As a Christian, I aspire to be a reader and lover of the Bible.
In today’s intellectual climate, even in the climate of my present company, very few people believe the Bible. While excerpts and allusions from the Bible feature in almost every course reader at university, people seldom turn to the Bible for answers to life’s pressing issues. However, its my contention that its especially Christians who don’t believe in it.
While I don’t seek to start an online theology debate, it is unfortunate that even for those who profess a belief in Christ (or any other faith that adheres to the teachings of the Bible, for that matter), the Bible is rarely consulted on its own terms, that is, as the divine the Word of God. Instead, Christians have this peculiar habit of treating the Bible on their terms:
- as a sourcebook of collected wisdom that is best quoted rather than read and meditated upon
- as a prescribed text for the course called “Christianity”
- as a manual containing the necessary guidelines to fit in with the Christian community
- as an abstract ideal in their minds that never actually materialises as something that needs to be read
- As a demi-god that can be consulted whenver the need arises.
In the speak of literary theory (a la Stanley Fish), the Bible is used. While this isnt a bad thing, it certainly does not amount to “believing” it.
What would Christianity look like if we “believed” the Bible? I think the following things might occur
- People wouldn’t be so anxious about defending the Bible, as if its legitimacy were dependent on how convincingly it was argued.
- People would delight their hearts in the typically dry, boring sermons that were faithful to the text.
- People will expose shallow preachers who merely use the Bible to advance their own theses.
- People would cease talking about making the Bible “relevant”.
- The phrase “applying the word to our lives” would be discarded and replaced with “applying our lives to the word”.
- People would read the Bible from cover to cover a little more
- People would not just treat the supposedly “contentious” passages of the Bible a little more contextually, but the whole book.
- People will be more humble about what they (don’t) know
- People will probably be treated a little less politely, but respected a little more for being consistently true to themselves and what they believe
- People will grow to love Jesus more
