The message above recently appeared on the sign outside a church in my neighborhood. I’m hard pressed to think of a message that more perfectly encapsulates all that is wrong with modern American conservative Christianity. It’s this perspective–one of extreme biblicism and hyper-individualism–that has led to virtually every misstep taken by the modern Church.
Though it might seem pedantic, it’s important to clarify what the issues with this message are:
The Bible wasn’t written by God. It was written and edited by a variety of human authors over hundreds of years. God may very well have inspired theses texts (in any number of ways), but he certainly didn’t sit down and take pen to paper in order to write you a letter.
The Bible isn’t a letter.
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The writings in the Bible were written to, for, and by specific individuals and communities for specific reasons. These texts all have cultural and historical contexts that are often vastly different than our modern circumstances. To try and read any of the Bible as if it is in fact a direct message to you is to ignore the true meaning of those texts.
All of those points should be relatively uncontroversial, but unfortunately many Christians regularly perpetuate beliefs to the contrary, holding up the Bible as a magical book which just so happens to absolutely support their idiosyncratic beliefs.
None of this is to say that the Bible shouldn’t still be enormously important to Christians. It is our central text and should continue to inform and guide our faith and practice as Christians. In this regard, I agree with that notorious proof-text for inerrancy, 2 Timothy 3:16, which says “all Scripture … is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” That verse (ironically not penned by Timothy) doesn’t prove biblical inerrancy, but I think it’s correct insofar as the Bible is indeed useful for teaching. Even those passages that we may find problematic–whether historically or morally so–can still offer valuable insights into the nature of our
A literature work will always portray an important message to their readers; in the case of the Bible would be its teaching values. Since there are different interpretations of messages that readers can conclude from reading the Bible; the professor William H. Bishop portrays on his article “The Genesis of Values in Genesis” the interpretation according with the Christians, “The Christian worldview is predicated upon biblical teaching and interpretation. It is the foundation for family values. These values are prevalent in the Book of Genesis and are what comprise the family unit, the decline of which is eroding the values given by God”(Bishop,2015). According with the professor, the Christians see the Genesis book as guide to learn the values of a family which is the message of this literature work piece .However, portraying a message is not what Literature is all about. Literature is a written work that would produce some type of effect on the readers. In this case, the effect is that when Christian readers will learn moral value and they will practice them in their everyday life; as professor Williams states: “The Christian worldview is a means of interpreting the world through the teachings, concepts and principles in the Bible and taking action based on that interpretation. Furthermore, it incorporates values commensurate with that worldview, for example,
The reasons for it being human is like Kuhn states in his title “The Bible as Conversation”, to have conversation there is a human component. Also there are human authors to the Bible, and each one puts forth the type of story they wanted to communicate. There is also divine intention, God has intentions for us to be his people, but as Kuhn emphasizes, “Divine intention is reversed by human intercession.” This meaning, God’s divine intention can be changed or intersected by human conversation. As in Exodus 33.17, “The Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing that you have asked; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” This was after the Israelites had gone against God’s command about not setting other gods before him and not making an idol for themselves. And then, Moses had gone before God to stand up for the Israelites, to have God show his mercy on them. Conversely, an example of the Bible as divine would be 2 Peter 1:20-21, “First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” Here what the Bible is mainly saying is we are to read the scriptures as God wrote them, and that it is all “God breathed.” I feel Kuhn has it right though, because to have divine intention by God there must also be a human component. This being,
The Apostle Paul states, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16, NIV). He also reminds Christians that, if
People, specifically in the U.S., have gone from viewing the bible as “The absolute, unchanging word of God,” to, “A collection of guidelines, allegories, myths, and stories useful for good living. Offensive versus must be igno...
There is much debate over the accuracy and the inerrancy of Scripture. Pertaining to this debate there exists an underlying question as to whether or not the New Testament is considered part of the canon or for that matter if it is actually given by the inspiration of God. How did the books that are in the New Testament get there? Who decided which books should be added or taken out? Do we have all the books that we should have? Many ask these questions, but Christians are ill equipped to give an answer. For centuries, Christians have claimed that they have the absolute truth, are saved only by faith, and claim the Scriptures as inspired by God. In spite of these claims many Christians are not able to clarify the origins of what they place all of their faith upon. The questions asked above are profoundly significant since they have eternal consequences. They have consequences because in order to trust and obey God there must be certainty in the accuracy of God’s Word. This testament will attempt to answer the question: How Do We Know The New Testament is God’s Word?
Even though humans wrote the text, translating it and passing it down from generations to generations, God’s truth is unchanging. Debates of the inerrancy of the bible cannot usurp God as the King of grace. Instead of focusing on the inerrancy of the Bible, individuals who wish to seek a life of faith should focus on the inspiration God is showing them in his word. These revelations should move them into applicable, daily life changing implications from what they have learned. God shows revelations of himself through the Bible, and his character is revealed time and time again throughout scripture. Any faulty facts or discrepancies in grammar or data, should not take away from the value that scripture holds. When we read scripture we bring new meaning of interpretations of the truths God shows us, since new eras and environmental factors will be influential on how we process information. The bible is not just a fact book, telling humans stories of the past, but instead the bible is inspired instructions for how we can deal with spiritual and ethical encounters we
My initial reaction to watching “ For The Bible Tells Me So” was feeling confused. I was confused because all the things I was taught was being challenged with a different point of views. Several bible verses about the acts of homosexuality that was mentioned in the movie were shedding a different light on my understanding. Also, I feeling like I can relate to a statement Chrissy Gephardt said, she knew of two things that were an abomination, suicide, and homosexuality. I was aware of those labeled abominations too but never did and depth research to see if in fact those were true statements. I felt a slight trigger of feeling sadness. I felt sad because there are so many people that base their negative decisions on how to treat LGBT people
The bible, also, condemns many aspects of our current day society and allows for slavery. Rather than taking the bible literally, one should consider the historical context and then adjust to today’s norms.
The Bible is our textbook life, and it also places a high value on doctrine. God wants us to know important things, and gave us the bible to help, and guide us. Unfortunately, many Christians know very little about the Bible and its Christian doctrine. We believers put our interest in other things, and know a lot about things that do not matter. In Romans 6: 1 introduces us to the major doctrines of the Christian faith.
The religious fundamentalist’s misuse of the bible to support and entrench those beliefs. Again he broadens the opposition’s malicious intent while illuminating a marked history utilizing the same design and misuse of the bible as a weapon of control. He goes on to say “that it is the same Bible that antifeminists use to keep women silent in the churches is the Bible that preaches liberation to captives and says that in Christ there is neither male nor female, slave nor free” ( 346).. He goes on to note more of these idiosyncrasies, which make his point very
The nature of Scripture and the authority of Scripture are two characteristics carefully entwined in such a way that creates an impossibility for them to not affect each other. They directly influence each other. Evangelicalism, Liberalism, and Neo-Orthodoxy all have differing views of the nature and authority of Scripture. Evangelicalism takes up the view that the Bible, Scripture, is infallible (Lane, 2006, p. 255). Scripture is God’s word and is therefore fully truth (Lane, 2006, p. 256). People under Evangelicalism equate Scripture with God’s spoken word, and they believe that though God and humans are both authors, the human author was divinely prepared by God to write out His word (Lane, 2006, p. 257). They believe that “the Bible is the supreme authority for faith and practice” (Bingham, 2002, p. 162). Liberalism takes a different view on the Scripture. In Liberalism, religion is “nothing but feeling and experience” (Lane, 2006, p. 238). This reduces the authority and value of Scripture. Scripture is not seen as God’s word or His revelation but as a written record of the experiences of humans, which takes away from its divinity and authority (Lane, 2006, p. 239). Schleiermacher, the father of Liber...
Thiselton, A.C. (2005). Can the Bible mean whatever we want it to mean? Chester, U.K.: Chester Acadamic Press, 10-11.
the Bible were “God - breathed” making each a Word from God and not the words of the
And how do we do that? Thankfully, God in His infinite love for us, left us a love letter that we call 'the Bible' - in order to enable us to get to know Him. God personally inspired every single word of the Bible into the minds and hearts of those who wrote them.
The bible is what helps keeps our faith alive as it contains a rich amount of history that tells us of God’s revelation and the ways how our faith works. Although the bible contains numerous works of different people, it is still a work of God that helps our faith remain constant and grow, as everything written was under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In some way, I was able to understand the value also of the other books, as before I did not really take interest of the other books included bible, aside from the likes of the Gospels, Genesis, Exodus, Psalms, and Proverbs. Nevertheless, I realized that the books are all part of the bible as each has a purpose to serve and stands as a testament to the infidelity of humanity, and of God’s unfailing love for