“Do you believe everything that is in the Bible?” This question was posed to me recently by one of the young people in our confirmation class.
People have so much trouble trying to figure out what the Bible is. Some think it is handwritten by God in blood or fire. Some think it is all history – complete historical fact. Some people have fought and even killed over different opinions about what the Bible says.
It’s impossible to say you believe every word of the Bible and live it out literally. In one place it says, “Beat your swords into ploughshares.” In another, “Beat your ploughshares into swords.” So which would you do?
Have you filled out the Facebook survey on which of 100 best books you have read?
My daughter got a book for her birthday from my brother: 1001 Books You Should Read Before You Die. At a joint celebration for her and my father’s 95th birthday, my dad picked it up, thinking it was for him. My brother – with the family’s bizarre sense of humour, said, “No, I didn’t get that for you; for you I got one book.”
The Bible isn’t 1001 books, but it isn’t one book either. I have always been most comfortable thinking of the Bible as an inspired library, 98 books full of poetry and prose, history and historical fiction, song and proverb, parable and teaching, memoir and biography, epic, tragedy, comedy, novel, short story, creative fiction, satire and drama – all including truth for your life and my life today.
