Amen

As I write this, it's been almost 2 weeks since I finished reading the Bible. The entire thing took me 79 days to finish - cover to cover. Several people have asked me what I think now that I've finished the whole thing. I decided I needed to take some time to think about it...let it sink in if you will, before I tried to make sense of my experience. I doubt it will ever fully make sense to me, but now that I've had some time and space away from the experience, I guess now is as good a time as any for some final thoughts.

1) I'm glad I did it, but I don't know that I'll ever do it again. I learned a lot. Knowing the history of my faith definitely filled in a lot of question marks about why certain aspects of Christianity, and Judaism for that matter, came into being. I have a much better background of the people, places and events that shaped the things Christians believe to be true today. That being said, this was not an easy undertaking - either time wise or emotionally. I'm glad I took on the challenge but I think once might just be enough for me.

2) Reading the entire Bible is kind of like taking medicine. It's good for you but it might not always be pleasant. I faced some real hard truths in reading the Bible. A lot of the things in there were hard to read and even harder to accept. It challenged my faith in several ways. Though I've not completely made peace with all the things I learned, I can accept that my human brain cannot fully understand Divine reasoning. That will have to be enough for now.

3) Your experience reading the Bible reflects what is going on in your life at the time. Ok - I don't know that this is absolutely true but I surmise it is for most people. I know I was reading the Bible through a lens of my own issues. I never expected that the things that I was working through in my non-church life would bleed into how I interpreted the Bible. Maybe I should have, but I didn't. My struggles with trust and control constantly shaped how I interpreted the reading. Or maybe the reading illustrated my struggles with these things. In any event, the two could not be separated. Maybe this is God's way of telling me that He knows every little thing I struggle with and He can help me deal with it. He might be telling me this but I don't know how often I hear it.

So yes, after reading the entire Bible,I know more than I did 3 months ago. And yes, I faced some challenges to my faith as a result of reading the Bible. But in the end, here's what I realized. The Christian faith is all about one's personal relationship with God. What happened between God and the people in the Bible is all good for me know and learn from, but my relationship with God is unique to us. The way God dealt with the people in the Bible is not necessarily the way He will work in my life.

All that being said, here's what I think. It all comes down to your personal relationship with God. It may not always be easy but as long as your good with that relationship, all is good.

Wait - what?

Granted, as I've mentioned before, I am not a Biblical scholar, but below is my main thought about the book of Revelations.

This must be what a bad acid trip is like.