Readings: Psalm 119:105-112, Isaiah 5:13-24, 1 Timothy 4:9-16, John 7:37-43Preached at First Presbyterian Church Baldwin, NY, July 11th 2010
I would be a very rich man if I could have a dollar for every time somebody told me that they had ‘read the bible’. Young and old, Christians, Muslims, atheists, agnostics, people of all faiths and people not even sure what faith might be have looked me in the eye and told me they have read the bible.
Quite often the fact of their reading is accompanied by some comment about a section of the Bible that they had found particularly difficult. An Old Testament passage that seemed to justify genocide. Something Paul wrote that made him a woman hater. Or maybe simply the comment that they just didn’t get all those laws and lists and in any case how could we take seriously a book that begins by contradicting science and telling us the world was made in six days? Isn’t it all just myths and made up stories?
When I press for more details as to what particular book within the Bible they are referring too I’m often met with a blank stare or a dismissive shrug of the shoulders. If I really press the issue I sometimes discover that they hadn’t actually read about the problem they are talking about in the Bible itself, but in a book somebody had written about the Bible or even in some work of fiction such as the ‘Da Vinci Code’.
And as to what people mean by ‘reading’ I’m not always sure. By which I mean that I have read Lord of the Rings, the Harry Potter series and a number of Shakespeare’s plays but in each case I could hardly quote you chapter and verse. I can recall incidents and characters and maybe give you a general overview but not enough to qualify me as an authority.
Indeed some of the opinions I could offer would be insights I’d picked up during school days or from things I had read or seen on TV. Some of those comments may be reasonably accurate, others just an educated guess, and others just plain wrong.
If one goes on the Internet you can find so much material that relates to the Bible that simply to trawl though it all is an impossible task. You can find sites that will list for you all the mistakes and contradictions and faults with the Bible and find those who will claim to authentically explain every sentence in more detail than you could ever have imagined.
As with any belief related topic on the internet much of the information is… let us say… less than accurate and subject to no moderation other than the bias, prejudice and pet peeves of the authors. Likewise with radio and television. If it’s on TV it has to be true. Right?
A lot of people tell me they have read the Bible. But, as I say, I wonder what they mean by having ‘read’ the Bible. It’s not that I have a problem with folk reading the Bible… in fact it’s a practice I strongly encourage. The problem is that often on the basis of a rather cursory reading they are under the impression they have become an expert and are in a position to tell others either about its irrelevance or its validity.
The Bible, after all, is not a book like other books. It is a collection of 66 individual books that in written form span at least 3000 years, with the oral traditions that lay behind those written forms going back to times we can only guess at, maybe thousands of years earlier.
And those books are not the product of any single author nor do the books belong within any single genre of literature. There is myth, saga, poetry, history, drama, regulations, genealogies, prophecies, dreams, visions, letters, and gospels to name but a few. And every single word was written in ancient languages that most of us don’t speak and within cultures that are not our own. The Bible is not the sort of collection of books that you can just pick up, skim the pages and then claim to have ‘read’ with understanding or depth.
And then there is the peculiar role of that thing we call ‘faith’ in our understanding of the Bible. Some in our day are particularly hostile of the word ‘faith’ implying that it is akin to ignorance or a prelude to justifying unjustifiable actions. Some see ‘faith’ as the most arrogant of all claims, particularly when it comes to ancient written words.
When we say ‘We believe in the Bible’ are we simply implying that “Our Books are right and all others are false!” What right have we to claim that our religion is better than any other on the grounds that it is so simply because we say that God says that it is so and that be the end of the argument? In a rational world that sort of nonsense makes us a laughing stock.
However… there are certain things we can say about the books of the Bible that make perfect sense. Firstly, that the various authors of the variety of books are united by a common theme that we could describe as “One on One experience of the Divine.” Their experiences are not all the same, neither do they all reach the same conclusions about what the nature of God may be, but their claim is to have encountered God, some to greater degrees than others.
It is therefore reasonable to suggest that if there is a God, and there are people who throughout the centuries that have encountered that God, then their experiences may well mirror experiences that are recorded in the books of the Bible. Should we wish to encounter the Divine a good place to start would be by looking at those experiences and seeing if they resonate with our own. If we seek “One on One experience of the Divine” then examining the books of the Bible should help us.
But why not just look in any spiritual volume? Well… the Bible is different to other religious works. It differs from works such as the Koran and the Book of Mormon as it does not claim to be an individual revelation to any one person at a given point in time but contains the voices of many folk, from many ages. I personally am more inclined to listen to the joint testimony of a number of witnesses rather than one persons claim to special revelation.
The Bible is also different from collections of Hindu or Buddhist or other scriptures in that the books that Bible contains are what we call ‘canonical’. In its earliest centuries the church defined which books should be considered part of Scripture and which books were excluded. The process by which that happened and the criteria by which individual books were evaluated is a study all of its own, but such is part of the bibles unique nature that sets it apart from other spiritual works. What’s in it is in it for a purpose.
Furthermore the Bible has had a profound influence on our language and thought forms and the images we use to communicate to one another. Its words are deeply ingrained in our own words and our own culture. Often people are surprised to learn that some contemporary sounding phrase such as … “Chasing the Wind” … has its roots in biblical literature.
Likewise biblical morality and law…the greatest example being the 10 commandments… have been a bedrock against which we have sought to discern what is right and what is wrong. The Bible is like no other book in its composition or in its influence.
To return though to my original thoughts about reading the Bible… how do we seek to understand this complicated, sometimes seemingly contradictory, collection of carefully crafted spiritual insights, that spans generations and whose source is from numerous cultures and circumstances?
Being Presbyterian I would suggest the most positive thing we can do is take on board one of the reformer John Calvin’s insights. He suggests that if we seek to hear God through Scripture then we also need to seek God through prayer. Calvin goes as far to suggest that without the influence in our lives of the Holy Spirit who inspired the authors of scripture than we can never understand their words. He speaks of the Holy Spirit as the spectacles through whom the Scriptures come into focus.
I recall in my own spiritual journey struggling to understand how these ancient words could possibly have anything to do with my modern life. Then a friend asking me, “Did you pray before you read the bible?”. I didn’t. But I started to. And things began to become clearer. It made sense to open up to the One who inspired the authors in order to understand what they were trying to say. So… yes … prayer should be part of the process.
But it still remains a formidable task. As I said at the start there’s a difference between having a cursory knowledge of what the Bible may contain and actually understanding and applying its lessons to our life. And there are all those bits, which we may never fully understand, and about which greater minds than our own have still not come to any conclusions. The Good News is that we don’t have to know it all and understand it all to gain benefit from reading it. We can start where we are.
And where I am right now is to say that this sermon is really an introduction to a series of sermons I’m going to preach over the next few weeks. One way of understanding the overall message of the bible is to examine repeating themes that weave in and out of its many books. So over the next weeks I’m making my theme “Repeating Themes” and I’ll touch on a few of the repeating themes of the Bible.
One theme is that of “Creating”. From beginning to end the Bible speaks about the Divine initiative that brought all things into being and continues to renew and recreate our life.
Another theme is that of ‘Covenant”. Time and time again God seeks to enter into a relationship of accountability with both individuals and communities of people. And time and again people betray their trust in Him… but always God’s side of the equation remains intact.
A third theme is that of ‘Dying’. In book after biblical book death is not pictured as the ultimate calamity it seems but rather as a way of transformation. Nothing new comes till what has gone before passes away.
A fourth theme I want to look at will be “Living”. Throughout the Bible a distinction is made between simply existing and really living.
A final theme will be that of “Calling” and we’ll look at who God calls and what they are called to do.
But all that is to come! For now let me conclude by inviting you to take the Bible seriously. Don’t be fooled by those who have skimmed the surface and then dismissed it. Don’t focus on the bits that are hard but seek to understand the truths God wants you to understand right now. Be prayerful in your approach to Bible reading and it will make all the difference. It makes sense to ask God’s Spirit to help you understand God’s Word!
Finally recognize what a unique collection of spiritual knowledge is offered to you through the 66 books of the Bible. Centuries of wisdom and knowledge that has been tried and tested and found to be genuine awaits our discovery. May God help us rediscover His Word in our own day and in our own way.
To God’s name be the glory. Amen.
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