Finding A New Christian Faith

As I have mentioned in prior posts about overcoming one's internalized homophobia, if you have been raised in a gay-hating religious denomination (such as the Roman Catholic Church), it is essential that you (1) leave that denomination, and (2) educate yourself on the truth about the Bible and the fact that it is NOT the inerrant word of God. This latter endeavor requires that one read and study legitimate books and articles on the history of the Bible and discover that a number of books of the Bible are likely forgeries and that politics and power struggles shaped the final form of the Christian Bible far more than any alleged interaction by the Holy Spirit. One of the many authors whose works I read in my educational process were books by Bart Ehrman . CNN has a new article that looks at Erhman and his works - which are most definitely not on the approved reading list of Kool-Aid drinking Christianists. Here are some highlights from the CNN article:

*
Just so you know, Bart Ehrman says he's not the anti-Christ. He says he's not trying to destroy your faith. He's not trying to bash the Bible. And, though his mother no longer talks to him about religion, Ehrman says some of his best friends are Christian. Ehrman, a best-selling author and a professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is a biblical sleuth whose investigations make some people very angry.
*

In Ehrman's latest book, "Jesus, Interrupted," he concludes: Doctrines such as the divinity of Jesus and heaven and hell are not based on anything Jesus or his earlier followers said. At least 19 of the 27 books in the New Testament are forgeries. Believing the Bible is infallible is not a condition for being a Christian.

*

Ehrman's claims have found an audience, and controversy. . . Yet Ehrman's popularity also may be due to a larger trend. The books of people like Elaine Pagels, author of "The Gnostic Gospels," and Dan Brown, author of "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels and Demons," resonate with people who believe there are parts of the Bible that the church left on history's editing floor. Some scholarly critics say Ehrman is saying nothing new.

*

Ehrman says that no one accepts everything in the Bible. Everyone picks and chooses . He cites some New Testament's references to the role of women in church as an example. . . . Ehrman backs his arguments with a deep knowledge of the culture and history of the New Testament world. He's written 20 books on early Christianity and is an authority on ancient manuscripts used to translate the Bible.

*
His claims, though, take on some of Christianity's most sacred tenets, like the resurrection of Jesus. Ehrman says he doesn't think the resurrection took place. There's no proof Jesus physically rose from the dead, and the resurrection stories contradict one another, he says.

*

Ehrman once had a different attitude toward the Bible. . . . . But Ehrman says he began to develop doubts about the infallibility of the Bible after attending Princeton Theological Seminary to become a college Bible professor. . . . Ehrman says he later became an agnostic because he couldn't find the answer to another question: How could there be a God when there is so much suffering in the world? An agnostic is one who disclaims any knowledge of God, but does not deny the possibility of God's existence. Today, Ehrman describes himself as a "happy agnostic."

*

Whether it's his family, critics or students, Ehrman says he has a better handle on why he is so threatening to so many people -- some Christians worry they will make the same decision he has. "I changed my mind," he says. "My students find me more dangerous that way. I really do know what they're talking about when they stake out an evangelical position." He says he doesn't believe the followers of Jesus saw their master bodily rise from the dead, but something else.

*

I still consider myself a Christian, but I hardly believe that Bible is inerrant. Any serious student of history who understands the history of the early Christian period and the Roman Empire cannot help but realize that the compilation of the Bible was based on far more that strict theology: politics and power struggles within the Empire and the early Church likely had more influence than an honest focus on Christ and his actual teachings. I highly recommend Erhman's books.