Tonight at 7pm – Spirit on Tap at the Doubletree Hotel – How Atheists, Secularists, and Humanists Live Without Faith. Come and eat early at Cheers – Parking is free as long as you register inside.
Today’s Thought – Reading the Bible for What Isn’t There, Part 2
Anyone who has experienced me in church knows that the Gospel of John is my least favorite Gospel. There are many brilliant and amazing parts, but the writer didn’t seem to know how to edit. One of my all-time favorite stories, however, is in John 4. Jesus is sitting at a well in a foreign land around noon and there is a woman alone getting water. His disciples have gone to run errands, so Jesus is enjoying the quiet. He engages with this woman who is a stranger to Him (no-no no. 1), and she boldly interacts with Him (no-no no. 2). His conversation is about Him being Living Water for eternal life, and she wonders if He is the Messiah. Jesus then tells her about her life, that she has been married 5 times and the man she is living with now is not her husband. She goes to her town to tell the story, becoming the first evangelist in this Gospel.
When I have conversations with people about living together before marriage, I tell them this story. What isn’t there is condemnation. By moralistic standards of that time and most times since, Jesus should have said, “Bad lady! He needs to put a ring on it!” Or maybe, “What is wrong with you, hussy? Why can’t you keep a man?” While this unnamed woman may have defined herself by her marriages, or lack of it, Jesus saw who she really was – a child of God! She wasn’t a sinner – she wasn’t wayward woman – she wasn’t bossy – she was loved for who she was – a child of God! Jesus doesn’t define people as lepers or prostitutes or demonically possessed; Jesus sees us as Spirit-kissed, flawed, yet beautiful creations of the Almighty. If you read the vast majority of laws and commandments in Scripture, they are human opinions. What we wear or eat or drink – Jesus didn’t care. Who we love or hang out with or care for – Jesus wanted all the sheep tended to. It is people who turn Jesus into an uncaring and malicious judge, not God. Jesus as judge isn’t in there very much either.
In the last year alone, I have had dozens of conversations with “bible believing Christians” about the Bible, and they almost always trot out Scripture quotes that aren’t there or are at least out of context. I point this out by using their Bible (which they always have and like to wave around but rarely read, it seems – I open it and crack the binding). They think that sodomy means homosexual. It doesn’t. They think that maiden means virgin. It doesn’t. They think that the word men includes women. It doesn’t. The vast majority of the Bible was never meant to be taken literally, but all of it should be taken seriously. And it isn’t meant to support what I want it to say, but what God needs it for – to teach and gain wisdom and find a deeper connection with God and each other. The Bible isn’t a weapon, it’s a tool, so let’s stop using it as an instrument of torture and start using it as a way to heal our brokenness.
Prayer – Holy God, thank You for the words of wisdom and challenge and regret that Your Scriptures bring to us. And for the brains to think about what it says. Amen.
Today’s art is “Inside the Ark” by Nancy Alexander. Look! Dinosaurs!