Response To The Bible

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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. …show more content…

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

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