The Bible

I recently read an article in the Telegraph about Nobel Prize-winning Potuguese author, Jose Saramago. Apparently he had created quite a stir by saying that we all would be different and better as people if it weren't for the bible, denouncing it as a "handbook of bad morals." While I totally disagree, I can sort of understand where he's coming from, because over the centuries people have used the Bible to endorse almost every kind of evil behavior imaginable: slavery, male dominated societies, antisemitism, war, killing of native peoples and hating homosexuals for example. Yet it has also inspired countless others to start schools, universities, hospitals, charities, clothe and feed the poor, care for the sick, bring justice for the oppressed, and bring freedom, peace and love to the world. So what are we to do with the Bible?
The Bible never refers to itself as the word of God. It couldn't since the Bible is a collection of 66 or 72 books compiled in 382 AD. In fact the words that some Christians use to describe the Bible ( infallible, inerrant, absolute) it never once uses of itself. Even if every single word is divinely perfect, people cannot agree on what it is that God is actually saying and still have the ability to make it say what they want it to. Many want the Bible to be an answer book with exact details for every question we may have; or a rule book that makes objectively clear what behaviors are right or wrong for all time, in all places and amoung all cultures. But the problem is, to “Just do what the Bible says” is a far too simplistic and ignorant approach. It must be wrestled with, questioned with humility and understood in the context of the time, place and the reason it was written.
The Bible is true and to be trusted, but as Brian McLaren says “We need to reclaim the Bible as a narrative. The Bible is a story, and just because it recounts (by standards of accuracy acceptable to its original audience) what happened, that doesn't mean it tells what should always happen or even what should have happened.” Reading the Bible as a narrative helps us see the ongoing story of God at work in a violent, sinful world, calling people beginning with Abraham into a new way of life.
To read the Bible for what it is, is to realise that it is inspired by God to benefit us in the most important way possible: helping us relate to God and to benefit others, so that we can play our part in God’s ongoing mission on the earth. It is certain that God speaks to us through the Bible, and it is the most valuable resource we have in forming a relationship with Him. It is a treasure above all others not because it is perfect but because it leads us to the real "word of God" which is Jesus.

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Last month I was privileged enough to get to hear my all time favorite author speak while he was in Australia. I was most challenged by a story he told centering around his experience at a Christian youth camp. He had asked the kids to tell him all the issues their friends were most concerned about and their response was things like: Climate change, extinction of species, aids, terrorism, world food shortage, etc. He then asked them to tell him all the major issues their church was focused on. They said things like: How and when the world was going to end, style of worship, electric guitars and drums in church, speaking in tongues, ordination of women, getting people to come to church, money etc. Ever since, he has been greatly troubled with the fact that the second list has absolutely nothing to do with the first. His point to the audience was “How is this possible when the mandate given to those who follow God was to be a blessing to all nations? Surely if Jesus was here today He would have something to say about the things that most concern the people of the world.”
He went on to show us the 4 major crises in the world at the moment:
1.The crisis of the PLANET – We live unsustainably and are destroying the earth as a result;
2.The crisis of POVERTY – The small percentage of those who have the resources are getting richer, while the majority who have nothing are getting poorer;
3.The crisis of PEACE – Tensions are mounting between the “have's” and “have not's” resulting in increasing conflict around the world;
4.The crisis of PURPOSE – Instead of actively resolving the above crises, the worlds main religions are actually making them worse.

President JFK once said, “We have the means to end world poverty...all we lack is the will.” Religion has let us down in this regard because instead of painting an incredibly compelling and beautiful picture of the way life was meant to be, it has become distracted and consumed with pursuing selfish things which has only added to the worlds problems.
We need to understand that Jesus didn't come to start a new religion, but to tell a very different story about how this life was supposed to work. The simple reality is that the message of Jesus really is as relevant and needed today as it has ever been and it speaks straight to the heart of all 4 crises. Jesus transforms hearts and minds and so deals with the core issues of pride, greed, consumerism, materialism, selfishness, and evil...not by condemning us, but by appealing to who we were meant to be and calling us into a higher place where we have the opportunity to join Jesus' revolution of love to the ends of the earth. This leads people not to do what is best for themselves but what is best for everyone. This is the hope for the world