Better Ways to Read the Bible 1

Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us. - 2 Timothy 3:16-17, The Message

If all scripture is inspired, what do we do with the strange parts, the violent parts, and the parts that seem to enshrine patriarchy and the misuse of power?

Zach Lambert in his excellent book, Better Ways To Read the Bible, points out how NOT to read scripture. For many of us, this is a first step. On Wednesday we’ll look at the positive side of how you can read scripture in better ways.

The big picture of Zach’s teaching is that we each have lenses through which we see the Bible. None of us come to it unbiased. This is really important as we think of those who taught us the Bible early on (for those of us from religious backgrounds). In particular, there are four very unhealthy lenses that many of us were taught were normal. Here they are:

The literalism lens: “The Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it.”

The apocalypse lens: “It’s all gonna burn anyway.”

The moralism lens: “Well, that’s not biblical.”

The hierarchy lens: “Submit to authority as you submit to God.”

Do you recognize any of those in yourself? Where did you pick it up? How does it influence you today?

Take some time to talk with Jesus about these things.