"When I consider the short duration of my life, swallowed up in the eternity before and after, the little space which I fill, and even can see, engulfed in the infinite immensity of spaces of which I am ignorant, and which know me not, I am frightened, and am astonished at being here rather than there; for there is no reason why here rather than there, why now rather than then. Who has put me here? By whose order and direction have this place and time been allotted to me?" Pascal -- Pensees
I loved this! Thank you for putting this up. It's very helpful for agnostic humanists such as myself. :) What's the title of the song played at the end and where can I find it?
The song has no title and you won't find it anywhere but here. That's because the singer, Ken Medema, actually composed the music and lyrics on the fly. He is blind and has the wonderful gift of listening to someone's story and then immediately composing a song that captures the heart and theme of the story. The song simply did not exist prior to Pete Enns talking. It came into being only as Ken Medema listened to Enns describing his struggle with doubt. Amazing talent!
He drives home the point that dawned on me a few years ago - We need to stop anchoring ourselves on the notions of our dead grand parents and moor ourselves on the ponderings of our living children.
One of my big doubts/questions concerns how God gave the Promised Land to Abraham. Prior to this God had already given it to others who were already there. And we have used that Promised Land story later in time, as though God is still with us, and taken land off others. We talk about God's own country. Does it morally/ethically belong to us when we do that?
Sometimes we appropriate God in our doings or in this case Israel’s recorded history. I believe God speaks sometimes throughout history but often in echoes or whispers. I don’t doubt there is a God but yes I question some of what we say He said, ordered or did. The Bible is Israel’s recorded history and narrative about their understanding of God. To me, Jesus is the Word of God not the Bible. That’s why Jesus so often contradicted what the religious leaders were teaching and doing.
This guy only has questions and no answers. Like that's supposed to be a cool thing. I knew of a pastor that got into this emerging church type of thinking, loving the questions more than the bible. The last question I saw him post online was what if Jesus didn't really rise from the dead. The answer of course is there is no gospel if that's true. This kind of thinking can shipwreck people's faith. It's pure poison. Also God didn't want the Israelites to worship other gods because there are no other gods - just the devil and his angels that man . It's for man's ultimate benefit.
Peter Enns clearly resents God and the Bible. He should just let go and stop pretending to be Christian--but of course he's largely still pretending so that he can profit from other skeptics, agnostics, and atheists.
Is inerrancy required to be a Christian? How you feel about that question will determine whether you can listen to Pete's theology and hermeneutical lens for reading the Bible. Pete loves the Bible and God, if you watch his podcasts. Now whether I judge a person as Christian, (especially when they say they follow Jesus) well that's beyond my pay grade. I was threatened by this kind of Christianity in my youth. I've managed to find a middle ground thanks to Pete's work, along with others like N. T. Wright.
@@newfontherock Quite honestly, the inerrancy part is the least of my distaste for Pete Enns (though I have an issue with it as well). He actively seems to dislike the Bible's message, and his cranky arrogance is off-putting. He speaks in such a joyless way about Christianity; I don't feel any genuine love for Jesus in his books or speaking engagements. He's a dry academic who acts as if he's teaching and writing about little more than history and mythology. It just comes across as sad to me, but it's no skin off my nose to ignore his work going forward.
@@nothanks4469 His personality is definitely low-key in temperament. I know lots of evangelicals who are that way but they love Christ nonetheless. Emotion is not a fruit of the faith. I would describe him as peaceful. And joy can look peaceful. Many people, including myself, could not find that peace in evangelical churches. He is not charismatic. He is thoughtful. I'm not sure if he's dry, but he is an academic; he became one because he had questions in the faith he was raised in. If you feel your questions have been answered, good on you. Delight in that. Rejoice in your faith! Many people who read Pete and others have felt like their questions weren't answered or even welcomed. Academics aren't trusted by some church communities. But they do more work with the Bible than we ever will. And they do so from a place of faithfulness. They care about discovering the messages (plural!) in these 66 books. And some of what they find may challenge my (and your) preconceptions.
