We have a problem of subjectivity. “If God hates all the same things/people you hate, you can safely assume you have created God in your own image,” says Anne Lamott.
A farmer was reading his bible and came across the verse, “He shall not let thy foot be dashed against a stone.” A strong sense of God’s presence came over him and he knew that God would protect him. He climbed to the top of his barn and jumped off — and killed himself. This story is told in Mennonite circles as if it really happened. Perhaps it did.
Some Methodist in the 20th century, — not John Wesley himself, as is erroneously rumored — came up with a four-legged basis for discerning God’s will. It is Wesleyan in spirit and is called the Quadrilateral. But it became a) a theological football and b) a simplistic formula. Robert Outler, who made the formula popular, is said to have wished he’d never used the term. But … I think it can be useful.
To discern God’s will, according to the Quadrilateral, one must test the scripture verse, thought, feeling or impulse by scripture, traditional, reason and experience. Does the verse line up with other scriptures in the bible, especially the sayings of Jesus? Does it line up with Christian writers and theologians? Does it line up with what we know of science, and even common sense? (Our farmer would be in trouble here.) And is it consistent with life as we have experienced it?
That last criterion — experience — can have many facets. For me, conversation with other believers is an important facet through which I try to discern God’s will.
Richard Rohr suggests other criteria: a heart softened by an encounter with Creation, including animals, rocks, trees; and a heart softened by a life of prayer and contemplation. He states that such a heart will lean toward compassion, inclusion, love and suffering, and will handle scripture gently and thoughtfully.
That’s where I am today. It’s easy to use the bible as a weapon against those we dislike; in my case, against the haters, the people who cheat the poor, the proud, the conquerers of others. But I, too — even I! — must pray, connect with other believers, study and finally, hold scripture lightly.
