How Will This Make a Difference?
If you have been participating in our congregation's attempt to read through the Bible in a year, "An Invitation to Read the Bible", you may be wondering, "Why?" While there have certainly been some inspirational and uplifting passages, they have been few and far between. Most of our reading in Genesis dealt with the dysfunctional families of the patriarchy and their endless genealogies.
Exodus offered little relief. Apart from the occasional - "Oh, this is what they were talking about in 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'" - moments. The endless details of the tabernacle were a tad laborious. Not to mention, all of the blood imagery was more than a little repulsive.
As I write, we are well into the book of Leviticus, which promises little relief. Did you ever think there could be so many different kinds of offerings and so many rules about how to offer them? Actually, perhaps not so many rules, but so much repetition of the same rules for each offering. As hard as it is to read Leviticus, imagine trying to live by these laws!
So why are we putting ourselves through this? I have a few thoughts to offer, but I would love to hear yours, as well.
As I have been mentioning the past few Sundays, we are a people of the Book - the Bible. This can mean different things to different people. Nevertheless, to begin to have some understanding of what it means to be "people of the Book", it is important to have read the Book.
If you have read the Book, you will find it difficult to accept the claims of those who say the Bible has one author and is inerrant. The repetitive nature of many passages, and the contradictions within, all support the theory that the Bible was derived from multiple sources. For example, if Moses was the sole author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible), how did he write those verses about his death?
If you have read the Book, especially the accounts of polygamy, incest, and harlotry that seem to go uncondemned, you understand that "getting back to a biblical view of marriage" is a little more complicated than it sounds. Even in the first few chapters, it is pretty clear. The Bible is a book concerned more with faith than with morality. While the two are not mutually exclusive, some of the most faithful people in the Bible, leave much to be desired morally.
If you have read the Book, and though you may have more questions than when you began, hopefully, you will have a better understanding of your place in the glorious history of the salvation of God's people. For me, this is the point. To see our lives and our life together as part of something greater than anything we might imagine.
If we take nothing else from our reading of the Bible, I hope we can see a little more clearly the love of God that has claimed our lives in the process of bringing salvation to the world through Jesus Christ. This is why we are putting ourselves through this. The invitation to read the Bible is an invitation to participate in God's saving work in the world through Jesus Christ.
See you in church!
Pastor Myers
revhaggis1@hotmail.com
