For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

I started the new year with only one goal – to get closer to God and to dive deeper into his word. 25 years of my life has been spent in or around the church. Surrounded by some of the most God-fearing, faithful, wonderful leaders. My whole life has been a continuous faith-based journey. If my faith has wavered – it’s been a small blip on the path of my life. Because of this – it’s hard to fathom someone not having faith like mine. The miracles, big and small, the direct voice of God – all of these things have been a constant in my life that I have always recognized. My mom has installed the idea of ‘everyday miracles’ in me and the idea of coincidences has always been more spiritual.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1 | NIV 

Recently, I was having a discussion with someone about their faith and the questions they have specifically about the words in the Bible. How do we know that the words haven’t been tampered with or changed to fulfill a certain agenda? How do we follow the words of a book that was created so long ago, passed on through so many people, and translated into so many languages? How are there so many denominations of the same ‘Christian’ based faith that can believe things that are so different?

As a life-long Christian and full-believer – this never occurred to me. I have had my doubts, but never in the words of the Bible. The Bible is God’s word, his law, his promises, and his warnings. It is a book of thousands of years of stories of strength and sacrifice. Both the Old and New testaments hold truths and wisdom – coupled with stories and commandants us as humans have a hard time accepting.

I am not well-versed (no pun intended) in the technical aspects and historical aspects of the Bible – something I am working on. But I have something that has never failed me: faith. I have faith in his words and his promises. If I am to believe that God sent his only son and sacrifice him for us – I am to believe it all.

To me – there are verses and stories in the Bible that were meant to be taken in the literal sense i.e. the Commandments. They are written spiritual law with moral truths. However, there are stories and verses that may seem literal, but on dissecting the meaning or cross referencing these items, I have found an entirely different meaning. In addition, recently I was studying the story of Deborah in the Bible. I found a verse in the CEV of the Bible that had a different impact on me than the NIV version. Let’s take a look:

Deborah shouted, “Barak, it’s time to attack Sisera! Because today the Lord is going to help you defeat him. In fact, the Lord has already gone on ahead to fight for you.”  Judges 4:14 CEV

“Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?”. Judges 4:14 NIV

Both have a similar meaning, but one version has more of an impactful statement in a few short words, while the other is more literal and outlines it in more words. Again, this leaves questions of: Which one is correct? Which one should I listen to?

Here’s the thing: the Bible is not meant to be a step-by-step guide. It is meant to be a way to connect with God, for him to speak to you THROUGH the words he has already said or stories he already had for people. To question the validity of His words is to question his power. To think that His words can be manipulated by mere humans completely contradicts the unwavering faith we are supposed to live by.

Week after week we sit in front of the TV, we scroll Facebook to read articles, we spend hours and money going to the movie theater to hear other people’s stories – rather they be real or fiction. We learn from them, we cry, and laugh and take quotes from them to apply them to our own lives. We know that shows we watch are fiction – yet we get emotionally invested in the characters lives. We feel a connection to them or we don’t. There is a reason some people connect to Science Fiction and some people connect to Romance. We all are on our own journey and we respond to different things different ways. Just as well all as different people can enjoy different media, we as humans can gain wisdom and truth from the Bible.

Therefore – why should the Bible be any different? Why do we have such little faith in His word that each verse and word couldn’t have been sculpted to help us believe in a different way? To me, it’s hard to take anything in this world as absolute fact. And I do not think taking every word of the Bible as literal fact is what God intended. I think his intentions were to have us questions things. To ask for wisdom. To do our own research between versions and testaments. There is nothing in this life that is easy – interpreting the Bible as one of them.

I don’t think we can ever know the true, exact path of the Bible. We’re not supposed to know. There is no need for us to know everything as fact. When we have these unknowns, it allows our faith to grow exponentially. As Hebrew 4:12 says above, the Word is alive and active. It is not stagnant words that were written and meant to be never-changing. They are meant to be, just as he is, a living water flowing through every aspect of our lives.

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20 New International Version (NIV)

Do you have more insight on the Word of God? Have you struggled with believing his truth? Let me know. Iron sharpens iron.