Disclaimer for legalists, nit- pickers, and self-righteous prudes: The author of this post is secure in his Christian faith, is certain he knows Jesus, has no doubts about his salvation and believes the Bible to be “the only rule of faith and practice.” Your knee- jerk reaction to the contents of this post is neither warranted nor requested. In fact, it is strongly discouraged. Go back to your bubble and stay there until Jesus comes back.
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get down to business. It may surprise some of you to learn that the Bible didn’t always have leather binding, gold pages and red- letters. It didn’t spring forth out of the Jordan River a whole and complete work while angels sang “Holy, Holy, Holy.” It was written by human hands, inspired by God yes, but penned by dirty, grimy human hands. It was written on normal paper produced by humans. It didn’t fall out of the sky and wasn’t delivered by Gabriel in God’s handwriting.
Don’t get me wrong, I think it is the most important set of documents in the entire world, and I believe it is the truth from God. However, it is a vessel that God used to communicate His truth. It is not an item to worship or hold on a pedestal. Hold it in high esteem, yes, but please don’t make it an idol held on the same level as God himself. If you do that, you lose the message contained inside.
The message is so real and so rich on its own. It doesn’t need the gold pages to stand out. That’s not the style of the Bible. It was written in very common language for common people to understand. Don’t believe it? Do a little research into what the “ filthy rags” mentioned in Isaiah were used for. Even better, do a little research into what Paul meant by the word we commonly translate as “rubbish” in Philippians 3:8.
The Bible was for all and was written for all, in a language its original readers and hearers could understand. It wasn’t meant to be placed on a mountain top. In our modern Christian culture, we’ve done that, and have in many ways made the Bible itself into an idol. Want more? Even if you don’t, here’s a little list of what the Bible isn’t, and what it is.
What the Bible isn’t:
- A rule book.
- A book about religion.
- A religious artifact to be worshiped.
- A book of rules and regulations.
- A tool to gain, remain in, or abuse power.
- A magic pill.
- A normal book.
What the Bible is:
- A communication tool used by God to send his message to people.
- The stories of real people, archived so that real people would read them.
- A perfect and good God’s explanation of the world for imperfect people.
- An explanation of sin, judgment, love and grace.
- A description of the reality behind what we perceive in this life.
- A guide or roadmap, forever leading the creation into the arms of a loving creator.
- A measure, showing who we are, who God is and the space in between.
- The story of the world, from the perspective of its Creator.