2008
Issue B
June 15, 2008

WHEN RELIGION ABUSES THE BIBLE

The title for this issue-of-the-month is obviously abbreviated. Religion, per se, does not abuse any more than the Bible “says.” Voices do that. To be more accurate, persons with opinions and agendas give public voice to religion and what “the Bible says.” We read the confusing collection of pronouncements and know they cannot all be accurate.

A forwarded email this spring illustrates a few problems of foolish piety. The writer insisted that all Christians are required to support the death penalty because the Bible says so. Not to support the death penalty is proof positive the person is inherently not Christian! Which included me, of course.

It gets worse. Colossians 3:20, we were told, says that every criminal must be killed. Politicians who are real Christians will empty the jails by executing all who are there. Well. Absolute proof, no questions asked, that senators are not Christian. Next question.

The claim is so outrageous I did not even review Col. 3:20 at the time. When I did, I found a fair reading could actually support an opposing opinion. There are several bloodthirsty verses in scripture, so I assumed a proof-texting advocate of a death-dealing position found one. Not.

Col. 3:20: “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases God.” - RSV (Spin: jail proves disobedience of parents, which offends God, who requires death.) Preceding and following are instructions to wives, husbands, fathers and slaves. Research into the original audience helps us to know that though this sounds routine to our ears it was bold indeed in the original setting. The writer skillfully includes their prejudices to make a new point. They expected wives to be told to obey. But husbands to be kind? Children should obey, but then we read that fathers can drive children to discouragement. Centuries later, that thought is on the cutting edge. To kill a boy for a blow, a much older scripture that could support killing all criminals, is plainly set aside. Scripture gets really interesting if one is willing to learn from the original writer and audience.

A college professor used a silly story to illustrate how scripture is abused. At the time I doubted it was true, as he said. However, my experiences with preachers since then make it sound possible. Either way, it illustrates the key points for honest study.

The story: a pastor could not stand to see women's hair in buns. Their crowning glory should be spread for view. He found a verse to confirm his opinion and preached his sermon: “Top Knot Come Down.” Blistered the heathen with God's judgment.

His verse was Luke 17:31: “Let him who is on the house top .... not come down (to take his goods away).” (RSV) It is from an end of time scene, when those on the roof of the house would not have the time to rescue their possessions.

The abuse of scripture in the email and this story illustrates four solid principles. 1. Check your own opinions at the door when reading scripture and read for the plainest message. 2. Read the longer passage for more subtle content. 3. Remember you are reading in English, not the original language. (A play on English words - knot and not - is hardly scripture.) Check other translations to get closer to the original. Example: I checked eight translations on this verse and found that five of them use “roof” instead of “top.” 4. Research the original setting and the likely meaning to that audience.

I am objecting specifically to abusive quotes by religious professionals, who should know better. The person next door, politicians, columnists, etc. will always create abusive quotes. Cal Thomas uses imaginative selection of scripture to document his opinions. Expect flawed, incomplete research. He has an agenda which raises flags. Know that.

An early Christian scholar, Origen, said plainly: “The source of all heresy is a literal reading of the Bible.” Truth is not in one lonely verse. More important, much of scripture is poetry, which loses its lively lesson if the words are taken as literal. Mid-east story telling, a staple of beloved texts, is ruined with a narrow look at only the words.

In Genesis, some today see an apple, the devil and original sin. Jewish people, who told it, and earliest Christians, saw far more. They made sense of a complex creation by telling a story and creating metaphors for reflecting on God's expectations of us, our inclination to ignore or even to rebel, and blessings that are the potential from acting on our role in creation. God did not create us to be sinners, but to be productive participants in a joyful, healthy creation. We have missed treasures by abusing the scripture, “God saw that it was good.” We read our changing opinions into scripture and obscure live giving insights. (And, we call some of our spin “prophesy,” which is never literal.)

Much of scripture abuse comes from those who hate, despise, or reject. So we read/hear that God rejects Clinton, Obama, McCain, the U.S., nations who oppose the U.S., Muslims, unruly children, working wives, and on and on. God, we hear, supports death penalty/opposes death penalty. Rejects abortion/favors abortion rights. Supports war that kills enemies; rejects all violence. Those are not scriptural statements. They are convictions held by persons who search scripture for supporting evidence.

None of these issues are as simple as its title, but we miss so much in slam-bang opinions that come from current hot topics. Being a homosexual is a topic that helps illustrate the confusion. Leviticus prohibits same sex activity by fathers who are placing their semen in dishes on the altar of a foreign god, in order to gain better crops from that god. If one dislikes gays you can twist that to include them, even though the passage is about heterosexuals and has a base of critical importance: the activity is breaking one of the ten commandments, which forbids worship of idols. (Those who use the passage for a selective purpose also ignore that many gay persons, as many straight persons, do not engage in sexual relationships.) If we select only gays in Romans, we miss Paul's point: lust is sin, whoever you are. Choosing our target obscures the truth in scripture.

The abuse has a worse obscuring effect. This and all of the above examples can not be selected and separated without ignoring hundreds of other passages. Hello, legalists?

We are all selective. Own that, and humbly review your basis of selection. To select only the hateful and ignore the evidence of an open loving God is to be plainly dishonest with scripture. “God so loved the world.....” is a trustworthy theme of the Bible.

Lowen