This week, Patrick Shealy, Community Group Pastor, answers an anonymous question.
Can a person be skeptical of any part of the Bible,
such as literal 6 day Creation, and still be a Christian?
In considering the question above, I want to look at the word
“skeptical” in two different ways. If
the meaning of “skeptical” means, “not believing or doubting” what the Bible
says, that is a different issue from “taking a different interpretation.” The historical and orthodox view of
Christianity, related to the Bible, is that the Bible is God’s special
revelation of himself to us. Furthermore,
because it has been given to us by God, through the personality of the human
writers, it is authoritative for our lives.
(1 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21) As Wayne Grudem says, “The authority of
Scripture means that all the words in Scripture are God’s words in such a way
that to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey
God.”
Saving faith is more than just believing the facts about Jesus but a
placing your complete trust in Christ and committing to forsake sin and walk in
obedience to Christ.
The Christian is one who not only believes in Jesus but also
has surrendered themselves to follow him.
Saving faith is more than just believing the facts about Jesus but a
placing your complete trust in Christ and committing to forsake sin and walk in
obedience to Christ. As our church’s statement of faith says “Biblical
faith is marked by repentance and a changed life. Union with God initiates a reorientation of
one’s affections away from self and toward God and others.” This is what it means to be a Christian. But there are some “facts” about Jesus that
are essentially necessary for Christianity.
A few of these are the deity of Christ, the virgin birth, the
substitutionary atonement of Jesus.
While someone does not have to understand those terms or all of the ins
and outs of these Biblical issues, if they were not true, then there would be
no hope for us in the gospel. All are
necessary for Jesus to have been our substitute and “buy”
our redemption.
As far as the specific issue mentioned in the question, there
is a difference in rejecting the clear teaching of scripture, thus placing
ourselves above God’s word, and taking a different interpretation of a passage
based on reasoning which is led by the scripture. For this reason, someone could still believe
the scripture to be true and yet not believe in a literal 6-day creation. Personally, I believe in a literal 6-day
creation, and I think you can still believe in 6-day creation and not be an
idiot. I also believe that you have to
make some accommodations with the scripture to arrive at a different
conclusion. But there are some
Christians who find evidence in the scriptures to suggest that the 6-days were
long periods of time. Most of them
submit themselves to the authority of scripture and are seeking to live lives
directed by the Bible. In fact, we would
have a divergence of interpretation on this issue within our church.
To summarize, it is crucial that the Christian submits
himself or herself to the authority of God’s word. As long as someone interprets the Bible with
the understanding of its authority over them, seeking to follow God’s way, and trusts
in Christ’s sacrifice alone for salvation, he or she is well within the realm
of Christianity. Salvation is by faith
alone, by grace alone, and not by any merit of our own, but our attitude toward
the Bible is an indication of our heart’s orientation toward God.