Will This Be on the Final?

Why the Bible is relevant for our stressful college lives

This article is part of the Claritas fall 2022 issue, Mystery. Read the full print release here.

BY joaquin rivera

In the days before a prelim, uncertainty fills the air. The same questions get repeated again and again during lecture. “Where is the prelim at? Is there partial credit? How again do you specifically answer that really basic conceptual question so that I get maximum points?” And how about those GroupMe chats? Everyone is obsessed with categorically memorizing exactly how to deal with every type of problem. 

If we expand our lens to society as a whole, this need to be constantly up to date prevails in every area. Our textbooks have over a dozen editions published to keep up with changes. Last week’s news isn’t relevant anymore. And how many NBA 2K games are there by now?

In the midst of this rapidly changing society, I look to the Bible as the foundation of my life. Yes, the Bible—a book written over a span of 1600 years, with characters including a 5th century BC Jew, a 2nd century AD Roman slave, and a 15th century BC Egyptian Pharaoh, [1] none of whom seem to resemble my circumstances in the slightest. These letters, biographies, historical accounts, poems, and prophecies have been handed down in an unaltered form for centuries. I look to the Bible for guidance in every area of my life. This book, with its most recent components being at least 1800 years old, informs how I interact with others, how I approach my work, and how I view what happens in the world around me. Although new and different translations exist, there is no Gospel of John 2022 DLC (never before seen chapters included!).

Is the Bible still relevant? Should the teachings of Jesus, a man from 2000 years ago whose teachings were directly addressed to some shepherds, craftsmen, and fishermen from a bygone Roman Empire, apply to me, a college student with 21st century problems? If God is truly omniscient and all powerful, why couldn’t he just update his Word for our current lives, so we don’t have to keep guessing about what he would want? Yes, we have pastors, Christian books, and prayer, but why can’t God directly address and clear up the mystery about questions in my life about my career or relationships, or societal problems at large like COVID-19 or the war in Ukraine? Perhaps this is even proof that a creator does not exist, or if he does, that he does not care much for the world.

But could not this rather be cause for joy? Does our society’s constant drive for more information really make us less stressed? In considering the consumerist nature of our society, I think of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, a dystopian novel written in stark contrast to the brutal authoritarianism of the more famous 1984. In Huxley’s world, the main instrument of control is not inflicting pain, but the continuous availability of pleasure. Everyone’s desires are instantly gratified, and all struggle and pain are removed and replaced with a planned-out life of ease. The writer Neil Postman concisely describes the despairing conclusion that results from such a society: “Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism…[He] feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance…[He] feared that we would become a trivial culture.” All around us we see evidence that Huxley’s world is colliding with our world. We are surrounded by endless distractions and the call to embrace the newest trendy thing. Is this the kind of outlook that should be influencing our faith? Part of us may enjoy the rush of all the constant “newness”, but it may very well be trivial and overwhelming.

Rather, the unchanging and universal stories of the Bible present us with a way to separate our minds from the chaos of culture and ground ourselves in timeless wisdom and truth. Yes, the Bible was addressed to an audience thousands of years ago, but how different are we from those shepherds and fishermen? We all have basic needs of hunger, thirst, shelter, and clothing—and we work to remedy those needs. We all live under the shadow of physical threats—war, oppression, disease, and natural disasters. And we face not just physical problems, but those of the mind as well. Greed, anger, and lust afflict us still. We want feelings of love and comfort and strive to achieve them through building friendships and working towards success in life. Is the “twenty-first century problem” of an ECON 1110 prelim really a unique issue? Think of the questions involved: “Should I spend time overstressing on this or not?” “Why do I need to learn this?” or “How can I cope with this uncertainty about what is going to happen?” These are the very same questions that I am sure Noah felt as he was given the task of building a massive ark without understanding its purpose. 

Although the shape and form may differ, the problems and joys that we face are not much different than what one might have faced 2000 years ago. Around 600 BC, the prophet Habukkuk lamented that “Destruction and violence are before me. Strife and contention arise…For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.” [2] Clearly, we have not really solved any core human issues in a definitive way, and the Bible is all about these core issues.

Although we revere the characters of the Bible, they were not super men of virtue. Moses murdered a man in cold blood. [3] David also committed murder, and followed it up by sleeping with his victim’s wife. [4] Jesus’ disciples ran away when he was arrested by the Romans. [5] These Biblical characters were not heroes, but mere humans. In the same way that a novel is attractive because of its relatable characters, the Bible is even more so. There are a host of characters that share our struggles.

And what makes Christianity so unique is that all these stories are anchored on one overarching narrative. There is purpose and continuity in everything in the Bible, and that continuity extends to us. Although new scripture is not being added to the Bible, Scripture has made it clear that the generations to come were to continue what was laid out in the Bible. 

This story is centered on Jesus, God in the flesh, who came to Earth to experience core human struggles and overcome them. He felt pain, hunger, thirst, temptation, and ultimately one of the cruelest deaths imaginable, but through it all, lived a perfect life focused on ministering to those around him. Hebrews 2 says, “For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” [6] We can look to the human characters in the Bible and feel their pain and learn from their wisdom, but we can also look to Jesus who felt our pain and temptations yet conquered them in a way that no one has done since.

However, we shouldn’t be concerned with trying to see the Bible as a relevant, up-to-date, trendy guidebook/checklist to a “successful” life because that isn’t the point of the Bible. In fact, more than half of the Bible, the Old Testament, is a cycle devoted to showing that even God’s people couldn’t even resolve their own greed and affliction. The cycle begins with the Israelites, God’s people, falling into sin. They embrace corruption, mistreat the poor, and give into drunkenness. In the next part of the cycle, the Israelites would experience troubles as a result of their deeds. Their corruption would earn them many enemies, and wars would break out. Then, the Israelites would cry out to God for help. God would then send a leader who would help them, and after defeating their oppressor, would try to set them on the right path with more laws. Although what happens next is obvious, to illustrate with the words of God himself, “[The Israelites] hear what you say, but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain.” [7] And then the cycle begins afresh.

I’m sure our professors can relate. In countless lectures, they tell us what we need to know for the exam. They give us homework so that we can practice our skills. They tell us to study consistently. And then when the test comes, people don’t do well. There’s something about us that makes us just not listen. 

The Old Testament is full of these laws, with whole books like Leviticus being exhaustive lists that affect every aspect of life, including in-depth descriptions of how to perform sacrifices, what to eat, and specific colors and numbers of stones that have to adorn priestly garments. Even as a modern reader, my mind is overwhelmed by the vast number of laws. How much more overwhelmed would I be if I were to actually be governed by thousands of strict statues?

That’s why the New Testament completes the Bible as an utterly revolutionary outlook on the obstacles we face. It is no longer how many laws we can correctly keep that matters, but how our heart is transformed. It’s not about the actions anymore, but the heart behind our actions that the Bible is concerned with. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus gives a scathing rebuke to the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day who were obsessed with the word of the Law, saying “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.” [8] At its core, the message of the Bible is quite clear. Go out into the world and make disciples, love God, and love your neighbors as ourselves. [9] A recent article in the Cornell Daily Sun talked about how the flood of social media distracts us from the beauty of the world around us. [10] Perhaps in the same way, we should not see the lack of new Scripture or direct words from God as a bad thing, but rather God’s way of telling us that all the beauty of His message is already before us. 

As I enter Temple of Zeus for my daily study sessions, I am always greeted by words from Cornell’s former president Hunter Rawlings: “Education is not a commodity but a genuine awakening of a human being.” As I walk past it, I sometimes reflect on the fact that faith too can be treated as a commodity. If we view the Bible as just another set of guidelines or another self help book out there, then what’s to stop it from being drowned in all the other commodities out there? Or maybe the Bible’s value as a commodity is really high, but not for its real worth in shaping you but rather for what it can get you in social circles. Just like having the right internships and the right letter of recommendation to land us a new job, having read the right theological works and knowing just the right Christian answer to every question will make us feel valuable. But this is just more slavery to thoughts that we were supposed to be set free from. Just as with education, we should seek inner awakening from God’s word, and it is that awakening that will equip us to live in the world around us.

Last fall, Claritas’ theme of the semester was “Foundations,” and that is such a crucial pairing with this semester’s theme “Mystery.” In the area of mystery, Christians have to accept that life is chaotic and that there are many unanswered questions about the things past, the things present, and the things to come. And that is where having a foundation in the unchanging Word of God comes in. Amidst all the change of the world, we should anchor ourselves to God’s word and not use it as a special manual to cure life’s problems, but as a way to cure our broken hearts so that we can better cope with life’s problems. Our struggles today are not trivial, but we should find consolation in the fact that they are all part of a larger story. A verse from the Jewish teacher Sirach sums up what our mindset should be: "Think about what is commanded you, for you do not need what the Lord keeps hidden." [11]

This article appeared in Claritas’ Fall 2023 Mystery Issue.

SOURCES

[1] Malachi, Malachi 1:1 (ESV), Onesimus, Philemon 1 (ESV), The Pharaoh, Exodus 1 (ESV)

[2] Habakkuk 1:3-4 (ESV)

[3] Exodus 2:12 (ESV)

[4] 2 Samuel 11 (ESV)

[5] Matthew 26:56 (ESV)

[6] Hebrews 2:18 (ESV)

[7] Ezekiel 3:31 (ESV)

[8] Matthew 23:25 (ESV)

[9] Matthew 28:19 (ESV), Matthew 22: 37-39 (ESV)

[10] Aaron Friedman, “Social Media: The Thief of Joy,” Cornell Daily Sun, October 6, 2022

[11] Sirach 3:22 (Eastern Orthodox Bible)