The Bible:  Handle with Care!

One of the most frustrating aspects of church life and ministry for us pastors is the cavalier way so many people approach the Bible itself.  For every diligent and serious student of the Scriptures we come across, we can show you dozens who…

• Keep their Bible “safe” on a shelf, collecting dust and never being studied (much less questioned or pondered). It’s a holy “talisman,” a type of religious icon that is revered in a superstitious way, but seldom – if every actually read.
• Have a fairly short list of “favorite verses,” that are the “go tos” in practically every life situation. (Whether they actually apply to those situations or not.)
• Or have a Bible that is used as a “go along” with the latest or favorite contemporary teacher. These folks can tell you everything that John Piper, Beth Moore, John MacArthur, Rick Warren, Joel Osteen or Joyce Meyer thinks and says on almost any given subject… But have an amazing difficulty actually arriving as what THEY themselves think any given passage in either Old or New Testament means.  (Especially those “hard” passages that almost defy our attempts to make sense of.
• Those who (thankfully are a small but vocal and destructive group) use the Bible as depicted in the photo above right. It’s a weapon, a holy hand-grenade used to blow up the ungodly sinners that these folks wish would just go away.  They can espouse a single verse with laser accuracy to condemn any kind of “unrighteous” behavior.  (Which is usually any behavior that they themselves disagree with.)  When faced with the actual context of any given verse, they show an astonishing ability to either not care or not admit this type of Scriptural weaponization.
• Or those most likely to leave us scratching our heads: These are those who can read a verse, passage, chapter or entire book… then somehow manage to convince themselves – and anyone else who will listen – that what they’ve read supports a point of view that appears to be completely at odds with what most teachers, theologians, and serious Bible students think it means.

All of which miss the actual point of why we were given the Bible in the first place.  Whenever I’m asked “Well, what do YOU think the Bible actually is?”  I don’t need a second thought:  “It’s our “meta-narrative:  It’s the “over-arching story that tells us both who we are… and WHOSE we are.”  Everything else is cultural overlay.  (And dear Lord, do NOT get me started on those who try to tell us the Bible is our “computer manual” for the Christian life or the “rule book” in the game of Christianity!)