We are often most disappointed or disillusioned with something when it fails to live up to the hype. So that latest tv show you have been told is a must see turns out to be slow and boring so you lose trust in the persons opinion. The band that are the next big thing play repetitive generic music and you feel the disappointment. The new political leader with charisma and charm who will change the world and save us all turns out to be the same as all the others so you decided never to vote again.
Or that book that you were told would solve all your life’s problems.
That you just needed to read and it would give you all the answers you ever needed.
That if you used the handy index at the back would give you a sure fire solution for fixing any issue.
And you read it, wrestled with it, searched the index and found it never really did what you were told it should do. So you put it down, lost trust in it and those that said it was the answer and walked away or maybe just left it on the bookshelf as an ancient relic with no use today. Because you were promised so much and it just didn’t do what you were told.
To quote Pete Enns “The problems we encounter when reading the Bible are really problems we create for ourselves when we harbour the misguided expectation that the Bible is designed primarily to provide clear answers.” The church (particularly in the west) has spent a lot of time telling us that the Bible works a particular way but when put to the test in the reality of everyday life this turns out not to be the case.
So it isn’t a user guide or instruction manual. What is it then?
Words we might of heard or used ourselves to describe it included Holy, inerrant, infallible, inspired, perfect, clear, and sacred.
If I asked you to describe it now I am sure some would use other words like confusing, outdated, questionable, weird and at times horrifying.
Pete uses three. Ancient, ambiguous and diverse.
Ancient – it is really, really old! It deals with things that happened over thousands of years ago. If we forget that this is an ancient text we allow it to become familiar and we lose sight of the significant differences (and sometimes similarities) between then and now. The questions alone that these ancient people were asking and the world that influenced them is very different from the one we live in today.
Ambiguous – We have already established that the Bible isn’t a helpful cheat sheet with all the answers to all life’s questions laid out in an easy to follow system. It very rarely tells us out right how to deal with a situation (there may be the odd occasion). What it does do is offer us a collection of books containing everything from poems to stories to long lists of people and we are invited to work things out as people of faith.
Diverse – The bible is written by a whole load of people, in fact even individual books are often the work of a number of people. These people all have different voices, lived at different times and had very different lives. This diversity means that sometimes writers disagree with each other… sometimes (I’m looking at you Proverbs) a verse can put forward to completely opposing views.
These things aren’t problems to be solved but instead invitations for us to approach the Bible in a way that opens us up to the conversations that are taking place between God and his creation. Conversations that at times can be contradictory and confusing and at other moments inspiring and revolutionary. How we approach them is the important bit.
So, if we expect the Bible to be a user manual then we will always be disappointed. If we approach it as an ancient, ambiguous and diverse book that brings us the stories of God’s relationship with people throughout the centuries and seek to use wisdom to help us seek what is happening and hear what God is saying. Then maybe we might discover that the Bible has something to say to us.
Questions
What book, film, tv show, band, artist, politician have you expected so much of and been left disappointed?
What words or phrases have been used to describe the Bible to you in the past?
What words or phrases would you use to describe it now?
What do you make of the words ancient, ambiguous and diverse?
How does seeing the Bible as more of a mystery to be solved rather than a user manual, help you? or not?
What do you hope for by the time we get to the end of this theme? (probably in June with guest posts and other bits in-between as well)
Photo by Expect Best from Pexels
Has been a part of BeachcomberFX since his arrival in the North East in 2014. He is well travelled (at least in the UK) having lived in Manchester, Nottingham, Derbyshire, Southport, Doncaster, Berwick and Edinburgh. Supporter of Newcastle United, will watch any sport.