Oh, how I wish that God would speak, that he would open his lips against you ... – Job 11:5

Today’s Scripture Reading (March 22, 2012): Job 11

I have to admit that I am very uncomfortable with the churches interpretation with who is in and who is out of the church. One of the foundational beliefs for the Baptist movement (of which I am a part) is the priesthood of all believers. That doesn’t mean that we all fulfill the role of pastor (although I do think we are all pastors in certain situations in our lives), but that we all have equal access to God. I no longer need to go to the priest to have my concerns heard by God. I have access to God’s throne room all by myself. And in that way, I fulfill the role of a priest.

But inside the Baptist Church, the priesthood of all believers has also taken on the connotation that we all have an equal right to read and interpret the Bible for ourselves. And on one level I cheer that idea. But on another level I shrink away from it, because I watched us do exactly that without a generous accepting spirit to the beliefs of others. We believe that our interpretation is truth, and whoever disagrees with us is deceived. And I am not sure that we are right.

Zophar enters the discussion with Job and he says that he wishes that God would speak, because he knows that God would support his (Zophar’s) interpretation of what was going on and would speak out against Job. and we have an advantage that Zophar didn’t have; we know that this part of the Job’s story started with God speaking. But God wasn’t condemning Job (as Zophar had hoped.) God was pleased with Job.

And I wonder if the same thing might be happening with the people that we disagree with. In our pride we think that God is on our side, when in actuality, God is on the other side – or on no side. I know what it is like to be called a heretic. And there are some issues that that judgement might be appropriate. I know that I haven’t struggled as much as I should have on these points. But there are other beliefs that I have sweated over, and prayed about, and the conclusion that I have arrived at might not be right, but it has moved to the core of who I am. And, in those circumstances, when I am called a heretic, it is a word that hurts me to the core of who I am.

If we really believe that God opens the bible and allows all of us to interpret it, I think we need to develop a gracious nature about what others believe. Not that we accept everything, but that we are willing to enter into dialogue with others with an open mind over the issue of beliefs and what the Bible says. Because I also know this, most of what we accept as truth inside of the Christian Faith communities today, started with one heretic that had sweated over an idea and asked the question – what if this is true?

And whenever we call anyone a heretic, we echo the words of Zophar. What we are saying is that we wish that God would speak up and condemn the person we are talking about. But we need to remember in those moments that there is the very real possibility that we are speaking to a Job – someone that God is proud of.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 12