I doubt that there is anyone who is completely comfortable with everything the Bible says. Honestly, I have to say that if you are, you probably haven’t studied it enough.
For some it’s the ethnic cleansing passages in the Old Testament? You know, the ones where God commands the killing of every living being, in some cases even the animals.
For others, it’s a certain passage that supports a doctrine they aren’t comfortable with. I actually had some people get upset with me from reading one of the Psalms that talks about worshiping with instruments since our fellowship does not use instruments in worship.
For others, it may even be a command they don’t wish to follow or an outlook on life they wish wasn’t there. Visit the Conservative Bible Project for one group’s creative response to this problem. Don’t like what the Bible says? Change it!
Some would like more straightforward statements on controversial issues. Don’t make us wonder about whether or not Adam and Eve had navels… tell us straight out! End the discussions over predestination and trinitarianism and pacifism and…
What if that were possible? What if you were given the authority to make changes to the Bible? (No, you don’t need to quote the end of Revelation to me. This is merely a thought exercise.] In what ways would you change the Bible? If you were given the chance to design the perfect holy book, what would it look like?
Tim, I would not change a word in the bible, but I do try to change the minds that read it. First off if we get out of the mindset that God’s Spirit wrote the different writings that, man chose to make up the bible, that would be a start.
Add a preface to the reader straight from God. That way you are leaving the text as it is, you are just adding something where God tells us how we are to read, understand, interpret, etc these scriptures. We come up with our own rules of interpretation that are usually at least decent. But it sure would be nice for God to specifically lay that out for us.
Interesting Matt, I’d like that too. A couple of thoughts. 1. People would want one more Preface to the preface. 2. We have some of that. Don’t add or take away. 3. You’d almost have to have an preface to the various books. Revelation is not like the O. T. and Song of Solomon is not like Romans. 4. No matter how simple God makes it people still don’t apply the scripture honestly. God Gave the Jews 10 commands and the debate them so much so that the altered what it meant to honor your father and mother. etc.
I used to be one of those people who wanted all my questions answered; wanted everything explicitly explained in scripture.
As I get older, I’m considering the results of a theoretical “How I Did It and How You Should Do It – by God” version of the Bible.
And I keep coming back to a line in a “Star Trek” episode, in response to the suggestion that troublesome tribbles should be sold with an instruction and maintenance manual. The merchant, Cyrano Jones, replies: “If I did, what would happen to man’s search for knowledge?”
I think we’re meant to puzzle over scripture so that we’ll spend some time with it, meditate on it, draw our own conclusions about God’s eternal, just, merciful nature from it.
I would (SHOCK) agree with the first part of laymond’s comment: I’d rather change the minds of folks who read scripture. I strongly disagree with the second part of his comment (no shock there). Discounting the Spirit’s role in breathing God’s word into the writers (and later, readers) of scripture can lead to a pick-and-choose approach to it – and all kinds of heresy.
I would present every occurance in the NT of “spirit” with small case “s” which would allow the reader to make his own determination as to what spirit is meant. We have been led for centuries by translators who imposed their theology upon subsequent readers.
Didn’t Thomas Jefferson actually do that?
Great question, Tim, and one to which I’ve given a good deal of thought. First, since I accept completely the claim that the Bible is God-breathed literature, I must say that it is just what God wanted. Thus, the things I think would make it better seem that way because I do not understand all of God’s purposes. His thoughts are not my thoughts.
However, from my perspective, I really wish the Bible had a clearly stated “plan of salvation” telling people in one place and in simple words what is needed to have sins forgiven. Also because worship is such a controversial and divisive matter, I wish God had told us exactly what he does not want in worship, what he does want in worship, and what is left up to us as to whether or not we include it in our worship.
Finally, I believe the New Testament puts restrictions on the role of women in the worship and leadership of the church, but I wish that were not so. If I were writing the Scriptures, I would have no distinctions based on gender. However, I am not the author and I need to defer my opinions to what God has breathed out to the inspired writers of Scripture.
I wish Jesus would have written a few things down. I also wish more of Paul and Peter’s letters would have survived antiquity.
I’d like to address the hard text issue. I agree with Keith, that “I think we’re meant to puzzle over scripture so that we’ll spend some time with it, meditate on it.” God ordained the hard texts just as much as He ordained the “easy” ones and all for a purpose. John Piper talked on this once and laid out four things God unleashed with the Word: Desperation, Supplication, Cogitation and Education. And I would consider all of these things gifts of grace. In short,
1.Desperation (A sense of utter dependence on God’s enablement). We see this in 1 Corinthians 2:14, “A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.” We need help and we all should feel desperation – a desperate dependence on God’s help. That is what God wants us to feel.
2. Supplication (Prayer to God for help). If you feel dependent on God to help you see the meaning of a text, then you will cry to him for help. We see this in Psalm 119:18, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law.” Seven times in one psalm the psalmist prays, “Teach me your statutes” (119:12, 26, 64, 68,124, 135, 171). Or as Psalm 25:5 says, “Lead me in thy truth, and teach me.”
3. Cogitation (Thinking hard about Biblical texts). First, praying and thinking are not alternatives. We learn this especially from 2 Timothy 2:7, where Paul says to Timothy, “Think over what I say, for the Lord will grant you understanding in everything.” Yes, it is the Lord who gives understanding. But he does it through our God-given thinking abilities.
4. Education (Training young people and adults to pray earnestly, read well and think hard). Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2, “What you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” In other words, the writings of the apostles -especially the hard ones – unleash generation after generation of education. Education is cultivating the life of the mind so that it knows how to grow in true understanding.
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In addition, I think God is glorified when He is the topic of conversation as opposed to The Bachelorette or whatever else it may be.
In other words: I wouldn’t change a thing.
Two things, first I would ask God to share with us how he wants us to view Scripture. We have made a mess of things with our CENI mindset. Second, I would much appreciate God sharing more information about his grace for our live. The Lord knows if it weren’t for His grace my life would be of little value. Thanks for the question and the thoughts.
Thanks to everyone for some really great thoughts. I’ll share some of mine in tomorrow’s post.
Grace and peace,
Tim Archer
John, what do you mean by “in worship”? Do you mean in an official assembly (whatever that means…)? I looked up today how many times the word worship appears in the NT and how many times it is associated with “official” assemblies… Interesting result.
First I’d remove all those verses that condemn the use of instrumental music in worship as well as those verses that elevate silence on a matter to the level of doctrine. Then I’d take out all those verses that forced us to spend years of sermon time condemning everyone else but “us.” I think I might finish up by removing those verses that prove once and for all we are the only ones saved. Otherwise I’d leave it alone.
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