 by Charlotte O Let me begin by stating my bias. I am a huge Gungor fan; I might even go so far as to call them my favourite band. So of course I was saddened when I saw the way they have been attacked online in the past week. With that said, I do find myself disagreeing with many of Michael's points about his view of the bible. And that's ok. That doesn't mean I have to stop listening to their music. And the reverse is true, just because I like a band doesn't mean I have to agree with everything they say. If that were the case, I would find myself incredibly limited in what music I could listen to! I became a Christian at the age of 6 when I 'asked Jesus into my heart'. But I certainly hope I don't have the same level of faith today! While Mr. Gungor used pretty strong language in some cases to express his beliefs, the truth is, he is not the authority, and I don't think he was trying to be. Personally, my interpretation of his blog posts is that he is questioning things and has a desire to create a free, open space for others to do the same. By him taking a lot of the flak from a very polarized community, maybe others will have the opportunity to think, engage, explore without being attacked. But here is the thing - all of us are always growing, we are constantly redefining our beliefs in relation to our knowledge and experience. I became a Christian at the age of 6 when I 'asked Jesus into my heart'. But I certainly hope I don't have the same level of faith today! Another example is that when I was younger, I saw things as so black and white. Either this music is Christian or not, etc and I ended up offending a lot of people in my rigid stance because of what I understood to be right and wrong (which involved not celebrating Halloween or watching Titanic). Nowadays, I see that nothing is really that simple, and I'm a lot more able to take the good and leave the unhelpful behind. And this has allowed me to not only thrive overseas, but to know people I never would have been open to before, to hear their pain, struggles, and stories without worrying about whether or not they're on 'my' side When will we realize we can still love people without having to agree with everything they say or think? We are all on a journey, none of us has 'arrived' So my point is that even though Gungor has made these controversial statements about Genesis and the Bible, they haven't 'arrived' at the truth any more than you or I, and there's a good chance those beliefs will keep on changing and evolving too.
When will we realize we can still love people without having to agree with everything they say or think? We are all on a journey, none of us has 'arrived' just as Corinthians says: we know in PART I do believe the Bible is authoritative, but I cannot confidently say that all of my interpretations of it are equally authoritative. There's a neat little story in the book of Acts (21:11;33) that illustrates this: it involves incorrect fulfillment of a prophecy. Now does that mean there was an error in the scripture? Or that the Holy Spirit made a mistake in what was revealed? The evident answer seems to be that some human interpretation was added based on the person's assumptions, knowledge of the context, and opinion. That's really all we ever have. So I would rather think in terms of helpful and unhelpful rather than right and wrong. If you require a more poetic interpretation of the flood story in order to wrap your mind around the apparent science/faith conflict, than that is helpful for you. If you have no problem believing it was simply a miracle that can't be explained and to doubt that story would shake your faith, then it's less helpful. When we are unable to claim utter certainty on these topics, why can't both people hold to their beliefs if it helps them draw near to our Creator?
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