The Bible

THE WORD
They called it Vacation Bible School. Almost every church in town had one and almost every kid in town attended. Every parent that wanted to be considered as decent made sure their kids were there, often after a struggle of course, but they were there. Maybe it had nothing to do with appearing as good parents, maybe it was just the relief at having something to occupy the kids all morning for a blessed week in the summer.

Bible School was a week of Bible stories, mostly from the Old Testament since that was where the big war stories were.

We also built a lot of lopsided bird houses by sawing the wood from orange and apple crates with a beastly device called a coping saw. I think that device’s sole purpose was to teach us how to cope while we were too young to cuss.

Each morning we marched in by age groups for a regimented opening assembly. We started each day saluting the American flag, the Christian flag and of course the Bible.

I pledge allegiance to the Bible
God’s holy word
And will make it
A lamp unto my feet
A light unto my pathway
And
Will hide its words in my heart
That I might not sin against God.

Thus, began my indoctrination that led to years of bibliolatry. I worshiped the book more than the person the book was about, somehow thinking the book had magical powers unto itself. Just quoting scripture healed all pain and problems and reading it always resulted in spiritual growth. It was the lamp unto my feet and the light on my pathway and somehow quoting it kept me from sinning.

Now before you start making sure your matches are dry and you have a stake and a bonfire handy, let me assure you that I love the Bible. I find it to be a remarkable and even miraculous book. I own two very old Bibles; a King James version printed in 1622 and a Cambridge version printed in 1615. The Cambridge version was used by the Pilgrims. Since King James persecuted them, they wanted no part of his book. There is no other book ever written that would still be relevant that long after it was published. A miraculous word inspired by God but not meant to be worshiped.

I overheard a friend of mine ask a class, “What is the word of God?” The entire class gave the same answer almost one hundred percent of us would give. “The word of God is the Bible.” My friend said, “No, Jesus is the word of God,” And quoted the first verses of John’s gospel,

In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God,
And the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory the glory of the Father
full of grace and truth.

That skinned my eyes and suddenly I saw the Bible, the Christian life and my own commitment in an almost blinding new light.

On the surface it seems like just a problem of semantics to say Jesus is the word instead of it being the Bible, but if the Bible is the word of God then everything written there is of equal value. The teachings of Jesus are just part of a whole and often ignored for other teachings.

Seems to me we ignore the teachings of Jesus more than almost any other part of the Bible. His teachings are far too hard and demanding. Who wants to turn the other cheek or forgive enemies? I sometimes think we talk a lot about Jesus but very few of us really like Him. I sometimes want to write, “I know Jesus said these words, they would have a lot more weight if Paul had said them.” The Baptist trinity seems to be The Father, the Book and the apostle Paul.

If the Bible is the word, then every jot and tittle of it must be true. We end up spending most of our time trying to prove its inerrancy and arguing over who believes it the most.

Part of the drive to prove the Bible true comes from our own need to be right. We have all heard versions of, “God said it, I believe it, that settles it” which really is a very poor statement. It should read, ”God said it, that settles it whether I believe it or not.” But there seems to be a need for us to have absolutes to cling to and if we can prove the Bible is absolutely true with no doubt and we believe it then we are absolutely true as well.

So there had to be a literal flood, and the earth had to be created in seven days or our faith falls apart and we have nothing to believe.

If Jesus is the Word of God, then His teachings become primary. He becomes our final authority and, “What would Jesus do?” is no longer just a question of Christianity it becomes THE question each of us must ask.

This does not diminish the Bible or reduce its importance in any way. The holy spirit uses the Bible to teach us and lead us as we try to follow and live like Jesus taught and exampled for us.

If Jesus is the Word of God, then proving every jot and tittle is not as important. Our faith does not stand or fall in Genesis One, nor in a flood. Our faith stands or falls in the person and work of Jesus Christ. I no longer have to worry about the flood. I have always wondered what Noah fed the meat eaters on the boat. Now I really don’t care. I can live with a statement I heard recently, “The Bible is true and some of it happened.” It should not threaten our faith If God chose to use allegories and legends to declare the coming Messiah.

The truth is no one believes the Bible cover to cover. We believe the parts we understand or agree with and explain away the rest. For example, look around next Sunday morning and see how many women are in church with their heads uncovered. Paul, yeah that Paul, said women should have their heads covered in church. We simply ignore that, but we are watching the Methodist rip their churches apart because Paul said men should not sleep with men. I have never one time had anyone wash my feet even though Jesus said we should wash one another’s feet.

Seeing Jesus as the word of God does not lessen the Bible’s value or meaning in my life, but it does allow me to see the gradual revelation in a more meaningful way.

To me the old testament is a picture of failure. It is an honest account of man trying to understand a God they saw as prejudiced, vicious, angry and distant. He was prejudiced against everyone except the Jews who saw themselves as His chosen people. He was so vicious He wanted them to destroy their enemies and run harrows over their bodies; so angry they were constantly trying to figure out what it would take to appease Him which led to animal sacrifice even when the prophets told them God did not like the smell; so distant that only the high priest could come into His presence only on special occasions. The story is of the failure to see and understand God.

In the middle of this chaos and misunderstanding there was the ever-present message of hope that a Messiah was coming. God would reveal Himself.

The New Testament is the celebration of victory. The word of God is here in the flesh. He is the revelation of who God is and how He loves. God is just like Jesus even on His bad days.

LEAVING WELL ENOUGH ALONE
I think Jesus boiled the whole of the Christian faith down to two words. Those words were, “FOLLOW ME.” He used those words when He called his disciples. He used words that said the same thing over and over as He taught and lived among us. I cannot think of any words to add to those two. When He said them, He said all He needed to say, but it seems to be impossible for mankind to leave it at that.

We always seem hell bent to add to and enhance any simple message. We also seem horrified at allowing folks to follow God as led by the Holy Spirit within themselves. We just can’t leave well enough alone.

God gave us ten commandments, ten very simple statements that reveal what is necessary for a society to exist.

The chisel that carved those statements into stone was still hot when men started trying to define each statement and figure out how to determine exactly how to be in compliance according to the ones doing the deciding. They wrote rules to the level of the absurd and then wrote even more loopholes to the rules they wrote until the actual commandments became lost in a sea of words.

Surprise, surprise, we did the same thing to the teachings of Jesus. He established a way of life, we turned it into a system of beliefs. As soon as He left, they began writing definitions and applications and judgments and comparisons between sins.

Then they began institutionalizing the faith. We dare not let mere men make their own decisions and of course no woman could even try.

Jesus said He would send His spirit to live inside of us and teach us about the sin of not believing and trusting Him, about what righteousness means and the responsibility each of us face and will face when we are called to give an account of our lives. That did not seem to be adequate we must have some preacher tell us how to follow or how we are failing to follow.

I fell in love with the Quaker concept of each person having an inner light and that God through His Holy Spirit certainly using the scripture talks to the individual’s inner light. Life altering decisions almost always happen inside of us.

If Christians would lay aside our theological arguments and pet text and just accept the individual responsibility of living and loving like Jesus, we could transform the world. He said if He was lifted up, He would draw all men to Himself. It is time to stop arguing and to start loving. Time to stop proving and start living the gospel.

To me the pledge should be:

I pledge allegiance to Jesus the Christ
God’s holy word
and will make Him a lamp unto my feet
a light upon my pathway
and will hide His words in my heart
that I might not sin against God.
Nuff Said