A Case For The Bible
- bordenmscott
- Oct 26, 2022
- 9 min read
A lot of families make it a point to have their children learn a second language. I chose to do part of my schooling in French immersion, as many Nova Scotian kids do. Even though I’ve rarely needed those French language skills in the years since I think it was time well spent. It's about perspective. Different languages choose different approaches to describe things, they have different turns of phrase, and different words for specific situations or feelings, some of which have no equivalent in other languages. Being bilingual or multilingual doesn’t just allow you to speak differently, it gives you some insight into a different way of thinking or seeing the world.
This is one reason that I would encourage people to learn to speak Bible. I don’t mean ancient Greek and Hebrew (although if you do go deep enough into learning the Bible you’ll start to interact with its original languages more and more). I mean that I see a lot of value in learning the different perspective, different vocabulary, and different vision for humanity and society that are found in the Bible.
This "second language" could be especially valuable at a time when our culture looks to me like it is becoming unmoored from shared principles. I hear people talk about valuing freedom, but they seem to be talking about a “me first” autonomy that isn’t actually principled. I used to hear more talk about tolerance, but not so much lately. As progressive and conservative groups retreat into their ideological bubbles about the only thing they can agree on is that they shouldn’t tolerate each other and the harmful ideas they each hold.
There are a lot of reasons I value the Bible, but one of them is that it offers me a vision that is larger than what I want versus what you want. It tells a story of what it means to be truly human, where we can live at peace and all gain without our good coming at the expense of someone else. And the Bible shows us what shattered that ideal – our determination to live on our own terms instead of abiding by God’s definition of good and evil. Thankfully the Bible also extends an offer to be part of setting things right in this world, starting by turning to Jesus for a new spiritual life that begins our journey back toward being the people that we were created to be.
Those sorts of people have principles rooted in an unchanging God. Principles like upholding that all people are image-bearers of our creator and worthy of dignity of respect. Or that self-sacrifice and service is the good and godly posture to adopt in all our roles and relationships. Or that humility and grace should characterize those who belong to Christ.
These are some of the things that I feel ought to become clear and vitally important to people who are fluent in “Bible”. And along with this should be a growing knowledge of how to approach God in order to ask for the help and strength to live this way and to repent when we inevitably fail to do so from time to time.
But we’re not living in a time of much Bible fluency. For many people the Bible is an old book of superstition and myth that supports bigotry and oppression and violence. And that’s not a view people necessarily arrive at out of ignorance, it’s also the impression that non-Christians get about the Bible from the way that some especially aggressive Christians express their views. (I preached about the Fundamentalist or Biblicist approach to the Bible and some of the abuses that can flow from it in this message from last year.)
We can’t expect normal people (also known as non-Christians) to have a sense of what the Bible actually is and says if Christians don’t. And lots of Christians don’t. They may know what their favourite preacher or Christian celebrity says, or what Christian radio or conservative news says, but it’s not clear that much effort is going into wrestling with what the Bible says.
In last week’s post I mentioned some recent data from the “State of Theology” survey which showed a serious weakness among churchgoing Americans in understanding who Jesus is. If you missed it you can read about how the original heresy of Arianism seems to have overtaken orthodox Christianity in popularity.
But this week I’m focused on the Bible, and answers given in the survey for the Bible were also interesting and somewhat inconsistent.
On one hand, respect for the Bible is very high among the people surveyed. When I filtered to get the answers for the most active churchgoers I found:
87% agreed that “the Bible is 100% accurate in all that it teaches”
88% agreed that “the Bible has the authority to tell us what we must do”
And 94% agreed that “the Bible is the highest authority for what I believe”
But, oddly, 42% also agreed that “the Holy Spirit can tell me to do something which is forbidden in the Bible.” That doesn't fit with “the Bible is the highest authority for what I believe”! And that’s before we get into all the ways that the strong showing for “the Bible is 100% accurate in all that it teaches” doesn’t jive with the majority of people who said “Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God” among many other things.
It sure looks like the Church (or at least the chunk of it I’m most connected to) has done a good job of convincing people that they should respect and obey the Bible without teaching them how to use and understand it. For certain celebrity or authoritarian Christian leaders that might be a feature, but to me it’s a very serious bug.
In this week’s message I focused on the distinctive Baptist belief in “The Authority of the Scriptures” and tried to give some answers to the questions “what is the Bible?”, “what is the Bible for?”, and “can I trust what the Bible says?” I won’t recap it all, you can check it out here.
But I did promise that I would offer some methods and resources to those who would like to grow their understanding of the Bible, learn how to read the Bible, start actually reading the Bible, or use the Bible to more intentionally seek and connect with God. So here are a few options that can do a lot to help anybody learn to speak a little more Bible.
1) “How To Read The Bible” from The Bible Project: https://bibleproject.com/explore/how-to-read-the-bible/
This excellent video series walks through questions about what the Bible is and how to understand the different types of literature found within it. All the clips are relatively short (typically 5-6 minutes) and beautifully animated. Here's the first one to try to hook you ;-)
The Bible Project website (and their App which you can download) also has many other videos, podcasts, blog posts, Bible reading plans, and more. Here’s a blog post on how to get started engaging with your Bible: https://bibleproject.com/blog/3-easy-ways-engage-bible-help/
2) The Bible App from YouVersion. https://www.youversion.com/products/
YouVersion’s Bible App is one of the most popular around, and it includes a variety of Bible reading plans and devotional plans you can access. The same content is also available on the Bible.com website, and there is a Bible app for kids as well.
3) Bible Gateway https://www.biblegateway.com/
Bible Gateway is a great spot look up Bible passages in a wide variety of translations and has a good search function if you’re looking for a specific passage or topic. Bible Gateway also lets you sign up for many different Bible reading plans and devotionals that it will send to you via email each day, which can be a helpful reminder in a convenient place to access them.
4) Lectio 365 from 24-7 Prayer https://www.24-7prayer.com/resource/lectio-365/
The website for 24-7 Prayer has some resources on prayer which are worth checking out, but I’m more familiar with their app called Lectio 365. The App offers a morning and evening devotional experience which encourages prayer and the reading of different portions of the Bible. This isn’t about Bible knowledge primarily, it’s about seeking and connecting with God. You can read along on your own, or the App will play the readings and you can sit back and listen.
5) Sacred Space https://www.sacredspace.ie/
Sacred Space’s website and App (I know, everyone has an app!) offers a simple devotional for each day that uses a main scripture reading followed by some reflection questions for a short devotional opportunity.
6) The Divine Hours, by Phyllis Tickle.
I thought I’d better put something in that wasn’t digital, so I’ll endorse the Divine Hours series of books by Phyllis Tickle. These books provide several readings for each day that use a combination of scripture readings and prayers that you’re encouraged to use at different times through the day. These books are available from various retailers. And while there’s no App this time around, Phyllis Tickle (who has now passed) does have a website with some writings on some of the prayer and devotional practices and other recommended resources: https://www.phyllistickle.com/fixed-hour-prayer/
7) A few resources on the reliability of scripture.
I spent some time on this in my message this week so I thought I should follow up with a few other places you could go to learn more about reasons that Christians believe the Bible is trustworthy and accurately reports on Jesus’ life and ministry in particular. This stuff can be a rabbit hole that leads to unending counterpoints and counter-counter-points online, but here are a few spokespeople who know their stuff you could start with if you want to learn more.
First is a shorter (~7 minute) summary about the reliability of the New Testament from apologist William Lane Craig:
Here is a podcast episode from one of the most popular Christian podcasts called Theology In The Raw. Episode 1014 is a conversation with Biblical scholar Dr. Daniel Wallace. It's about an hour long, so good for a drive or chore time! This link should bring it up.
And one longer video to wrap this up - here is an interview with leading New Testament scholar NT Wright about the resurrection of Jesus and reliability of the New Testament.
Mid-Week Devotional:
Let's start with a Bible passage. Read it through once and then you can pick one of the four ways to approach it found in Adele Calhoun's Spiritual Disciplines Handbook.
Mark 10:46-52 (NIV)
46 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.
51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.
The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”
52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
Ways to study this passage (or any passage)
1) Artist Method. (Requires that you be willing to write/draw in your Bible!)
Read a passage of Scripture, considering three questions as you read:
What speaks to my heart? Draw a heart beside the word that speaks to your heart.
What new thought or idea comes to me? Draw a light bulb beside the new thought or idea. What does Scripture move me to do? Draw a hand beside the action you want to take.
2) Detective Method.
Read a short narrative passage from one of the Gospels. Let the story take shape in your mind’s eye. Imagine the scene. Observe all the facts. Ask the who, when, where, what questions. Once you have the facts, interpret the facts. Ask the why and wherefore questions. What meaning did the actions have for the characters? What meaning do the actions have for you? Then apply your study to your own life. Ask how will this change my life? What do you take away from the story?
3) Treasure-seeker Method
Treasure-seeker method. When reading Scripture consider the following application questions: Is there an example here for me to follow? Is there a promise to claim or a command to obey? Is there a truth to be applied? Is there a prayer for me to pray? Is there a sin to be confessed? Is there a question God is asking me?
4) Jesus' Apprentice Method
If you are unfamiliar with Scripture and don’t know where to begin, choose one of the Gospels and study to discover all you can about Jesus. Ask yourself the following questions: What seems important to Jesus? What sort of questions does he ask people? What sort of questions do people ask him? What is Jesus inviting me to be and do?
Prayer (Jacob Astley (1579 - 1652)
Lord, help me to realize that you will be speaking to me through the events of the day, through people, through things, and through all creation. Give me ears, eyes and heart to perceive you, however veiled your presence may be. Give me insight to see through the exterior of things to the interior truth. Give me your Spirit of discernment. O Lord, you know how busy I must be this day. If I forget you, do not forget me. Amen.
And a song to see you out. God bless you this week!
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