I turned 37 this year. I know a lot of people who have a problem with their age. By God's grace, it's never bothered me getting older. That may change in time, but at each birthday, I take some time to think back to what God has done in my life. This year, however, I got into a discussion with my kids about my childhood and what I liked/didn't like when I was there age. Did I fight with my brothers and sister? Did I get punished for being bad. But as we talked more and more, I began to think about the nostalgia of my childhood. Transformers (the real ones - not today's imposters), GI Joe, building forts, sledding with fam, playing b-ball from morning till night. And I thought about one of my favorite books (I've always been a HUGE reader). The choose your own adventure books. Maybe someone reading this will remember those. You would read a chapter and then make a choice of where the story went. Once you made the choice, you'd turn to a certain page and find out. After a few readings, the endings weren't a surprise. But if you had an imagination, it would be as much fun over and over again. I also remember those books eventually having a computer code you could enter and see graphics of the story...on our ultra powerful Apple 2e systems :)
As I thought of those books, I couldn't help but think about how the same thing happens in Christianity. But instead of a "choose your own adventure", we've gotten into a "choose your theology" trip. I read recently that Thomas Jefferson was known to go through his Bible and physically tear out the parts that he didn't like. And many do the same today.
2 Timothy 3 tells us that "all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness" It's not a mysterious verse. All Scripture is God breathed - means it came from his mouth! It means that the book we call the Bible is from God himself. Yes, it was written by different people, in different areas, many years apart. But the Lord has made it so that it flows together and supports itself in various places. It's even been proved historically that the events in Scripture actually occured. It's the only book in the world that proves itself to be true over and over again! And yet, we still treat it as a "choose your own adventure" book - we can alter the outcome of the story by choosing a different path.
I'm not perfect, and I hope I hope I never give the impression that I think I am. But one thing that I have never found myself questioning is the authenticity and reliability of Scripture. That has been a huge help in my walk with Christ, because I can honestly say that if it's against Scripture, then I want no part of it. That doesn't mean I don't sin or have struggles, it just means I can't use the "i didn't know any better" excuse.
This has bothered me for some time, but more so even now. I get to minister to some amazing teenagers at Grace. They're exciting, loving, and many of them are genuinely digging and searching the Word for answers to who God is and what He has for their lives. I love that, because they're not just taking my word, or their parents word, but they're reading and finding out for themselves. But what's been bothering me is that there are people out there, authors, tv preachers, and even some local who have decided to take this book and pull a Jefferson - cut out what they don't like. And that's become a cultural norm now, even within the Christian church. If a person wants be a homosexual, they just avoid the passages in Leviticus and 1 Corinthians. If a person has been burned by a pastor or church leader, it's easier to find a few passages, re-interpreting them, and then write about how the modern church is unGodly and how pastors aren't a true Biblical office. For those who want to live the way they want, without consequence, they find a few verses about "letting the Spirit lead" and head out. All of which is damaging and surely breaks the heart of God.
I would like to challenge anyone is these areas to simply sit down and read through the Word, as it's written. Don't try to look for some hidden meaning. Don't convince yourself that after thousands of years, you're going to find some new fact. Read it as God intended it to be read- as His love letter to us. Fall in love with the author, and the one who the story is written. As you're reading Scripture, let Scripture read you. Let it challenge you, confront you, upset you, calm you, encourage you, and inspire you. It will do all of these if we let it. The Bible is called a "double edged sword" so it can cut to the heart of us all, not to be used as a weapon for our own destructive motives.
God loves each of us, read His love letter and He'll prove it to you!
Selah
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