the bible
A friend of mine emailed me a few weeks ago, and said, “I want to know all about the Bible, can you teach me?” My first response was, “I don’t know everything about the Bible, that’s why I love it so much.” So he made a list of questions, thoughts and feelings about it, and I read them over. Then we finally hung out last week.
I told him, that rather than start with the list, we should start with the Bible itself. Is this a book that is even worth looking at for any answers? I mean why spend the time asking questions about it, if it is not even worth it? Why are we asking questions of it? How should we approach it? All of the questions surrounding the Bible … this is what we should wrestle with first.
The Bible is an amazing thing. It is more than a book, it is the very Words of God, in fact it is God (See John 1). Many people feel threatened by that, and with good reason. People have misused the Bible for 1,000’s of years to oppress, murder, and exclude and claim “godly authority” while doing so. What if this idea was not a threat, but something that was inviting? Something that invited us to experience, test, doubt, question, trust, enjoy, and search something that engaged us, all of us.
The Bible says of itself that it is living and active. The Bible is not a static record of ancient events, an “owners-manual” or a list of rules that if we obey we can spring ourselves into heaven. Rather it is a collection of God-Inspired writings that present us with deep mystery surrounding the deepest truth … God Himself.
This I find inspiring. I am engaging with a living thing. Even more than that is something that is engaging others. So much has been made about "understanding the Bible" … wars have been fought over this, people have died because of it … it is a big deal. But, have we ever thought about how big the truth of the Bible is? Have we ever thought that if the Bible is a living thing then there may be more than one way of engaging it? As with any living thing, there are truths that are eternal, and we must operate within that framework. For example, if you are friends with me and your interpretation of me is that I am platinum blonde, and 6 feet nine inches, you are wrong … although there are days where I wish you were right.
Like this the Bible has framework of truth that we have to acknowledge, but within that framework if a beautiful landscape of understanding, interpretation, meaning, and mystery that calls us to study, learn, discuss, and ultimately engage with our lives. It is so much more than being right, having "the tough answers to today's tough questions", it is even more than having "achieved full understanding." It is looking into the eternal. This is the place that my friend and I are. So now, as we look into the Bible to find answers we do so together, from two different places, looking at the same living truth … our goal? Not to come out with all of the answers to all of life’s mysteries. Rather, to allow the Bible to engage us as we engage each other, and move us forward in living our own lives. What this looks like remains to be seen.