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The more I study the Bible…

By Jeremy Myers
52 Comments

The more I study the Bible…

The more I study the Bible, the more I realize how little I know about it.

The more I study the Bible, the more I realize how dangerous this book really is.

The more I study the Bible, the more I begin to see why the medieval Catholic church did not allow the average person to read and interpret it.

The more I study the Bible, the more I begin to wonder how much the Bible has truly influenced my theology, versus how much my theology has influenced my reading of the Bible.

The more I study the Bible, the less confident I am in saying that my theology is based on scriptural exegesis.

The more I study the Bible, the more confused I get by it.

Anybody out there know what I am talking about? Please tell me I am not the only one who is beginning to feel this way…

study the Bible

Some History of My Bible Study

Maybe some history is in order…

When I first began this website about 15 years ago, I wanted it to be a place where I posted my sermons and Bible studies. You can still see some of those here: Old Sermons by Jeremy Myers.

Somewhere along the way, my life fell apart, and I began to question a lot of things. To help me sort things out, I decided to question all the theology I had ever been taught. Things were going well, until I started to question everything I had been taught about the Bible…. then everything fell apart.

So I put aside that project, and decided that I needed to just study Scripture and let it re-teach me all my theology…

A few years later, I thought I had finally settled somewhere new, and decided to return to my life goal of writing a commentary on every book of the Bible.

I got half-way through the book of Jonah, when I asked myself the dangerous question, “Did God really send the storm which nearly killed everybody on board the ship?”

This led me off on a wild rabbit trail of trying to make sense of all the violence of God in the Bible in light of the death of Jesus on the cross. However, I eventually gave up (several times) on this as well. Scripture said what it said, and I could find no way around it.

bible study

So now I am writing on something “safe”: The debate between Calvinism and Arminianism. Ha!

The truth is that I think I need to go all the way back to the beginning and start over with the Bible.

What is the Bible?

The problem appears to be that the Bible may not be what I think it is.

Or maybe I can put it this way: The Bible doesn’t do what I want it to do. The Bible does not provide what I want it to provide. The Bible I want does not seem to be the Bible I have.

This is why I have been reading a lot of books recently about Scripture. I know other scholars and theologians are asking similar questions, and I want to know what they are thinking on these issues.

Peter Enns  and HarperOne recently sent me a review copy of his newest book called The Bible Tells Me So. I reviewed this book yesterday.

For now, I found the book incredibly encouraging and hopeful, but at the same time, not too helpful. Or maybe, I just didn’t like the answers that Peter Enns offered, and it will just take some time to come to terms with it.

How Do you Study the Bible?

Do you struggle with Scripture? Where are you at on the whole discussion of inerrancy, inspiration, and the authority of the Bible? Have you read any good books on the topic recently which really helped sort things out for you? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: Bible Study, bibliology, scripture, Theology of the Bible, word of god

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Adolph Hitler on the Inspiration of Scripture

By Jeremy Myers
18 Comments

Adolph Hitler on the Inspiration of Scripture

No, Adolph Hitler never spoke about the inspiration of Scripture (that I know of).

But last week I posted two blog posts that got quite a bit of discussion, and I found the comments on these two posts quite … ironic.

They were these two posts:

  • The Hitler Billboard
  • Inspiration of Scripture and other writings

Here is what happened:

The Hitler Billboard Post

In the first post I criticized a church for putting up a billboard which quoted Hitler. I thought that a church had no business quoting Hitler, even if what Hitler said was true.

If you go read the comments, you see that the vast majority of the comments were in favor of quoting Hitler. Though these are not exact quotes of anybody, many people said things like “All truth is God’s truth” and “We should be able to recognize that other people may teach God’s truth, even if we don’t like what they stand for.”

all truth is gods truth

OK. I see the point. I also agree (for the most part).

But just as I would never quote Satan approvingly (even if it was a true statement), I don’t think churches should be quoting Hitler.

But whatever … people are free to disagree. (As many of them did.)

The very next day, however, I posted another post, and I was shocked at the response.

Inspiration and Other Religions

In this post, I argued that God has been whispering His truth to lots of people throughout time, not just to a select few Jews in a small corner of the world for a short period of time.

As such, I argued, it should not be surprising for us to find divine truth in the writings of other religions.

Judging by some of the comments I received, you would think I had just announced my conversion to atheism!

The Two Posts Compared…

But then it hit me …

Why is it okay to accept “truth” as “God’s truth” when it comes from Hitler, but it is heretical to accept “truth” as “God’s truth” when it comes from Buddhist Sutras, Hindu Vedas, or Native American legends?

If all truth is God’s truth (as people claimed on the Hitler post), then why are some so shocked when some of God’s truth is found in the writings of other religions?

I just don’t understand.

I suppose it was because I used the word “inspired” in the second post, though I tried to clarify that what I meant by “inspired” was “God whispering His truth to people.” That’s not deserving of being called a heretic, is it? All I am saying is that God has somehow taught truth to people who were not biblical authors. Heck, maybe that’s how Hitler learned the truth he stated about children, which was quoted in that billboard!

I wonder what would have happened if I had been able to find a quote from Hitler which said the same thing I said in the second post … people’s minds would have exploded!

Anyway, I thought it was strangely ironic that in one post I am condemned for one thing, and in the very next post, I am condemned for exactly the opposite (sometimes by the same people!).

“We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
We sang a dirge, and you did not mourn” (Matthew 11:17)

God is z Bible & Theology Topics: Blogging, Discipleship, Hitler, inspiration, inspiration of Scripture, religions, scripture

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The Holy Bible is not so Holy

By Jeremy Myers
24 Comments

The Holy Bible is not so Holy

If you look on the front cover of your Bible, you are likely to see this:

holy Bible

Such wording is so commonplace, we hardly think anything of it.

But are you aware that the concept of the Bible being holy is not found at all in the Old Testament and is rarely applied to the Bible in the New Testament, and even then, in places where the usage is debatable.

Let me put it another way: God is Holy; the Bible is not.

Thinking and speaking about the Bible as “holy” is one reason the Bible has come to be viewed as the fourth member of the Trinity in the minds of many  Christians.

The Holy Bible in Jewish Literature

It is true that Jewish Rabbinic writers often wrote about “the Holy Scriptures,” but it is also true that many Rabbinic writers could be accused of almost deifying the Bible. A Torah scroll, for example, often costs tens of thousands of dollars, and is kept in an expensive container, and if it is ever dropped on the ground or touched with something (or by someone) unclean, it has to be cleansed or buried (but not burned or thrown out).

But this is not how Christians view the Bible (some do, actually, but that is a side topic).

But this Rabbinic reverence for the Scriptures comes not from the Hebrew Scripture itself, but from Jewish tradition that is built up around the Scripture.

The Holy Bible in the New Testament

The same argument could be made for the New Testament.

There are only three places in the New Testament that seem to indicate that the Bible is “holy.”

holy bibleThe first is Romans 1:2, but there the word Paul uses for “holy” is hagiais instead of the normal word for divine holiness, hierais. The same usage applies to Romans 7:12 where Paul speaks of the “holy law.” 

There is only one place in the New Testament that uses the normal term “holy” (hieros) in connection to Scripture, and that is 2 Timothy 3:15.

But curiously, the word Paul uses there for Scripture is grammata, not the more typical words for Scripture, biblos or graphe. Why does it  matter? Because elsewhere in Paul’s writings, he usually contrasts grammata with pneuma. In other words, the writings of the Law are set in contrast to life in the Spirit (cf. Rom 2:27).

So it appears that in Paul’s thinking, gramma does not refer to the Bible or the Scriptures, but to the prescriptions and commands of the Law (see TDNT I:765).  The gramma is the Law which does not rule in the heart (Rom 7:6; 2 Cor 3:6ff.; TDNT I:766).

It seems then, that the only place in the Bible which speaks about the “Holy Writings,” Paul is writing somewhat about the Jewish religious view of the Law, a view in which he was taught and trained (as was Timothy), but which is proved to be untrue in light of the revelation in Jesus Christ.

As a curious side note, Paul uses a different word for Scripture in 2 Timothy 3:16 (graphe), and a third word in 2 Timothy 4:2 (logos). My personal belief is that Paul was not simply using synonyms to refer to the Bible, but was using three different terms to make a specific point about what Timothy should focus on in ministry (Answer: Jesus – The Logos).

Jesus and the Holy Spirit Transcend the Bible

So regarding the Bible, I agree with what Schrenk writes in TDNT:

“We may thus conclude that the phrase [the holy writings] perpetuates in the church a Jewish and Hellenistic rather than a specifically early Christian usage” (TDNT I:751). “For Paul, the [law] and [writings] are transcended by Christ and the Spirit, and are thus given their true validity” (TDNT I: 761).

and for a statement that really blows me away:

“For early Christianity Scripture is no longer just what is written, nor is it just tradition; it is the dynamic and divinely determined declaration of God which speaks of His whole rule and therefore of His destroying and new creating, and which reaches its climax in the revelation of Christ and the revelation of the Spirit by the risen Lord … The full revelation in Christ and the Spirit is more than what is written” (TDNT I:761).

A few days after I originally wrote this article, I saw that Brandon Chase was thinking and writing about something similar. At one point, Brandon writes this:

So much effort is spent on driving Christians to be in the Word more, to read their Bible’s more, to study the Bible… You know what? Some of you… Some of you need to put your Bible down. You need to walk away. Take a break. Look for and find God’s Word (Jesus Christ) in nature, people, rest, quiet. Learn to hear His Voice apart from the words in your Bible.

You really need to go read his post, and while you are at it, subscribe to his blog. His posts are fantastic!

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: 2 Timothy 3:15, bible, scripture, Theology of the Bible

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Learn the Bible in 24 Words

By Jeremy Myers
13 Comments

Learn the Bible in 24 Words

There is a popular Bible training DVD called “Learn the Bible in 24 Hours.” I highly recommend it, as it does a pretty good job summarizing the story and themes of Scripture in 24 1-hour segments.

But guess what? I can summarize the Bible in 24 words…

Learn the Bible in 24 Words:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, your strength, and your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.

Of course, this isn’t MY summary. It comes from Jesus. He used slightly different words in various places in the Gospels, but this is the basic gist of how Jesus summarized the entire Bible (cf. Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31; Luke 10:27-28).

learn the bibleOf course, do we Christians really believe that Jesus was right? It often seems that we do not. We often seem so intent on believing the right things, and knowing the right things, and doing the right things, and forcing other people to believe, know, and do the right things also, that we neglect to actually show love.

Which begs the question… What does it matter if I am an expert in Bible trivia, can speak to angels in my prayers, and can quote a thousand Bible verses, but have not love? Have I understood the first thing about Scripture? I think not.

What benefit is there to attending church Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night, and a Bible study on Friday night, if I have not love? Have I understood the first thing about God? I think not.

If I can perform miracles and cast out demons and get politicians to jump at my every word, but have not love, am I truly following Jesus? I think not.

Pastors and seminary professors today bemoan the fact that Christians are biblically illiterate, and they do everything they can to teach people more about the Bible.

I say the problem is not a lack of knowledge, but a lack of love. And to love God and love others, you don’t need Bible studies and sermons, books and podcasts, or Reverends and Ph.D.s.

How to Learn the Bible

Learning the Bible is important, but learning the Bible doesn’t help you love; loving helps you learn the Bible. We study the Scripture, not simply to learn what it says, but to learn better how to love. This means that if you have no intention of trying to show tangible love to your friends, neighbors, and coworkers, then you have no reason to study the Bible. Where there is no love, the study of Scripture is nothing more than an empty religious exercise.

So you want to learn the Bible? Start by loving others.

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Bible Study, Bible study, Discipleship, Jesus, learn the Bible, love, love God, love others, scripture

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Is the Flood Account a Beautiful Story about Rainbows?

By Jeremy Myers
23 Comments

Is the Flood Account a Beautiful Story about Rainbows?

the flood rainbowOf all the violent texts in the Old Testament, the portrayal of the flood in Genesis 6–8 may be the most difficult text to understand.

As I was struggling with the way the flood is presented in Scripture, I had frequent conversations with my wife about this troubling text. One night, as we went back and forth on how to understand this passage, she playfully said, “I don’t know what the flood story means! All I know is what I was taught in Sunday school, that it’s a beautiful story about rainbows!”

We laughed, but the tragic reality is that this is what most people think about the flood. It is often read and taught sort of like an old-wives tale about how rainbows came to be.

The Flood Story is Appalling

The flood story, however, is anything but a beautiful fairy tale. On its surface, the flood story is an appalling account of how millions (and possibly billions) of people died a horrible death by drowning because God was angry at them.

family drowning in the floodAside from the grim image of every living thing on earth gasping for breath and choking on water as they sink beneath the waves, the flood story also paints a troubling portrait of a God who seems incompetent because He regrets that He made mankind (Didn’t He know this would happen?), and who then foolishly tries to solve the world’s addiction to evil and violence by committing the greatest atrocity of all: worldwide genocide. One author describes the story with these words:

The Old Testament also describes God as a mass murderer. …Despite cute songs, child-friendly play sets, and colorful artistic renderings of the story, “Noah’s Ark” is not a happy tale of giraffes and panda bears clambering aboard a floating zoo. It is a story of catastrophic death and destruction that, incidentally, results from divine decree. Nearly the entire human population perishes because God drowns them. It is a disaster of such epic proportions that even some of Hollywood’s doomsday scenarios pale by comparison (Seibert, Disturbing Divine Behavior, 20).

Strong words! Yet the apparent genocidal behavior of God in Genesis 6–8 is not the only troubling element to this text. Although there is a rainbow at the end and a promise by God that He will never do such a thing again, one is left with several questions about the way God is presented in this text.

The Troubling God of the Flood

For example, if He can promise that He will never do it again, why did He send the flood in the first place? Did He realize the flood was a mistake? If so, He sure seems prone to mistakes, for He first regretted making mankind, and then He regretted killing them all. So is God schizophrenic? Is He bi-polar? Did God realize the flood didn’t work as intended, and that mankind would not learn to refrain from evil simply because God annihilated them all? Maybe He realized this isn’t the example He wanted to set for mankind, and so resolved to be a nicer, gentler, more merciful God in the future? Was the flood “Plan A” and when the violent drowning of all mankind didn’t work, God decided to go with “Plan B” in eventually sending the Messiah?

[Read more…]

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Bible Study, Genesis 6, Genesis 6-8, rainbow, scripture, sin, the flood, Theology of God, When God Pled Guilty

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