The Bible #2: Why the Bible? [EP-77]
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The Bible is a confusing book, without a doubt. There are simple truths that can be easily distilled from the New Testament (God is love, Jesus died to heal the world, we can know God through the Spirit, etc.), but it is ultimately a book that came into being 2,000+ years ago. This series explores the "why," "what," and "how" questions about the Scriptures. This isn’t so we can become filled with more information alone, but so that we can step into our own unique place in the story of God.Please Note: There is a podcast version of this series available as well.
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Part two of our series on the Bible needs to begin with a core motivation of mine: I’m not trying to deconstruct or degrade the Bible in any way. I love the Scriptures (and the way they point us to Jesus) too much for that!So, I invite you not to look at one part of this series as though it represents the whole, there is too much to build to put down in one reflection. See totality of this series as the ‘whole argument’ or reflection, if that makes sense.The hope is to carve out a path forward for honoring the Scriptures as our witness to the teachings of the Apostles which preserved the teachings and overall Event of Jesus. Then, we will know what we are stepping into when we read the Bible.When the Bible is framed like that, it sounds like a big deal (because it is). But if we’re honest, when it comes to motivation to read, the Bible isn’t always an always an easy sell for modern people.But we convince ourselves that we are supposed to read it.We read it because…
- We’re supposed to so that we can know what we need to know to grow.
- Jesus.
- It’s inspired. (What does that even mean?)
- It’s our Christian duty.
- It’s the answer book for life that we all need.
- It’s the only way we truly can hear from God personally (Lots of issues here: #HolySpirit. Also, what about the 1500 years or so before the printing press when Bibles weren’t available for personal use?)
- Insert your own reasons (especially if you disagree with them now) in the comments!
None of these really get to the heart of the matter.Why the Bible? Something happened. They wrote it down because it was worth passing down.Something happened that launched a movement.Documents were produced and distributed among the earliest Christian communities. They came, early on, to recognize that although these were very human documents that in some unique they had been inspired by God to preserve the core truths of the Jesus Event. ..............
