Vote for Your Next American Bible!

Call 1-866-I-N-E-R-R-A-N-T or text your vote to 24253, but please wait until the very end of the show.

I was wondering aloud at my pastor’s book group last week, if the Bible can ever be an idol. If we can hold it up goofily like a gold calf on the end of a stick (in Charlton Heston’s absence) and point to it, in all its “inerrant” glory, its perfection, as the be-all end-all, rather than paying attention to its message and purpose. Which is to deliver the history and background of the person of Jesus Christ. The Word made flesh. Know whut I mean?

Like, can we cling so much to the literal translation of every thing (or say that we do anyway), that we completely miss the message it brings in the person of Jesus? Can the translation, the rules, the laws, legalism, become the thing we worship? It’s like kicking homeless people out of our way to be sure we are not late for church.

Check out Colossians 2 and John 1.

Jesus came to BE. And so many people were busy with their heads buried in the rule book, they completely missed him. I can see people nudging these guys, with Jesus walking by, working in mysterious ways, like he did, changing water into wine (he must’ve gotten invited to a LOT of parties after that! – “Jesus, we have a thingie on Thursday night, could you just – because, you see, the budget calls for pigs-in-a-blanket, but the guests want gyros!”) Jesus hung out with people that up ‘til then were pretty much blacklisted.

He told us to do a lot of stuff, feed the hungry, take care of orphans and widows, visit prisoners. He didn’t tell us to hand out pamphlets or tell people our rules ‘til we're blue in the face (and they are too from holding their breath, hoping they will pass out and not come to until after we are done with the Roman Road, the Four Spiritual Laws, or whatever well-organized path we are articulating.) Or, maybe I should say, we are copying someone who articulated it.

Can we lose sight of Jesus for the sake of spouting our rules? Prioritizing stuff we are comfortable with, culturally?

Can we miss the point of the Bible completely, because we are so enamored with it as a thing?