If I were asked to provide a list of my favorite books, I would never include the Bible. I have a couple of reasons why the Bible would be omitted. For one thing, it makes me face things about myself that I’d rather not; when I read the Bible or hear it recited, I struggle like a patient undergoing a painful procedure without benefit of anesthesia. For another, there are lots of passages, lots of sections, of the Bible that I find repellent morally; why I have to keep turning to it is that the words and deeds of Jesus are remembered there by the first people who heard and saw them, and his character is painted there by the first people who encountered it. And I feel compelled to turn to him again and again in Scripture as in life. If he were not there, I would view the rest of the Bible as a compilation of writings that included the good and the bad, wisdom and foolishness, but no more important or compelling than any other writings ancient or modern that do the same. But the inclusion of Jesus as a subject forces me to come to grips with the rest of the Bible, and struggle to understand it as whole that does not deny or neutralize what attracts me to him.
Happy 4th of July to those who celebrate.
If I were asked to provide a list of my favorite books, I would never include the Bible. I have a couple of reasons why the Bible would be omitted. For one thing, it makes me face things about myself that I’d rather not; when I read the Bible or hear it recited, I struggle like a patient undergoing a painful procedure without benefit of anesthesia. For another, there are lots of passages, lots of sections, of the Bible that I find repellent morally; why I have to keep turning to it is that the words and deeds of Jesus are remembered there by the first people who heard and saw them, and his character is painted there by the first people who encountered it. And I feel compelled to turn to him again and again in Scripture as in life. If he were not there, I would view the rest of the Bible as a compilation of writings that included the good and the bad, wisdom and foolishness, but no more important or compelling than any other writings ancient or modern that do the same. But the inclusion of Jesus as a subject forces me to come to grips with the rest of the Bible, and struggle to understand it as whole that does not deny or neutralize what attracts me to him.