Is That Yours?

"That's not yours. You don't get to play with it."

That's what I want to say so many times. I don't. But I want to.

Why is it that so many people seem to want to use the Bible when they want to use the Bible and not when they don't? Have you ever noticed this? It works in a variety of ways, but it is far too common, and I can't figure it out.

Take the guy who spends all his time arguing that Christianity is stupid and the Bible is simply a work of a bunch of guys trying to start a revolution or religion or something. Nothing special. Nothing noteworthy. Only an idiot would think otherwise. So why is it that the most quoted Bible verse is "Judge not that you be not judged"? They all know that one. And when you try to point out that something is a sin, that's what they'll throw at you. They've discarded the Bible as reliable or even noteworthy, but you'd better pay attention when they toss out that one!

Take the guy who has carefully dismantled the Bible. He's likely a pastor, professor, or scholar. He can quote passages to you in Hebrew, give you the Greek derivatives, and explain the history of the passage in terms of the culture of the day. And he's quite sure that it's all a myth, a book of the times, little to do with today ... certainly not of divine origins. But when it suits him, he'll argue against your doctrines using Scripture, telling you why you're wrong. He doesn't believe that the Bible is reliable, but he will reliably inform you of why your view isn't biblical.

Let's be honest here. It's not just the anti-Bible folks who do it. It's the "believers" as well. We like the nice passages that tell us about the love of God. We like the parts that tell us how God sent His Son to die for us so that we can be saved. Good stuff! Go, God! But when it says, "Wives, submit to your husbands", wives balk. When it says, "Fathers, do not exasperate your children", fathers chafe. "If your eye offends you, cut it out" is generally cut out of our Bibles. And that Old Testament God who is full of wrath and smiting and such? Yeah, we've pretty much used our broad-tipped black highlighters on those passages. That's not the God we know. We claim the reverse of the atheist or lost scholar who discards the Bible. We claim to believe that the Bible is the Word of God, God-breathed, the prime source for matters of faith and practice. Yet when the Bible says things we don't care much for, well, we're just as apt to toss it as the atheist or scholar.

That's not yours. You don't get to play with it. Either take it seriously or leave it alone. Either it's the Word of God or it's a myth. It's either true or not. If it is a myth, you don't get to use it to explain to me why I'm wrong. It's a myth! But if what we claim is correct -- if it is indeed the Word of God -- we had better stop handling it so lightly. We had better read it for all it is worth, know it better than we know our favorite TV show or musical group, and put it into practice without balking at the commands. Either live it or leave it alone. Don't play with it.