I recently came across a thought provoking post titled: "5 Things I Wish Christians Would Admit About the Bible"
(read it here). Here are the bullet points with my commentary.
- The Bible Isn’t a Magic Book. We all know this. We understand that the scriptures were never meant to be used to pronounce blessings or curses. Yet sometimes we do seem to focus on things miraculous and mystical when we read it. In doing so we tend to make infallible popes out of the authors instead of seeing them as inspired men.
- The Bible Isn't as Clear as We'd Like It To Be. Hard to argue with this one as there is so much diversity in what each of us believes that it says. Some hold dogmatic black and white views about it while some embrace a grayer view. Many divide over the way that they read the bible while others see it as a means to love, peace and unity.
- The Bible Was Inspired by God, Not Dictated by God. I love the idea that God inspired people to write the scriptures. He certainly could have written it, as he did the Ten Commandments, in stone tablets. Yet he chose to write it in a less perfect manner using fallible people. This helps me to appreciate the complexity of the bible.
- We All Pick and Choose the Bible We Believe, Preach and Defend. All of us disdain the ways that the Bible was once used to defend things like slavery. Yet knowing that those folks held an erroneous view many of us seem to hold fast to our interpretations and choose to divide rather than unite on common ground.
- God Is Bigger Than The Bible. Bibliolatry is defined as the worship of the bible. None of us believe that we do that yet many of us do not see a difference between God and the Bible. In contrast, some see the Bible as a book that reveals both the Creator in Jesus Christ and the ones that He created and loves.
Bob, I was so pleased to read this post. You stated this very well. I could not agree more.
ReplyDeleteThanks Gary!
DeleteShare? I don't mind if I do, and thanks for this posting, Bob.
ReplyDelete1. It is not magical, but it contains the roadmap to salvation.
2. I picture Jesus telling us when we get to heaven, “My dear brothers and sisters, the divisions and disputations among you were so unnecessary. I told you, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul; love your neighbor as yourself. Why did you make it so complicated?
3. Infallibility of scripture is one of those divisive issues. Christians cannot even agree on what “infallibility” means. I have good Christian friends who insist that God dictated the Bible. I don’t think God will punish them for being wrong, so long as they follow the commandments cited above.
4. Indeed we pick and choose. First we cherry-pick our supporting scripture, then we nit-pick those who find alternative truths in them.
5. I believe that when God said, Thou shalt have no other gods before me, that would have included the bible. I have good friends who go so far as to believe that a certain rendition of the Bible is the only true Word. So far as I know, English was not yet invented at the time of the writing of scripture. Yet try to tell these folk that James I meddled to the extent that he told the scholars how he wanted certain passages to read.
Well, well. “When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be!”
Great comments vanilla. Maybe you should have written this post? :)
DeleteNo. Your post was outstanding. I didn't mean to co-opt your space.
DeleteYou are kind sir!
DeleteI think that we belong to a mutual admiration society. :)
Enjoy your perspective as always.
ReplyDeleteThanks Susan. Appreciate you.
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