Sunshine Cathedral Blog

Q&A by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins, Senior Pastor

Question: A fundamentalist friend of mine says the bible is a Christian’s sole basis for belief, and since I don’t take all of the bible literally, the basis of my faith is flawed. Do you have a response?

Answer: I would disagree that the bible is the Christian’s sole basis for belief. (1) The Church is centuries older than the bible (most, but not all, of the texts are older than the Christian movement/s, but the collection of documents into one sacred book happened hundreds of years after Jesus). (2) Anytime any single person / thing is the “sole basis” of one’s faith, isn’t that person / thing an idol? (3) Can we really not trust our thoughts and experiences until looking up a passage in an ancient book to validate them? (4) NO ONE really takes the bible literally in its entirety. If we did, we’d sell all our possessions and give the money to the poor (Mark 10.21), men would not have these discussions with women (1 Timothy 2.12), we wouldn’t eat pork or shellfish, men would all be circumcised, we’d believe the entire world was created in a week, and we’d go crazy trying to reconcile the very contradictory creation accounts of Genesis 1 and 2. We can (and do) take the bible seriously without taking it literally; and, no one really takes all of it literally anyway.