Why is the bible so complicated
Why would God make it so complex to understand Christianity?
here's a question for you why would God
make it so complex to understand
Christianity it's not actually my
phrasing on that there's a comment from
a couple videos back where somebody
whose name I can't put on the screen
because they put the f-bomb in it asks
exactly that I think that's a very fair
question given the context of the
conversation that was happening in the
comments section I think it might have
been asked as a pushback against
Christianity but I think that's a
question that a person of faith can
really reasonably ask as well and so I'm
gonna treat it like that's a question
asked in goodwill and kind of game that
out because if I'm to be truthful that's
something that is eating at me a little
bit both during the time in my life when
I was not a Christian or a person of any
belief in God and also during the much
larger percentage of my life when I've
been a person of faith hey-ya kind of
what gives you know I mean if it seems
like if there's a God who wants to be
known really well and he wants people to
worship Him and he's the point of
everything and he's reaching out and
going to all the effort anyway to get
into our space to to know us and to be
known I mean why would you make it easy
why wouldn't you eliminate this point of
contention that everybody's gonna see
stuff differently and argue I mean
doesn't that make God look bad doesn't
that make your followers look bad why
not instead set it up in such a way
where it's just very plainly laid out
and you've got one pretty long but
pretty doable list of descriptors of how
God is and then another list of what
people who follow God are supposed to do
and then you'd have one uniform standard
for how everybody who follows that God
would act and then it would make it much
simpler and it would eliminate these
kind of nagging doubts for people like
me and username that I'm not gonna say
on this channel so here's the deal um I
think the first fair response that
you've got to consider to the question
of
why did God make it so complex to
understand Christianity is the one that
maybe the commenter is driving at maybe
he's not and that's just there is no God
and the fact that it is so complex is
what points out that the whole thing is
a big giant sham and that this is
entirely the work of humans humans who
were using the notion of a God to jockey
for power throughout history and so as a
result they're all gonna format their
theology in ways that are beneficial to
their in-group and punishing to their
out-group and when you project that out
over several thousand years what you get
is all kinds of conflicting stuff and it
just gets impossible to sort through and
that's why it becomes so complex I don't
think that but I wondered that once and
so I think it's only fair to acknowledge
that good and honest people in their
process of faith or not faith might ask
that question and you look at the data
and give that answer but let me throw
out some considerations that assume
there is a God behind this and that's
where I land and that's kind of where my
brain is at and processing out the
question I suppose another reason or a
second reason that that the whole
Christian thing seems so complex and it
is the you know explanation as to why
God would make it that way would just be
that maybe some of us are miss reading
the complexity and it's not actually
that complex I tend to think it's pretty
complex there are a lot of questions to
wrestle through and it seems like an
infinite number of questions to wrestle
through but I know a lot of people good
people not simple people not rubes not
backward people but quality smart
thinking professional well-educated
people who seem to have to use the
religious term for it here some kind of
gift of faith and if there is a God on
the other side of the equation it looks
like from time to time he imparts to an
individual this ability to see stuff and
get stuff and believe stuff and have a
certainty and a clarity on it that that
I just think I'm not wired for I am a
person of faith
but I'm I'm wired to be a skeptic I like
tax questions and poke at things and I
know other religious people who aren't
like that and I don't think they're dumb
for it
I think it's possible that that is the
work of the supernatural
so in regard to the question if God
wants to be known why did he make it so
complex if there's really a god why is
Christianity so complex I suppose
solution number one is there is no God
and the whole thing's a sham and that's
why it's so complicated
I suppose solution number two though
would be maybe it's not as complex as we
think and some of us overthink it okay
I'm gonna be honest I don't think those
are the two best answers so let me
explore a third one
Christianity is a very ancient religion
and I suppose it's possible that the
writing of the Bible and the explanation
of theology was geared first and
foremost to the people at the moments in
history when it was being written and
being revealed I know as I try to work
my way through the Old Testament the New
Testament one of the things I really
have to labor to do is to put myself in
the shoes and the cultural setting in
the in the mindset of that original
audience if I don't bother to take that
extra step and studying the Bible seems
like I have a lot of things fly over my
head or I inflict modern questions or
contemporary social preferences on to
the text and I kind of missed the whole
point so it's also possible that the
reason it's so complex is because this
whole thing was designed to unfold over
time but most of the communication
happened a long time ago in other parts
of the world and what made a lot of
sense to people there maybe is a bit
more challenging and as different
cultures and different people throughout
time interpret that stuff differently we
arrive at different conclusions and as a
result it gets complex I guess that's my
off the top of my head option number
three here possibility number four is
that it's part complex and part not calm
flex and there is a god behind it and
God designed it to be that way let me
see if I can do a better job of
explaining what I'm trying to say here I
think it's possible that the front end
of Christian faith isn't that tricky
there was a an evangelist an
african-american dude who came around to
our church a couple times when I was a
kid I really liked him his name was Sam
and I remember him doing this thing it's
one of the first memories from church he
held up his fingers and he spelled
Christ even like CH are I s T coming
home really isn't so tough and then I
think the point that he was making there
is hey everybody if you're thinking
about becoming a Christian you can just
do that if it seems like the whole
salvation thing isn't that hard if it
seems like it's as simple as you used to
acknowledge some other God as king of
everything or yourself as king of
everything but when you realize who God
is and who Jesus is and you acknowledge
him as king of everything that's kind of
what it is to enter into this this
Christian thing I think that's what he
was saying but then he went on to say
that what happens after that pretty
straightforward pretty easy to
understand beginning point of faith then
what happens next is kind of where the
fun is that there's this infinite list
of questions and this unbound by time
eternal opportunity to wrestle through
all of the important things in existence
and to understand more about the nature
of this infinite being God now I'm using
my own language that's not exactly how
he said it he said it in ways that were
meant to make sense to a kid like me but
I think you get what I'm driving at a
fourth possibility here is that the
reason Christianity seems so complex and
claims to have a God behind it might be
because there really is a God behind it
he makes the the entry point to faith
pretty accessible and pretty
straightforward but that is like the
tippy tip tip tip of the iceberg and
there's this infinite unending iceberg
extending under the surface forever that
really is the bulk of what the Christian
faith is about dwelling in that
exploring
fleshing that out figuring out where you
fit in that much bigger set of questions
so I suppose that's a possibility as
well I want to make sure I'm still
phrasing the question right so feel like
I'm screwing it up okay that username is
spectacular it's it's the f-bomb but
it's like the way you'd expect Liam
Neeson to say it when he's being really
really Irish with his accent I'm not
gonna do it but all you were doing it
right now why would God make it so
complex to understand Christianity okay
this is the one that I think is is my
best shot at trying to explain this when
you talk about theology when you talk
about religion of any kind when you talk
about Christianity what you're talking
about
is an interaction between two parties
right humans like you and me and God the
divine well we understand a lot about
humanity I'm gonna do a Venn diagram
I need circles let me use I'm gonna use
these coasters they're gonna work my
friend Bethany got these for me made
them for me even I don't know so I've
got these trout coasters let me get them
in focus okay
so let's say that this one over here is
the circle that represents the finite
people like you and me with limits and
people who get older and are gonna die
someday and can't know everything even
though we're limited I would put all of
our brains and processing power together
throughout the history of ever we
actually know quite a bit of stuff about
people and about our environment and the
physical world and everything else so it
feels like we can know some things about
us and the finite believe it or not I'm
also really optimistic that we can know
some things about the InFocus Matthew
the in finite that is the stuff of God I
think that we have the ability to reason
to some extent to the nature of an
unlimited ultimate being a being that
there's no higher no greater being that
can be imagined than such a being I
think that we can look at our
environment and deduce things about
whatever force made such an environment
and put such order into things I also
think that specific revelation and I
look I know that right now there are
people who are watching this or like wow
I think things are chaos I don't think
you can look at the natural world and
understand things about God I think
you're being way too optimistic Matt
about your ability to reason to things
about God and I don't trust your Bible
so I don't think it's particularly
reliable either you know what I'm glad
you're here we see this a little bit
differently that's all right the humor
my argument for a minute see if it makes
any sense if you grant these assumptions
so we know stuff about the finite I
think there are multiple ways through
reason through nature through the Bible
that we can know stuff about the
infinite deity God and when we deal with
these two questions separately it's hard
but it's not that hard it's not where
the really difficult complex stuff about
faith happens when it gets hard is when
you do this this is doable this is
doable but this little Venn diagram
shaded area in the middle that's where I
think it gets challenging there's a
natural friction that occurs when you
take something that operates within
boundaries the finite humans and you try
to mingle it with something that
operates with no boundaries
the infinite I mean just think about
taking something that if we just even
acknowledge one of our boundaries time
how do you mush together the story and
the mind of something bound by time with
the story and the mind of something
unbound by time it's one of those basic
defining parameters of our existence and
if you take that away and talk about the
divine whoa these are such different
entities and I think sometimes we like
to imagine a deity who's kind of just
like us and as the same limitation this
is us but it's like I kind of exalted
superhero version but I'm an atheist
toward that kind of deity I'm talking
about the kind that is transcendent well
when you take the finite and the
infinite and you mush them together the
friction starts to happen and I think it
must happen you think about the really
hard questions that have boggled the
minds of the best philosophers and
theologians for all of time that
the toughest questions that maybe even
cause people to choose not to believe in
God that maybe the tough questions that
have caused you if that's where you land
to not believe in God all of those
hardest questions are the overlap
questions they're the they're the shaded
area questions so you get here and we
ask the question how do we resolve God's
sovereignty and unlimitedness with human
freedom
that's a shaded area question that's the
finite bumping up against the infinite
and it's hard how does God become man
how does the infinite take on flesh and
be born and die in the physical world
that's a shaded area question and it's
really hard to understand why does the
God of the Old Testament seem to be okay
with him judging people and even smiting
or killing people when he tells us not
to judge and not to smite well again
we're getting into this shaded area kind
of stuff and so maybe I'm getting in the
weeds a little bit here so what happens
when you just run it live I think an
answer to the question which once again
is why would God make it so complex to
understand Christianity I'm not sure
that was God being a jerk or trying to
make it difficult to see what we would
do or to test us somehow and I don't I
don't think I don't think God had set
things up so that you have to be a
certain degree of fancy intellectual or
super-smart
philosophy type in order to know God or
have a relationship with God I think
instead that complexity is a beautiful
natural necessary byproduct of the
divine the boundless stepping in to the
realm of the finite the bounded and
trying to do something about our
situation and further if if we imagine
or invent a God where these frictions
don't exist because we don't want it to
be complicated or confusing the way
we're going to arrive at that is by
stripping this
in our mind of his authority and power
and other nasai in our brains and where
we don't feel such complexity and don't
feel kind of overwhelmed and intimidated
and coming at these questions but in
doing so we've created a god do isn't
powerful enough to do anything about the
human condition and if that's the case
why have a religion at all why worship
any God at all at that point I think
it's just an exercise in futility and
silliness now I would take it even a
step further not only do I think the
complexity is necessary not only do we
think that I would be skeptical of any
version of religion that didn't have
those necessary complex questions where
the overlap stuff happens between the
finite and the endplate but I'll take it
further and say that I like it at first
I didn't like it
I think I'm somebody who can be
intimidated by things on the front end a
little bit and when I'm a little bit
intimidated by things one of my
knee-jerk reactions is just say this
whole thing is stupid and dumb I lived
in Las Vegas for a while then maybe
there are things about Las Vegas that
are stupid and dumb but when I first
moved there there were a lot of people
my friends associates who really liked
it and they're like no there's a lot of
neat things about this town but because
it was so big and so bright and so
overwhelming for me
my initial knee-jerk reaction was to be
dismissive of it like eyes so that he
let me offer a really clever critique of
why this is dumb but the more I got to
know the town the more I got to see
things about it that were redemptive and
good and even the broken things about it
I came to appreciate for what they were
and and I think we worked the same way
with ideas sometimes the complexity
initially scares us off is almost gross
but when we're around something for a
little while and we start to understand
why there's complexity then the
complexity becomes appealing and
beautiful and inviting and an adventure
and something that you want to tear into
and that you want to sidle up alongside
because the complexity is bigger than
you and even though we don't like it at
first generally speaking we do like
things the
bigger than us it's lonely imagining
that we're the biggest most important
thing so for me not only am i at peace
with that complexity as a necessary
byproduct of the intersection between
the infinite and the finite I've come to
really love it I like the way it it
frames my opinion of myself I like the
way every time I start to think I'm
important or cool or smart or had things
figured out the reality of that
complexity just smacks me back down to I
think a more realistic place for me to
continue to exist as a thinker and as a
person who has relationships and engages
with things in the world so commenter
whose name I continued to refuse to say
I think you've asked a great question
and I'm really grateful that you asked
it and I guess I've said this in the
past few videos but I'll say it one more
time I would encourage you is that too
strong a word I would invite you to
consider leaving some things in the
question box instead of trying to get
everything in the answer box right now
and exploring some of this complexity
and seeing if there might be some merit
to it and something really inviting and
appealing about it
feel like if maybe talked a little bit
too much about all of this stuff but I
just kind of want to do a quick video
where I just turn it on don't edit it
and game it out with you so very excited
as always to hear what you think about
it I like the comment section on this
channel and I really do try to go
through everything even if I don't have
the ability or time to respond to all of
it you make me think and I'm grateful
for that
so today right yep thanks for hanging
out I've got some more completely
different than this stuff coming down
the pike so I'll get back to editing
that right now all right
we'll catch you soon
