I do not read the Bible literally. I appreciate reading the Scriptures for their themes, the way I read thematic short stories or novels. The Bible is a great book, not only for its literary elegance, but also for the lessons it offers us to be applied in our daily lives.
The Parable of the Sower, for instance, comes to me as a clear depiction of our worldly struggles in the journey to the world beyond. To those who are not familiar with the parable, it's about seeds sown by a sower. Some seeds fell on the wayside and eaten by birds, some fell on stony grounds with little soil and sprang at once but died also at once when the sun rose, some fell among thorny weeds that choked them.
Christians who are familiar with the Bible know that the seeds were the gospels, the grounds were the hearts of people. Many people just don't listen to the gospels and don't allow the seeds to grown in their hearts. They don't find the relevance of the gospels in their lives. There are also many who want to heed the gospels but are choked by the weeds around them.
The weeds are the temptations of our worldly desires that always threaten our faith in God. Amid the weeds of temptations, most of us keep on struggling to "run the race," if I may borrow a phrase from the Bible, while others drop out as the weeds choke their Faith. The weeds are our worldly ways - the lure of the flesh, wealth, fame and power.
I don't want to pontificate. I am in no position to take a "holier-than-thou" attitude because just like anybody else I am as much of a sinner. I think it is enough that I have depicted the reality of our spiritual struggles in this secular world before I move on to the lesson that we have to learn from the crucifixion of the Christ Jesus. I think I have found a relevance of Christ's crucifixion to our life.
Being a former atheist, a question always comes up to my mind when the subject of Christ's crucifixion is put on the table for discussion: if He is God or the son of God, why did he allow himself to be crucified when he could have used the powers of nature like thunders and rains to show - and frighten those who persecuted Him - that he was indeed God or the son of God.?
The traditional answer is that He allowed His crucifixiou to fulfill what was written in the Scriptures - that He should die on the cross. While many Christians readily take that answer without questions, for the atheist it will not suffice. It is begging the question and would raise another question - "why should He die on the cross?" Those who are familiar with philosophy know that this would lead to a series of never-ending questions.
The question had puzzled me for a long time, even after I had rejoined the church. The answer that I have found at best is that it was in keeping with Christ's teachings of love and humility. Humility is a Christian virtue that does not augur well with our secular world because we believe more in the worldly virtues like being "smart" and aggressive to get ahead in life. But the Bible says that the ways of the world is not the ways of the Divine. This clear in the Old Testament (Isa. 55:8-9) "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither your ways are my ways."
That brings us back to the Parable of the Sower. Driven by our pride - or, worse, arrogance, we often resort to the "ways of the world" in a blind pursuit for the glitter of wealth, fame and power. I think you will agree with me that we often step on the toes of others and even cheat or commit crimes just to get ahead in life, Humility, a lesson to learn from the Passion of Christ, is an antidote to our tendency for self-glorification.
I am not saying here that we should not try to get rich. I don't see anything wrong with our pursuit to get rich. I haven't come across any passage in the Bible that says we should stay materially poor in our journey to the life beyond. What the Bible counsels us is that we should love God above all. In loving God we should stick to His ways, not the worldly ways.
There's a widespread misunderstanding even among Christians that money is the root of all evil. I find this to be a big misconception. What the Bible says is that the lust for money is the root of all evil. The emphasis in on lust or love for money. We can be rich but not selfish. Generosity and worldly riches can go together. We can use wealth to help others and not use it so that others will envy us.
This also is in keeping with Christ's another teaching that we can not love both God and mammon with equal passion. It's either we love one more intensely and betray the other. This could be aptly demonstrated in the cases of taxi drivers finding wads of money left in their cabs. It's either the cab driver look for the owner and return the money or keep it for himself.
It isn't rare to hear people comment "stupid driver" after reading news about a cab driver returning money to the owner. That kind of thinking is the way of the world. What the taxi driver did was in keeping with the ways of the Divine - the lofty virtue of honesty.
In the New Testament, we will notice that the central theme of Christ's ministry is love for God above all and then love for our neighbors. Against this backdrop, I surmise that humility and other virtues, which are not easy to keep in our worldly struggles, are the lessons that the Passion of Christ try to teach us. These are our cross that He wants us to carry for the sake of peace - for ourselves and the world/
Embracing the ways of the world and putting God at the back burner won't bring us peace. Experience tells us that the ways of the world often bring enmities and troubles if we do not balance it with the lofty virtues which I always associate with the Divine. Myron Rush, a former Texas businessman who became a preacher, says that material wealth does not give us a sense of security. Only God does.
I know from experience that it is true. We could lose or job or wealth anytime, but if we cling to faith we will bounce back. There are people who commit suicide when they lost their job or fortune because they depend much on their wealth to sustain their pride, if not arrogance.
Please the article "When God closes doors" on how I clung to faith and trust God during one of my worst life storm.
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