# 4- Revisiting The Bible

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Bible! Nothing. The problem is with the people who misinterpret it. How many ways can we interpret the Bible? Well, to name a few: literally, historically, metaphorically, progressively (process theology), religiously, denominationally, systematically, and a combination of many of the above. While the Bible is sacred to me as it is the BOOKS that those of my faith have chosen to canonize (regardless of the manner in so doing), I come at it with my mind open, and my Spirit awakened. In so doing, I realize the flaws, errors, and various genres within which it is written: all of which has allowed it to continually come alive without having to defend stories and things that were not prose, but poetry; not fact but futuristic; not literal but lesson-filled. How about you?

Beyond being UNIQUE which we covered yesterday, the Bible is a WITNESS!

Can I get one?

As John 20:21 says in my paraphrase words, The Bible written, the acts were recorded, the stories were told, the canon was so adopted, that we might believe that Jesus was the Son of God, and that by believing in him, and following Him, we might have an abundant life. It’s a witness to Jesus who became the Christ, and so much more.

It’s NOT a science book, nor a history book, nor much less a manual on ethics (though there’s some of all of that within it). Let’s use it rightly. And if we will let it, the Bible will move lead us into the sure ground of faith and out of the marshland of religious fantasy!

Unfortunately, I believe that Cardinal John Henry Newman was right when he wrote, “The Bible is a collection of ancient documents that is full of inaccuracy, incoherence and uncertainty, and it initiated an examination of the Biblical literature by scholars all over the world more radical and unsparing than has ever been applied to any other literature anywhere. And the results has been that it’s left the church with the embarrassing question of how to deal with this, its sacred book.”

Too many have been in denial of the findings.
Too many have concocted insane, nonsensical defenses- that aren’t.
Too many have said that one just needs to BELIEVE!
Too many have not cared and have refused to defend their beliefs.

But the truth is that those who find fault, errors, and non-literal stories, find an incredible WITNESS regardless! The Bible testifies as to how one man (Jesus, the Christ), could turn the world upside down, rewrite history, escape death, and witness a love the world had yet to WITNESS! It’s a WITNESS to the activities of God in relation to man, from several cultures, over many centuries, with on-going and never-ending relationship.

And it is left up to the church and to each individual to state and define what that WITNESS means and is saying. The Bible isn’t a work of doctrine, ethics, nor ecclesiology; but rather, the RAW material from which each of us must draw our own conclusions. We can do it within a denomination, a local assembly, a community of believers, or an extended family, but we can’t do it ALONE!

You can’t just pull off one of the pages the doctrine of the trinity, atonement, incarnation, or second coming. Most of those words aren’t even IN the Bible. Most of those concepts have been formulated by the intellectual pursuits and conclusions of MAN in the form of various CREEDS!

The Bible does not preach itself, but basically WITNESSES to the activities of God as seen in historical events and in the lives of mostly historical people (Adam not being one).

Tomorrow, we’ll look at the PROCESS of the Bible and then move on to other matters of the Bible.

Hang in there, but whatever you do, start to STUDY (not just reading) the Bible. There’s lots of help for anyone so needing.