What If I Disagree With the Bible?

Who Can I Trust?

The Bible as we’ve seen from last week is the primary source of God’s divine authority and revelation for our lives. This is a huge statement that not only Christian leaders agree on but the Bible itself claims to be true as well. As Christ followers, we should rejoice in this statement because we know that when we follow the Bible, we aren’t just following some arbitrary rules but the real, powerful Word of God. On the flip side, however, this makes questioning and disagreements that much more important. What if we disagree with the Bible? What if we have questions about the way God goes about things? These aren’t just disagreements we would have with people on a day-to-day basis, these are disagreements we have with the God of the universe! So how should we handle them? Do we just pretend we don’t have these questions and ignore them? Thankfully, as we have seen, the Word of God has answers to these questions. 

It’s Not You, It’s Me

To start with, we need to look at what the Bible says about our own minds. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” When we study the word heart here, we can see that in its original Hebrew translation, this word means ‘inner man, mind, or will’. So in essence, the mind and will of a person is deceitful and sick and no man can understand its ways. As sad as this is, it makes perfect sense that we won’t understand everything from God because we can’t even understand ourselves! How much more difficult is it to understand the infinite being of God let alone our own finite minds?! Doctor Wayne Grudem even notes in his study of systematic theology, “Since man has sinned, he is certainly not as fully like God as he was before. His moral purity has been lost and his intellect is corrupted by falsehood and misunderstanding.” Grudem brings to light here a very vital aspect. While we weren’t personal witnesses to the fall of mankind ourselves, this certainly doesn’t mean that we weren’t affected by it. As any good teacher of the scriptures would tell you, the doctrine of man is filled with our constant failure to achieve the same level of holiness as our God. This is evident from the fall in the garden to the way that human beings have lived ever since then. We simply do not understand God in the way that Adam and Eve were first able to.

Every Problem Has a Solution

Now I know that this helps shed light on the issue, but it also doesn’t necessarily answer the question. Ironically enough, however, the answer to this question is found in one of the most famous Bible passages known to date. Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us, “5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.” I know that this passage is often used when we go through hard times and we like to recite it for moments of comfort, (and nothing is wrong with that) but we need to remember that the heart of this passage is fixed on understanding. The book of Proverbs is literally telling us, ‘Don’t trust your understanding, trust God’s instead!’ As simple as this sounds, this is essentially the answer to our question. I know that this process isn’t easy and it doesn’t make every question we’ve ever had about the Bible disappear, but it is simple and it is what God would have us do. We must stop looking to our own understanding to answer every question we have about a being that we will never fully understand. 

If we believe that the Bible is the true Word of God, then we must be able to walk through tough seasons of life acknowledging that while we may not understand Him, we know He is true even when our feelings and thoughts aren’t. Nevertheless, while I believe that this is certainly an answer to our disagreements, I don’t believe this is the end of the solution. I wouldn’t find it wise, when a disagreement with the Bible occurs, to just shrug our shoulders and say, ‘That’s just how God is.’ I believe that the questions we have for God should lead us closer to God. Don’t just accept His word as true, study it to know it’s true. If you have a disagreement, don’t just acknowledge that He knows more than us, of course He does. Study His Word so that we may strive to find understanding and have the mind of Christ as we grow in our walk with Him. One of the best passages I would have you pray over yourself in moments of disagreements or misunderstanding would be Romans 12:2 “2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” 

Keep Going

As we read God’s Word each day, it shouldn’t just be something we do for a sense of accomplishment, we need to open this book will the goal of becoming less conformed to this world, and more transformed by the renewing of our minds. I pray that as we continue to grow in our walks with the Lord, we would follow the guidance of Romans 12 in our prayer lives, and do just that. As disagreements occur and misunderstandings take place, trust in the Lord that He is true, but don’t stop there. May the love for God’s Word lead you to study and observe the scriptures in a way that you may have never done before. And even if we don’t find an answer on our first attempt, we can trust that as we continue to submit ourselves to God and His teachings, He will renew our minds according to His perfect timing.

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Sources

[1] “Access Your Bible from Anywhere.” BibleGateway.Com: A Searchable Online Bible in over 150 Versions and 50 Languages., www.biblegateway.com/. Accessed 2023.

[2] Grudem, Wayne A. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. IVP, 2020.