I was recently asked by my younger sister, "Do you know what the Bible stands for?
I was naive enough to say something like, "It is the story of God's creation and redemption of the world and how we fit into that story." apparently that wasn't the answer for which she was hoping. She replied, "No, Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth! Isn't that neat!" Attempting to keep my eyes from rolling to the back of my head, I answered in the affirmative and began thinking of how best to respond.
Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth, right. No, this misses the point. The Bible is not simply a primer to prepare us for heaven. It isn't just some book that we consult in an effort to make ourselves fit for heaven. Thinking of it this way misses the point. I see two major flaws with thinking of the Bible in this way:
1. The Bible has things to say to us about life, no just what happens after we die. Consider Jesus' instructions concerning how we are to relate to our neighbors: clothe the naked, feed the hungry, soothe the suffering, care for the orphan and the widow (those without anyone to care for them). It would be quite difficult for you to accomplish these things after you die. The fact is, Jesus spent comparably little time discussing what we call heaven, choosing instead to instruct the disciples in temporal matters.
2. Thinking of the Bible as an instruction book is both limiting and misleading. Any close reading of Romans will remind us that legalism leaves us short of the glory of God. Instruction books very carefully lay out a step by step plan for making things come together just the way they were planned to come together. Thinking about the Bible this way leaves us sitting on the sidelines of life, waiting to find exactly what the instructions say concerning tub calking.
I don't know if I can come up with a preferable acronym for the Bible. (I'm open for suggestions, leave a comment. Best entry wins . . . a jar of Ohio air) I don't really think that it needs an acronym. Not every component of theology needs to fit on a bumper sticker.
About Me
David and Peter
This is me with one of our Togolese hosts, Pastor Peter
Tractor Sunday
My first time driving a tractor, and yes, that guy is making sure I don't break anything.
Robyn and David
This is one of my favorite pictures of Robyn and me.
ONE Campaign
1 comment:
ahem.
I think Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth refers to the basic instructions that JESUS gave US, before HE left Earth. He is the unnamed subject of the above phrase, not us (but I'll be nice and not ask you to translate that into Greek, with proper tense, case, and what-not). :) Might we be glimpsing a little human-centeredness here? ;)
And I think the Bible is God's instruction book. It's not legalistic and it's not step by step, but it does answer the question, "How then shall we live?" does it not? It IS more than just a story book. Story books are primarily for our entertainment and leisure. Parables take stories and weave moral lessons into them. And the Bible? It tells us our story, and indeed the story of Everything. But this story that we find ourselves in, and the book about it, are not merely meant to be entertaining or to inspire positive, happy, content feelings in us. The story and the book describing it, are also a giant parable and a lot of instructions, showing and instructing us how we ought to live out our lives in this story.
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