Loving the Bible for what it is, not what I wanted it to be

I'm in agreement with Rachel Held Evans on a blog post she wrote titled loving the Bible for what it is, not what I wanted it to be.


I used to think the Bible had clear answers on most, if not all issues. That if all Christians would simply read their Bibles we would agree on everything.

It turns out many people who disagree with each are often ones who do read their Bibles. There are many topics where we find the Bible can be used to support different positions.

I used to call the Bible the Word of God.

I now realize that the Bible calls Jesus the Word of God. The Bible does not refer to itself as the Word of God.

I used to think the Bible was basically written by God.

I now recognize that the Bible doesn't really teach this. 2 Timothy 3:16 is often used to support the idea of Sola Scriptura. Yet when Paul was writing this, our New Testament Bible was not put together as one volume yet. Some of the books were not even written. Was Paul referring to the Old Testament books here? I'm not sure we should assume he was referring to the letters he was writing, and a collection of books the church would put together some 200+ years later.

However I do believe the Bible was written by God's people, and that it is the best record we have of God's working in and with His people.

I used to believe the Bible taught that nobody should add more to it, that it was God's final words to mankind.

I now recognize the New Testament is not arranged in chronological order, and was not considered one volume in the early days. Rev 22:18 would not have been referring to the collection of Books we call the Bible. I'm not suggesting there is a Bible volume #2 that we need to read. But God is still free to speak to us today.

I used to believe the Bible was scientifically accurate when it came to the accounts of creation.

Now I admit I'm not sure. There are many Scientists who are also Christians who have studied this topic more than I have. Many can be found on either side of the evolution debate. I wasn't there for the earth's grand opening. Neither was Moses or whoever wrote Genesis. Science has been wrong before, maybe they are wrong this time. I don't know. My faith doesn't hinge on this one.

But I do love our Bible. I agree with N.T. Wright that God's authority is expressed through our Scriptures, and that the Bible teaches God is the final authority.

Related Posts:

• Review of The Last Word - by N. T. Wright
  
• My 95 Thesis - Point 8 - Sola Scriptura
• Word in you
• Word Study on The Word
• Word study on Word of God
• Word study on Word of the Lord
• My 95 Thesis - Point 7 - Magic 8 Ball