Why do I feel like there are so many holes in the Bible?
I struggle with the fact that the Bible doesn't always seem to fit precisely together in all of its ideas and thoughts. Rather than being very logical or mathematical in the structure of its propositions, phrases seem to often butt heads with other ideas. For example, today when reading Psalm 115:17, I read this verse:
"It is not the dead who praise the LORD, those who go down to the place of silence."
At first glance, nothing may seem difficult about this verse. Yet for me, when I read this verse, my mind attempted to understand it in the doctrinal context of heaven and hell. That's when the "fun" began...
This verse is pretty confusing to me because the truth is that the dead DO praise the Lord...in heaven. Did the author of this psalm even know about heaven?
I feel like the author of this psalm should have at least hinted at the doctrines of heaven and hell, and that there are in fact people who will praise the Lord in heaven. There is probably some solution to this problem (e.g. saying that the dead here mean the physically dead), but I just struggle with the fact that the Bible is not what I wish it was. Sometimes, it just seems the God forgot to "dot the I's and cross the t's".
For me, episodes like this happen almost every time I read from the Bible. Questions arise non-stop about things that I deem imprecise. Questions like: why does the book of Acts end abruptly? Why do the Gospels have differences about the same events? Why does Christian theology seem very imprecise? Why does Paul use very loose quotations of the Old Testament? Why are concepts seemingly incomplete? Why didn't the biblical writers have all the facts in front of them? Why didn't God just give them a systematic, doctrinal handbook? Instead, God has given us a very diverse book that is often hard to grasp. Why didn't God ensure that each phrase in the Bible fits perfectly with ever other phrase?
I think the biggest thing I need to remember is that I am viewing the Bible from my expectations and assumptions as someone who lives in the 21st century. I have my own biases of how "truth" should be communicated. Also, as someone who majored in hard sciences in college, I'm used to having things presented to me in precise, unambiguous, mathematical terms.
Ultimately, I need to humble myself before God, and give these thoughts to him. He alone is sovereign, and He can answer these questions that I struggle with.
