Grid Blog: Robin Hood

Here's Angie and I's take on the role of the bible in our life. I'll go first cause as you know - "Men first." Ahem. BTW this is part of the discussian Tim pioneered and many of us followed.
Every Friday we'll pick a new topic. Today its the bible.
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"Read your bible pray every day and you'll grow grow grow. And you'll grow grow grow. And you'll grow (awkward high note) grow grow. Read your bible pray every day and you'll grow grow grow."

As I kid I loved singing that song in Sunday school. It was one of the few times in church when my adhd was sanctioned. I could move. Was told to even. Life was good.

But alas, that was a long time ago. Now that I'm a big man, the song no longer moves me. Perhaps its because I no longer find it "fun" to lie prostrate on the church carpet then slowly float upwards as I show the world what it means to grow. Perhaps the tune is no longer a "foot tapper." Perhaps my appetite has changed and I now desire more meaningful songs like. . "Troublesome times are here, filling mens hearts with fear, this is a peppy song because people will die. " Makes sense. Or not. Nice tenor though.
I don't know, maybe I don't like the song anymore because I no longer agree.

Gasp.

Let me explain.

I love the bible. It's definetly up there with Life of Pi. Bad joke. Seriously though, there isn't a book out there that challenges me more then scripture. There isn't a book that inspires me more. Touches me more. Or leaves me wanting more. . .as much as scripture does.
There's just something about that book. I've read it cover to cover and most mornings I can be found reading it once more. I don't say this to brag, I say this to clarify. I'm a big fan.
Why do I feel like there's a big but coming John? I don't know, concerned reader. Perhaps you've stopped exercising. Snicker. I only joke because this topic means the world to me and I'm anxious that I won't communicate very well and all you blokes will walk away whispering "John doesn't believe blah blah and thinks blah blah blah blah." Please if you're concerned, ask don't assume, it could just be that my communication sucks or maybe your interpretation does. Ha. Anyways, here's my take.

I think the bible is an arrow. I think God is the bow. I think Jesus is the target. We're luck to be the archers. Unfortunatly I think we've missed the target. We're enamored with the arrow. Whoo wee what lovely feathers you have arrow. What kind of wood is that? What a sharp tip. Hmm, perhaps we should dedicate our lives to studying the intricasies of the arrow. Heck, lets even make our discoveries law and form communties who try and live that law out. Besides it'll also give us a standard in which to judge those who hate archery. Hate archery, that's too bad. Good luck in hell.

The problem with all this is, we've missed the forest for the trees, the arrow for the target. What's the point of archery? Arrows or the target? Lets say for a second the point is arrows. The winning archer is the one with the best arrows. How would that change the sport of archery?

Well, it would now become crucial how well the arrow was made. You'd have to get the perfect wood, the perfect density of wood, the perfect color of wood the perfect smoothness, the perfect shape, everything about the wood would have to be perfect. No room for error, after all, the point of archery is the arrow. Not only would you need good wood (2 different wood's in one sentence, genius) you would need to find the perfect feather. Perhaps you'd have to travel the world, locate an exotic bird with feather's of the perfect weight, color, form, consistency. Once found, you'd have to catch that bird, which you know, would be hard, but once you caught it you'd be forced to kill it because little bird isn't going to be fond of you ripping out his feathers. Once you killed it you'd now have a big supply of feathers for your arrow. So you got the wood, you got the feathers, what about the tip? Should you go metal or wood? Gees I don't know. Which is better? Best to have a conference. Conference is over. Cool speaker/author said metal. Lets do it. So now we'd need to find the perfect metal. The perfect amount. The perfect weight. The perfect shape. The perfect shine. The perfect sharpness. After all, the metal, is the tip, the most important part. Yay, we found it.

So here it is, the perfect arrow. So what now ? Do we shoot it? Ok, where? After all, the arrow itself is the point, so. . . What do we do? Who knows. Perhaps we should spend the rest of our lives testing and restesting just to make sure we indeed found the perfect wood, perfect feather and perfect metal. And while we're at it, lets write books, put on conferences on proper arrow maintence. If we have time we can even compare arrows with other archers. Wait a second, your feather's are not from the same bird? The wood wasn't poplar? Wasn't popular? Wasn't. . .or whatever. The metal is 2 ounces and not 1? Yikes, well sucks to be you I guess.

At least we are professional archers. We got the perfect arrows. Our quiver is full of them.
The only problem is we haven't paid attention to the bow (God) and we have no target (Relationship with Jesus).

We haven't taken flight.

I speak best in analogies, like a dog speaks best by barking. . .

Anyways, I have felt for a long time that Christians, especially those of our brand, worship the bible. Yes I am aware that the bible is God's word. Inspired even. Whatever that means. But its still not the point. The end all and be all. Heck even Jesus said "You dilligently study the scriptures thinking that through them you will gain life but yet you refuse to come to me." Who was he talking to? Them or us? If the shoe fits. . .

The bible exists to point us to Jesus. The point of our lives is to form a relationship with Jesus. We are "saved" through that relationship not through some formula we've concoted by proof texting or Greeking the bible to death. Do you honestly think salvation lies in our ability to read? Sucks to be the 3 billion who can't. Illiteracy has now become a pothole on the road to God. Now I know we don't think that, but the amount of authority we give the bible at times make me wonder. The bible only has authority because it points us to relationship in Jesus. Without the relationship part, it is a dead book, full of dead laws, exposing our sin but offering no solution. Paul said this himself, many times.

The ironic and very sad thing is most Christians claim to"know their bible" but admit that their relationship with God is lacking. Even non existent. What? How can that be? The point of the bible is Relationship with God. If its lacking perhaps our use of the bible is too.

Here's what I think: I honestly believe that deep down most of us prefer the bible to Jesus. Now why is that?

The bible is visible, the bible appears to have answers, formulas, prescriptions, blueprints of how we should live our lives. All we have to do is familiarize, do, and check off. It's easy. The other perk is now that we have the bible figured out we can use our knowledge to control other people's lives by holding up this standard. "See this is why I'm right and your wrong."

But relationship with God is altogether different. God is usually not visible, he can't be understood, not really anyways, there is no formula to understanding God and how he works. In fact, the entire realationship is based on. . .faith. Not knowing yet still believing. Not seeing but still moving. Not understanding yet still studying. We don't know yet we want to. So we continue to pursue. . .

Ok, I could go one forever, some of you think I already have. So I'll wrap up.

To summarize: God is too big for our fancy arrows. The only reason they even exist is to allow us to hit our target - so when we make the point the arrows we ultimately change Christianity to Bibleianty. We form a relationship with the bible meanwhile Jesus trots along behind us.

May we all strive to be Robin Hood.

John