THE BIBLE IN MY LIFE May 29, 2006 Issue

CHARACTERS, EVENTS, LIFE LESSONS

DAVID NARTONIS

I GREW UP in a military family, and we moved around a lot. Despite the frequent moves, my mom always made sure I was enrolled in a Sunday School—Congregational at first, Methodist later.

I vividly remember reciting Psalm 24, verses 7—10, out loud from memory when I was quite young. They begin, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in...." I also remember a very kindly minister approving of my having done that. Few other details remain of that childhood experience. But at some point I began to think of the Bible not only as beautiful poetry but as literature, full of characters and events that had life lessons to teach.

When I went to college, I started questioning a lot of things, including religion. In my science classes, I was learning to view truth as a discovery that diligent students could prove for themselves and thus make their own. I don't think this caused me to agonize over whether Bible stories were literally true or not, because the Bible's value to me was not as a history book. For example, the story of Paul's God-impelled escape from prison had the same life lessons to teach whether Paul ever existed or his escape ever happened (see Acts 16:19—40). But I could no longer accept a religion that was based merely on authority.