How Do You Look at God's Word? part 3

Do you pick and choose what commands, examples, or inferences from the Bible you follow? In the past I would have said, "Of course NOT." I have since come to realize that if you don't follow all of them, then you pick and choose. Maybe if we used the terms suggested by Scot McKnight, which are adopting and adapting it would sound better but it's the same process. The question I have been asking myself is, "Why and how do I pick what I pick and why and how do I choose what I choose?" Scot McKnight lists five different "short-cuts" people use to try and understand the Bible in his book "The Blue Parakeet - Rethinking How You Read the Bible." In my opinion these are not a good basis for your adopting and adapting.

1. The Bible as a collection of Laws. This method does have some basis as there are lots of laws in the Bible. Moses gave the Israelites 613 laws by some counts. Having a list of do's and don'ts makes it easy to know where you stand and where others stand. It is even easier when you can pick and choose the laws you want to follow, and of course you pick the ones you can follow. In short, law book readers tend to become self-righteous and look down on others who can't follow their particular set of "God's Laws." Did someone say Pharisee? This doesn't mean laws don't have an important place in God's story. It is just that they are not the whole story.

2. The Bible as a collection of blessings and promises. This way is another extreme but in a different direction. There are calendars that list a different blessing or promise for every day and books that promote a "Health and Wealth form of gospel." They seem to be saying that all you have to do is believe in Jesus and you will be happy and everything will be great. This is a very superficial type of faith. It seems to ignore the real life stories that make up God's story. For example, David often experienced mountain top moments but also spent time in the lowly valley of doubt as in Psalms 22:1 "My God, My God why have you forsaken me?" It is comforting to know the blessings and promises of God, but we must also realize that we live in a broken world and some days are tough.

more next time - shalom