I have long maintained that I take the Bibles seriously, but not literally. What that means is that I read the English version (and some of the Greek), but I don’t read Hebrew, nor do I or anyone else in the world have the original writings of each book and letter. Also, Greek and Hebrew do not have punctuation, so every comma, quote, etc that is in there was placed by someone who believed they belonged there. For these reasons alone, we cannot read the Bible literally, and therefore it cannot be inerrant. Is it still good for teaching, learning, and reproof? You betcha! It just isn’t perfect. If we can learn to let go of this idea of Scripture as perfect, we might be able to talk about God more easily.
This week, a woman who, for reasons unknown, has been receiving my daily emails, politely asked if I could remove her from the list. She said that my daily thoughts on God make her feel like her head is going to explode! Why? Because she is a Trump supporter and a conservative Christian. I told her I had no problem with that; just don’t blame one on the other. She said she believed God had chosen him. I said that God doesn’t choose anyone to lead – in America, we the people do that. She believes that the Bible is perfect and that everything that happens is based on it. Okay – next. This is where we have to stop the conversation. Read the Bible, I beg you. Your opinion might change.
The Bible says that women should keep silent in church – I say, keep talking. The Bible says slaves should remain as they are – I say that slavery is evil. The Bible says same sex relationships are wrong – I say that David’s love for Jonathan surpassed that of his love of women. The Bible says a lot of things that are beautiful, and a lot of things that are wrong. Once we admit that to ourselves, we can begin to take the Bible seriously. If it is perfect – without error – then all of it is of the same importance. Which means that the contradictions are unsolvable. Which makes studying this precious conglomeration of writings impossible. Read the Bible with a curious mind. It will change your life.
Prayer – Holy God, thank You for the words that have been – and will be -written to guide our faith. They are precious. Amen.
Today’s art is a very important Hebrew text (1QSa/1Q28a) discovered in Cave 1, as part of the Dead Sea Scrolls unearthed in 1947.