I wrote this paper last week for my religion class, there is an informal essay due each week. The chapters we read last week in the textbook talked about how it is unlikely that anyone really knows exactly what happened during Jesus' life, and how unpredictable oral tradition is. Which may be true. And then, in school, last Thursday, I was talking with someone who said he believes in God, but isn't sure if the Bible can be trusted. As usual after the conversation, I thought of lots of things that would have made much more sense had I said them at the time. I spent a while mulling the conversation over and creating better responses, obviously too late for use. So, those two things were the impetus for this essay.
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Tradition of Faith
Tradition
is a syncretic word. The word means so many things to so many different people.
Traditionally, families have Thanksgiving dinner. This is a tradition that is
an actual happening, it is a physical tradition. Traditions are passed down
from generation to generation. This could be a tradition of making potato soup
on Saturday nights, because that is how Grandma did it, or it could be a
tradition of character. A tradition of character is somewhat different than a
physical tradition. A trait of generosity, trained by parents, passed on by
their children, “give the shirt off our backs,” is an example of a character
tradition. Traditions can be stories, told by grandparent to child, friend to
neighbor, stranger to stranger. An example of this is George Washington and the
cherry tree, the story is not even true, yet it is a tradition in the United
States of America. The tradition of faith is one of the most common traditions
passed on. People often do not realize that faith is a tradition, but it most
certainly is. Usually, religion is passed down. If a parent is Lutheran, then
the family is Lutheran. If the parents are Jewish, the family is Jewish. Faith
is a tradition, and a very important one.
One of
the ways the Bible, the basis of my tradition of faith, was recorded was by oral
tradition. Oral tradition? Surely, that is not a reliable basis for faith.
Stories passed from person to person, often not even by eyewitnesses surely
cannot be reliable. Christianity grew through people speaking to one another.
For the first few decades after Jesus’ death, there was no text to pass around;
the only way to share the Good News of Jesus was to tell each other about him,
by his commandment. Mark 16:15 “And
he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole
creation (ESV).” His disciples did just that. Believers shared stories with others;
those who were told then shared the stories with still more people. You can be
positive that the stories of Jesus did not have the exact details, but the
important part was there: that this man, this Son of God, was truly who he
claimed to be. That Jesus was someone worthy to be worshipped, that Jesus was
worthy to be called the Son of God.
So, if these traditions that
were written down in the Bible were changed: the details aren’t always 100%
accurate; people took liberty and changed the text occasionally, how can we be
sure that what is in the Bible is worth believing? Faith. Faith is the answer
to that question. If I believe there is a God, and I do, and that God is all
powerful, which I do, it is then a simple answer. I believe that God has the
power to, despite human failings and oral traditions with errors, allow his
followers the gift of a text that has not lost its potency. Indeed, what is
important has not been lost. The message of God, of salvation, of grace, of
love, those things, the most important things, will never be lost. The
all-powerful God I believe in will not leave his children without a guide. He
works through human failings, in spite of mistakes in oral tradition, all for
the redemption of his creation whom he loves very much.
