Starting Points - The End?

The DaVinci Code (again), the Gospel of Judas, and a bunch of other things have been hitting the headlines lately. For many people, especially those who have grown up in the church, these things have made them a little uneasy. Others who are searching for everything they can learn about matters of faith are fascinated by them. Some of these same folks are resentful that the church has "tried to hide them" from the rest of world because they might cast doubt on the established system of beliefs. One of the blogs I regularly read addresses these issues far more eloquently and completely than I. You can find a link to that post at the end of this one.

I'm not going to try and regurgitate anything in the post mentioned above. I'd like to address what the whole issue has to do with starting points and reaching an end. For Christians, the Bible is supposed to be the starting point of all things faith related. At some point, interpretation is necessary. There are some issues that the Bible does not explicitly address. In order to reach an end, you have to bring in other resources to reach your decision. And voila, you naturally end up with 3,453,618,912 different interpretations, opinions, churches, and denominations.

As people begin to sort out their faith journeys and come across the noncanonical gospels (the ones not included in the Bible), how you interpret those other sources depends upon your starting point. If you are naturally skeptical, you may come to the conclusion that it is a conspiracy to protect a system of power already in place. Or you may see it as another point in the "this is all make-believe" column. Some react to this additional information in another way. They start out with confidence in the system. They believe that these books were excluded for a good reason. These folks may even read the writings themselves. They consult scholars and historians. In the end, they do not change their faith position.

There are a few important streams that should always feed into our faith journeys. You can call them all starting points if you like. Starting out in multiple places at once fits nicely into the way we view the world nowadays anyway. In matters of faith, I think you have to start with the Bible. Along the journey, tradition needs to have some influence. What has been the historical perspective? Not just anecdotal events or blips on the radar, but the general accepted perspective over the course of time. Your personal experience will certainly shape the course of your journey. Along the way, it's not a bad idea to get some help from others. Getting perspectives from the experiences of other people is a good thing. It's always good to walk with others. Tradition, personal experience, and community are the streams that I use to help my journey with the Bible being my starting point.

Regardless of how long you have been journeying, don't get sidetracked by the circus that often surrounds new or different info. Take a good thoughtful look at it. Honestly, the starting point is not as important as the ending point. That's where the prize is. Just a thought.

Here's that link I told you about. It also has a multitude of links that will give you the texts of many of the noncanonical gospels. There's a bunch of other stuff for people who have either already made their mind up or are on the pastoral end of things.