This idea
that the Bible is a cute book of stories for right living must have been
perpetrated by some one who ever read the Bible in it’s entirety. The Bible is
full of grade A screw ups that end up in situations where no philosophy, good
deed, or moral imperative could possibly help them. The heroes of the Bible end
up in places where God must intervene or the hero will die or at least look
horribly foolish.
“Aha! So it’s
all about getting people to ascribe to a religion! It’s all about making people
live a certain way to get a certain thing!” I would lean towards that point of
view myself if the Bible wasn’t also littered with reminders that we aren’t
saved from our daily calamities by being pious and religious. Those who were
cute, pious, religious, and good for the sake of getting stuff from God were
often humbled, told off, or eaten by the ground. Religion saves about as much
as a broken seat belt.
The Bible,
in its entirety, is horrid for controlling the masses. When the powers at be
attempt to use Scripture in that capacity it always fails. Some punk always
goes and reads it for what it is and listens to what it actually says, and that
flips the whole system on its ear. We fall prey to all sorts of evil, secular
and religious, when we start reading and following, solely, other people’s interpretations
of Scripture. Other people’s opinions are a poor substitute for the Spirit of
God.
In years
past, and in other parts of the world, people fought and died to be able to
read the Bible for themselves and let the Spirit of God speak directly into
their lives. Now, in this culture, we happily give up our rights to read the
Word of God and have Him lead us so we can have a “Purpose Driven Life” or make
“Everyday a Friday.” I’d be pissed at the people writing all this stuff if it
was there fault. It’s not. The fault lies in those of us who will settle for
less.
The rub is
this: if we search enough we can find other people to back up what we think or
feel about scripture and God. But like my favorite English professors used to
say, “I don’t give a damn about what you think or feel the author is trying to
say, what is he saying?”
Pray. Talk
to God. Read the Bible and do what it says. Don’t be a robot and don’t fear man
or their opinions. Read the Scriptures for what they are. The Author had a very
specific purpose in mind when He wrote it. Anything else is man’s selfish,
ignorant, ambition.
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