely lost in the ancient words and practices of olden times that are beyond our modern comprehension and experience. There are sections that are hard to make sense of. Consider, for example, something from the story of Moses. There he was, tending sheep, and suddenly he was recruited by God from his life as a stuttering shepherd to be a bold liberator for his people far away in Egypt. But on the way to Egypt, something strange happened. Surprisingly, the Bible tells us: So, Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand. (Exodus 4:20) Fine and good- so far. Yet a few verses later we read: At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him. What? Kill him? Talk about a fickle god! A dead Moses couldn’t liberate anybody! What happened on the way? How come God was suddenly down on His own choice? Does a changeless God change His mind? What flaw in Moses would prevent him from doing what God wanted? What flaw was there in God in choosing Moses in the first place? The Bible doesn’t say. We can only conjecture. But why bother? We can bog ourselves down in conjecturing about obscure sections in the Bible, its raw rock. There are so many other sections of the Bible that can so instantly lead us to great inspiration and guidance. Let those be our focus. It is far more valuable to skip on past slag like this and to move on to the gold of the story of Moses as liberator and one who changed the course of human events that a caring and just God brought about through him. There are many sections of the Bible like that, that the scholars can debate endlessly. Let them. That’s how they earn a living. They’ll never agree anyway, so let’s concern ourselves with what is clear and clearly of value.

Consider much in the Book of Revelation. What do all those symbols mean? If learned scholars after years and years of study and arguing can’t come to agree with each other on many of these passages, how can we untutored ones gain any better understanding with our greater limitations, our shortcomings with languages and our lack of experience? Better to move on to where our understandings can thrive more easily. It’s unnecessary to use the Bible just as a debate book, unless you’re into debating. The Bible has much more helpful potential that is attainable far more easily. There’s gold in them thar hills! It’s like visiting New York City and spending your whole time down in the subways. One would get quite a distorted perspective of NYC from down there. Up above, there are many grand views available. Unfortunately, with the Bible, there are too many people who spend far too much time crawling around in its subways and caverns and fail to find the fantastic views that are possible.

Fortunately, there is much in the Bible that is very clear, necessary and unambiguous. Ponder these sections. Spend your time there. There’s more than enough there to last the lifetime of the average Christian. Going beyond all that can be so disturbing and distracting: ancient taboos, Biblical cruelty, narrowness of thinking, ancient practices that no longer fit into a modern world, much less into a Christian’s heart, etc. These are not the best places to spend time in a search for Truth, especially anywhere near the beginnings of such a search. How much more fruitful it is to labor where the gold is to be found, being guided and inspired by God, finding what is much easier to grasp, to accept and to follow!

Thus, what we need most is to get a good foundation and to be strengthened and secure in those areas which are clear. We can always go back later to the less clear and troublesome parts, if time permits. Mentally, we can have a series of Biblical shoeboxes, graded by clarity and utility. We store away for later reflection what doesn’t connect with us right now. We build our foundation first on what is clear and evident. That should give us more than enough for starters, perhaps even for a whole lifetime.

Yes, there is gold in the Bible that most of us can find, even on our own (but not without the Holy Spirit). Each seeker should plan to spend dedicated times alone with the Bible. But the search gets enhanced if we don’t always search alone. We can also do it at times with our family, with friends, or in other groups, such as classes in the church. We do that, equipped with many of the resources available: commentaries, Bible dictionaries, paraphrases and the like. I recall arriving at my seminary in 1959, Biblically untutored, a young man, who had studied deeply in chemistry for the previous four years. I went into the seminary library and toured through it, all three floors of it. I couldn’t believe that so many books about religion existed, books that could help me shape up my studies of the faith. Picking and choosing thus becomes a major problem. There is so much help available that we can get overwhelmed.

Soon after we start we find the matter of choosing our basic outlook, the school of thought in which we will be studying. The basic extremes are, on the one-hand, the conservative literalists through to the free-thinking liberals. Not all schools have the same outlook, nor do they have the same integrity of scholarship. Each approach has it resource lists. It can be confusing just randomly studying across the various fields of potential understandings, so it’s helpful too have some recognizable home base.

Then, within the school of our choice, we continue by trusting our initial guides (teachers, pastors, other books, etc.), if they have served us well. If we hit a point where things don’t seem satisfactory any longer, it may be time to change schools. This is important. Chance may have a lot to do with our starting point. Choice should guide us beyond that, being sensitive to the possibility of coming to a decision point to switch.

As we feel comfortable with our path, then we move on along it. We seek suggestions from a wide range of individuals and other resources. How sad it is that many ordinary people make a blind pick for a starting point. It might be, say, among some of the rigid teachers on TV. Notoriety, or good PR, or even good looks should not be the beginning influence to shape our Biblical thought-world. It’s up to us to choose our entrance into the Bible carefully and we should take that step wisely. It may have been through a Sunday school, or someone we have respected, a book well-recommended, or a church that seems to produce the kind of person you’d like to become. Then, we continue by picking a main Bible to use. Not all translations and editions are equal. This choice is so important and that we shouldn’t leave that to chance, say, using an old Gideon Bible some family member lifted from a hotel room. Yes, the search begins by intentionally equipping ourselves with the best we can find.

The search continues by seeking the aid of the Holy Spirit as our DAILY guide. Even before we open the pages of the Bible, we open ourselves to a sensitive and sensitizing seeking of illumination from God. Many people understand very little in the Bible or understand it wrongly because they are reading it in their own personal darkness. We sing, Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah. What better place to let him guide us than into and through the Bible! In so doing, we can find guidance for making sense of life back then in ancient days and for life today. We can learn of the ethical struggles over the years and then to compare them with those of our own times. There are difficult decisions awaiting us in life and we should not proceed ahead to face them alone. We can find inspiration to get us through our dark valleys or out of our subterranean tunnels. We can gain perspective to put life into balance, finding why things often are as they are. Yes, the Bible can keep us in balance, and then properly set us in motion with godly direction.

Often in life, we may prefer everything to be nicely balanced and kept comfortably in order. But maybe that’s not God’s intention for us and for life. We may want everything smooth, safe and orderly, even enjoyable, but so often life doesn‘t come to us that way, neatly packaged, well-rounded, and bubbling with happiness and enthusiasm. But being well-rounded can also mean we can easily be rolled in just about any direction. A round life rolls freely. The rough edges have their uses. They can keep us in place. They can grab a hold for us better than do the smooth surfaces. The bumps in life (and the bumps in the Bible) often contain a message for us. We seem to do our best learning during times of stress and struggle. We read in the Bible, for example, that There is a time for every purpose under heaven. (Ecclesiastes. 3:1) For every purpose! Not just the ones we happily look forward to, nor to the ones we expect.

The Bible can help us interpret what time it is for us- the time in our own life, or in the life of our family or in the corporate life of our job, church, city, nation and world. I live in sunny California. Here we have little rain from May to October. We wake up each day to another blue sky. Well, actually, where I live, it’s sort of a grayish yellow. But that’s another story. I have friends in Germany with whom I keep in frequent contact. They tell me how their skies keep changing there: rain today and cool, tomorrow hot and clear, to be followed by…? Always changing. Our assumed ideal for life is for climate control, to make everything predictable and enjoyable. That can happen inside our buildings, but our thermostats lose their effectiveness once we go outside. We can’t dial an outside temperature to our liking. We have to deal with whatever awaits us wherever out there in life. The Bible can prepare us to deal with all of life’s variations. The Bible can equip us to become A Man (Person) for all Seasons.

Again, in our search for Biblical gold, God can steer us away from potential fool’s gold. We need to quit wasting time going on being misdirected and perhaps in even harmful searches in life and also within the Bible. In looking for what we want to find, we might put blinders on that block us from reading what the Bible is really saying. People can use the Bible selectively to reinforce what they already think and believe. There are Biblical sub-themes that some individuals elevate to being main themes. Thus, we need to check on our predispositions as to what we want the Bible to say to us. What at any given moment we may have stumbled upon might look good- for the moment, but it also may be of little value. How much time and energy has humanity wasted in following things in the Bible that have little value or aren’t really there- Biblical mirages. God helps them who help themselves is a theme many people think comes from the Bible but it isn’t to be found there.

Another Biblical mirage is to accept the science of the Bible. The Bible was intended to guide us into and through a moral and spiritual universe, not necessarily the physical one. Yet for so many centuries people have sought to base their science on what is in the Bible, though that was not God’s intention. If it were so, God would have to be misinformed about His own creation. The science of the Bible, for example, would have us believe our Earth to be a rather young pup among the planets, less than 7,000 years old. It would lead us to believe this Earth was flat and covered by a dome called the firmament. Above this dome was water. Little holes in the dome would let the rains come down. Underneath the ground of this flat Earth one also would find water. You dig a well and water gushes up. And if God got really mad at us and wanted to drench the whole world, all he had to do was to open those holes in the firmament real wide to become floodgates. Also, He could pop open all the wells of the Earth and the water from below would rise up to add to the flooding. An endless supply of water from both above and below, more than enough to flood the whole planet all the way up to the mountain peaks. But after the time of flooding, where would all that water go? Simply back to where it came from. That might work with a flat, dome-covered Earth concept with endless reservoirs of water above and below. But a round ball of a planet? Where would all that water go? You move it away from one part of a round planet and you’ll just increase the flooding somewhere else.

How slowly has humanity been able to move away from the unscientific understandings found in the Bible! How reluctantly have we lumbered away from the science of a flat Earth! But at one time it did make sense and within the context of that commonly believed sense, God sought to teach an ancient, unscientific, primitive population significant moral and spiritual Truths. That was the context God had to work with. Picture, if you would, early shepherds, gathered around their campfire at night, simple folks with limited understandings. You couldn’t lecture them about an endless universe with galaxy after galaxy. Nor could they comprehend the tiny particles of that reality, composed of near-infinite collections of atoms and molecules. Atoms? I can’t see any! Molecules? Show me one! It would be hard for them to understand. Actually, impossible. But moral and spiritual Truths aren’t dependent on molecules and galaxies. They depend on a right relationship with the Creator of all that is.

So, God started with where the people were: In the beginning, God…. The human race was in its infancy. Infant minds can handle only infant-sized ideas. When parents and grandparents today read bedtime stories to little children, they don’t start out reading to them from Einstein or Shakespeare. They help their little minds take baby steps of understanding. Some of the stories they would read might contain flights of fancy, stories of bean stalks and houses in the clouds. But the good ones usually have a moral to them. Elements of Truth are woven into the fabric of fantasy. In the creation stories found in the Bible, the point was not to present once and for all how many days it took for the world to be made, but to foster the basic Truth in the opening words: In the beginning God created… This creation did not create itself. God did it. This Creator God did not do His work by zapping everything into being in one sweep of the hand in final form. Instead God worked progressively, in stages they once called days. And the scientists have come along and peered deeply into things and declared: those days were eons or at least eras. But it was God working it all along. It didn’t work itself into being.

Thus, not only was the world created progressively by God (and that creative process continues even today, which we call evolution). But evolution is God-directed. It doesn’t have a mind of its own. Or, worse, is mindless. Just as the Creation got developed in stages, so was the understanding of the Truth that came from God. It got revealed progressively in various stages. We might call it progressive revelation! The wholeness of Truth was not delivered kerplunk for all time around an ancient campfire in one grand night of storytelling. Truth was revealed progressively over time and in terms that were available and understandable at any given time. More time, more revealed! But that revealing was also limited by having to use the science available at the time. For example, early on it was believed that the liver was the animating organ of the body and not the heart. And the Bible had to use the crude mathematics available at earlier time. For example, we read of the building of the temple, where a circular pool is described (2nd Chronicles 4:2). What’s the point here? Somewhere in our younger days in school we learned that the ratio between the radius to the circumference of a circle is 3.17 (pi)- not 3 as we read in Chronicles. Close but not close enough for modern science.

This may be just a small point, but it undercuts the argument that every statement in the Bible is True. Science today points out the many early and limited physical and mathematical understandings to be found in the Bible. A sandwich shop once posted a sign: We’ve made a deal with the bank. They won’t sell sandwiches and we won’t cash checks. A simple concept. But how many centuries did it take for the church to realize that there are mathematical, astronomical, biological, and chemical expressions of Truth and Reality that’s left best for science to handle. The Bible has other fish to fry. But then again, how does a Bible fry fish? Words! Faulty words! I’ll not lose any sleep over that one.

Philosophical, moral and spiritual expressions of Truth and reality are there for the world of faith to develop. They cannot be discovered under a microscope. Science needs to keep out of those areas. Thus, if we want to come to scientific understandings of the world, we look to science for them, not to the Bible. If we want to come to understandings of the MEANING of the world and of our lives, we look to the Bible and to the realm of religion. Science can tell us how the world was created, but it can’t tell us why. We look to the Bible for that.

A further distinction: many of the numbers we find in the Bible should also give us pause. We have a modern tendency to use numbers with exactitude. A number should mean exactly what it is supposed to mean. 5 means 5 and 77.9 means 77.9. But the ancients also used numbers for effect through exaggeration and to express mystical meanings. These meanings are all but lost to us today. We do still have a vague awareness that 7 is supposed to be lucky and 13 unlucky. Why? Who knows! These meanings existed a long time ago, along with so many more meanings beyond the tape measure. Thus, we come across the numbers 3, 4, 7, 40 and 70 (or 72) in the Bible much more often than chance should have it. They were connected to mystical meanings. So, when Jesus talked about forgiveness, he was not seeking to set an upper limit of 490 times (70 x 7). He was actually saying: stop counting! Forgiveness was supposed to be an on-going matter of the heart and not a matter of mathematics. Turn your meters off and keep on forgiving!

The same thing with the ages of some of the Biblical characters. This was in a time before calendars. In saying that Methuselah lived to be 969, they meant that he was one real old geezer. Numbers were used for effect and not just for precision. Nowadays someone gets to be 90 and usually there is some marked slowing down going on. Can you imagine how much additional decay and slow-motion could set in if you extended that life for almost another 900 years? At 60 (?) or so, so many of us begin to get acquainted with body parts we never knew existed before. Aches and pains and failure of functions! Who would want to be part of a process that went on 15 times as long? A whole lot of decaying going on! I’ve talked to many in their 90s, who say, I’m ready to go! But tell ‘em, they still have 850 more to go! No thanks! I want out of here! So, don’t believe literally every number you find in the Bible.

Or, consider Abraham. He was supposed to be 100, when Isaac was born. And this was before Viagra. His wife Sarah was not too far be behind in age and still she bore a son in her old age. But more. Shortly before bearing her son, Sarah was