Maybe There Aren't Any Wrong Ways to Read the Bible
Thoughts On My convo w/ AJ Levine (Episode 139)
I used to think there was one way to read the Bible, but over the last 5 years or so I’ve really embraced the idea that the Bible has many faces.
Right?
Richard Rohr once spoke of ancient Rabbi’s who said that the Scriptures are like diamonds in that every time you turn them so that the light hits them from all different angles something different and more beautiful and stunning is revealed.
At the caution of many people from my former (Evangelical) tribe, I’ve wholly embraced this idea and have given myself over to the surplus of meaning that we find in the Biblical text.
It might mean one thing to you.
It might mean another thing to me.
And both might be vastly different than what the original writer actually meant.
BUT.
The Evangelical voice still lives inside of me and so every once in a while when I got to share a blog post or a Facebook post or a podcast episode.
I don’t know.
It’s kind of like that voice of caution rises up inside and says, “are you sure about this? Maybe this post or this idea is the one that is too far down the slippery slope.”
As I was chatting with AJ, though, I found myself relieved that someone at her level …
A New Testament Scholar.
A professor at Vanderbilt.
The author of a number of books.
The editor of a Bible.
… Agreed with me and validated where I was and what I was thinking. I love her response to my question about there being many WRONG ways to read the Bible, that perhaps there aren’t any WRONG ways to read the Bible, but maybe we just think they’re wrong because we haven’t taken the time to ask where the person came up with the interpretation or idea that we feel the need to drag into question.
Ahh yes. We’ve heard this many times before, haven’t we?
Sort of very Brian McLaren-ish, right? He spoke of living in “harmony” on the episode we did earlier this year. And even Sebene Selassie who talked to us about “belonging” and how we can increase our sense of belonging to one another when take the time to understand the story behind why someone is they way that they are. Once I see that YOU have a story that brought you to where you are just as I have a story that brought me to where I am, I’m able to feel more connected to you even if I adamantly disagree with your thoughts or positions or ideas.
Hm.
And so a question I’ve been asking myself this week is, whose ideas about the Bible do I most aggressively disagree with?
*Gulp.*
John Piper?
John McArthur?
Franklin Graham?
Sean Feucht?
And the people who lift them up on an altar of praise?
Perhaps it’s OK to disagree with them and see them as wrong, but perhaps their interpretations aren’t WRONG as much as they are a product of their lives? Their upbringings? Their experiences?
AND.
Maybe if I can put myself in their shoes and see that they have a story just as I have a story and all of our stories have brought us to where we are today and how we understand God and faith and the Bible … then maybe I can stop seeing my understanding as better than theirs and, as a result, sort of bring us all to the same level playing field of being a human being trying to figure out how to walk with an invisible God and understand this mysterious collection of books called, “the Bible”?
I’m not saying it’s easy to do, but perhaps it’s one many different ways forward? Because disagreeing and fighting and creating dichotomies clearly isn’t working.
Happy to hear some thoughts.
✌️
Glenn || PATREON || BUY ME A COFFEE
NEW AT THE HERETIC SHOP. 👕
NEW BLOG POST. 📖
We’re doing a series for Lent called, “God Never Said.” I might share some thoughts once a week or maybe every other week. Not sure yet, but the goal of the series is to push up against people’s comfort zones, bring them to the brink of wondering if maybe the things they have been taught to be certain about are actually filled with some uncertainty, and to challenge them to “give up” their certainty regarding certain ideas and doctrines and theologies for Lent and beyond.
This week is called, “God Never Said the Stories of Jesus Are Literal”. Here’s an excerpt …
“How can we say that the stories of the Gospels are 100% factual when the earliest Gospel we have (the Gospel of Mark) was written somewhere between 35 and 40 years after Jesus died? And the latest (the Gospel of John) some 70 years after Jesus died?
35 years is a long time.
70 years is even longer.
Can we really say that what Mark was writing from 40 years earlier happened exactly in the way that he said it did? Yeah, I know all about the "oral traditions", but are you telling me that all the stories passed down over 40-70 years are without blemish? Never changed? Heck, I can barely remember what I wore yesterday much less what happened 35 years ago.
AND.
Was that even Mark's point in writing? Or Matthew? Luke? John? Scholars tell us that Biblical writers weren't so much concerned with relaying truth as historical fact, but truth as what adds meaning and purpose to human life. In other words, their intention in writing a story wasn't to give us a play by play of exactly what Jesus might have said and did, but to tell the story of Jesus in a way that portrayed deeper truths about him and what he taught.
Said differently, although Jesus was a real person, many of the stories we have about him aren't necessarily filled with real events, but parables and stories that tell us more about who he was and what he did.
None of that is to lead us astray, by the way, but to lead us deeper into the wonder and mystery of the person of Jesus.”
Read the rest HERE.