If we want to know the truth about our faith, we first need to face the truth about ourselves. And that truth is that we all have our moments of doubt. Regardless of how intensely we cling to our faith, we all have those moments when the science that keeps finding logical explanations for our existence seems to be easier to believe than the fantastical tales in the Bible.
Fiction writers, particularly science fiction writers, have always created mysterious and mystical scenarios that provide mental exercise for the human imagination. Many of those scenarios have their roots in Biblical tales, so it would be easy to mistake Bible stories as fiction, and perhaps some of them are fiction. Jesus’ parables, for example, are simple stories that illustrate a basic principle and are not necessarily presented as actual events. That does not diminish the value of the story.
We need to acknowledge that the Bible, as we know it, was compiled by human scholars who debated over a number of texts to decide which of those texts were qualified to be included in the official Bible. At the same time, we need to recognize that such a selection process was tainted by the politics, education, and world views held at the time.
The same can be said for the authors of those texts. Each of them had an agenda that dictated their approach to their story. The stories of conflict between different factions described in the Bible were not reported by a neutral news organization. Those stories were reported by one side or another.
This does not mean that these stories were fiction, but that they were described in human terms. If we accept for a moment that God acted to achieve a certain outcome, we need to recognize that most of these activities were accomplished, not through the use of supernatural means, but through the use of the forces of nature.
And that is where we need to distinguish between fact and fiction.
The forces of nature that God employs are all familiar to us – floods, fire, earthquakes, storms. If we could remove our knowledge of these elements, any of them could seem like the work of a science fiction writer. In fact, we might not even be capable of imagining such forces.
That is where truth becomes stranger than fiction.
The entire collection of elements that define our world is proof in itself of the hand of God. Just as it becomes impossible to imagine that human intellect could devise all the elements of God’s toolbox, it becomes equally impossible to believe that pure chance conspired to create the forces of nature that are described in Biblical tales and continue to impact us to this day.
As science continues to delve deeper into the mysteries of the universe, humanity finds even more complexity to our existence and the truth of those findings far exceeds fiction.