Afterthoughts - "The Bible Made Impossible"

Peter Enns: "The high view of the Bible is one that recognizes its lowliness..."

Because the Lord has used this book, The Bible Made Impossible, to make a major shift in my thinking related to God's purpose in giving us the Bible, I want to share a few unorganized thoughts about it and its impact on me personally. I'm aware that such a book will hit different people in different ways, so I want to clarify that I am writing this from where I "sit" now in my journey with God. I am now in my 60's having lived my entire life as a minister/leader in the evangelical-holiness/charismatic-missions stream of the church and having been brought up with a biblicist view of the Bible (though I didn't know to call it that). In recent years the Lord has been leading me into new ways of walking with Him and His people, changing mindsets in various areas, and this has been one of them. Others are on different journeys so may respond differently to this book...

As I said in my original post introducing this book (http://nitasbookclub.blogspot.com/2011/12/increase-of-truth-looks-like-error.html), its appeal to me was that the author boldly and unashamedly argues that the primary intention in God's giving us the Bible is to reveal His Son Jesus. That was enough for me to want to explore more in light of the increase of differing opinions today about what Scripture says.

I was not disappointed, and I am grateful to the Lord for bringing this book (and others) to my attention, and I am grateful to Christian Smith for writing it. I'll begin with a summary statement in the book about the purpose of the Bible and then share a few thoughts about why this has meant so much to me personally (without trying to flesh them all out, which would take many pages).

Notice in this summary statement of the purpose of the Bible that everything listed is with Jesus at the core of it: "It witnesses to the incarnate person and work of Christ. It offers apostolic theological reflections on Christ for the church and the world. It shows the difference that Christ made in human life during the earliest years of the church. It tells us who and what we really are in light of Christ. And it sends us on a mission in life in response to the good news of Christ..."

How The Bible Made Impossible impacted me

1. It affirmed and has given me language and boldness for what I have intuitively understood for many years - that Jesus is always the center of God's focus in scripture.
2. It has urged and encouraged me to begin reading and listening to scripture with more intentional focus on Jesus - I'm discovering that this is easier said than done.
3. It has deepened my love for God in seeing once again how much He has condescended to fallen humans in the writing of scripture by the way He has given us the Bible.
   
4. It has moved me away from trying to find fool-proof biblical evidence to emphasize particular doctrines and secondary issues; this has made it easier to genuinely listen to my brothers and sisters with love and acceptance without having to agree about everything.
5. It has made me even more aware of how deeply marked our generation of western Christians has been by the Enlightenment, resulting in our being severely self-conscious analytical people who find it very difficult to accept ambiguity and mystery as a real part of a loving God and His ways. This is inspiring me to pray for the healing of our mind as God's people in America.
6. It has renewed in me an appreciation of the importance of living my life dependent on Jesus (tree of life) rather than on a "manual" that will answer all of my needs and questions (tree of knowledge).

Why I think the truth in this book matters

1. First and foremost, I'm convinced that it really does matter to Jesus that His people genuinely accept and have affection for one another. Geoffrey Bromiley says: "...the Bible can serve as a means of Christian unity only when Jesus Christ is placed at its center..." We'll always have different viewpoints on many issues, but we should be known for our love for one another, not for our attacks on one another (John 13:35). Really loving one another is difficult to do at a deep heart level if our mindset is such that we see our main calling to be that of defending secondary issues using the Bible because we believe we aren't being true to God if we don't.
2. It can help us as people of God to be less "vicious" and defensive in the eyes of the unbeliever if we are willing to be honest about confusing parts of the Bible.
3. It helps move us away from idolatry related to the Bible and puts the Living Word squarely in the place of highest honor and worship.
4. It pushes the follower of Jesus to follow Jesus, a person (as opposed to following instructions from a handbook) - to seek to know Him (with the help of scripture and God's people throughout history), to listen to Him and to obey as best we can.
5. It helps us approach God and scripture and others with a humbler, more open mind and heart.

This is sketchy, and there's more I could share, but I'll close by recommending a couple of others books that are along the lines of this book, in case you're wanting to look further into the topic. If you read the reviews on them at the amazon.com site, you'll get an idea of what they are about:

• The Blue Parakeet by Scot McKnight (http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Parakeet-Rethinking-Read-Bible/dp/0310331668/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330544536&sr=8-1)
• Inspiration and Incarnation by Peter Enns (http://www.amazon.com/Inspiration-Incarnation-Evangelicals-Problem-Testament/dp/0801027306/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330544669&sr=1-1)
• Scripture and the Authority of God: How to Read the Bible Today by N.T.Wright  http://www.amazon.com/Scripture-Authority-God-Bible-Today/dp/0062011952/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330640066&sr=1-3

My prayer for myself and for God's people, particularly in the west, is that the Spirit of Jesus would cause Him to loom so large both in His written word and in our hearts that all other issues will lose their ability to distract and derail us from loving Him and others. Grace and peace to you!