Because we ordinarily limit our Bible reading to the most overtly spiritual sections, we tend to have a somewhat unrealistic picture of what all is in the Bible. If we read the entire Bible, we are amazed at how much non-religious content there is–bodily ailments and hygiene in the Pentateuch, military history in the chronicles and court history in those same books, and detailed pictures of social life in the OT prophetic books...The Bible covers pretty much all of life, not only specifically spiritual experiences like prayer and forgiveness of sin and good and evil but also national history, harvest, sunrise, and losing an axe is a body of water... L. Ryken, A Christian Guide to the Classics (Crossway 2015), 68.
On the one hand, some readers are offended by the "unedifying" passages of Scripture. On the other hand, when some Christians only read the edifying passages, it leaves them unprepared for the contrast between their selective reading of Scripture and the world they must confront. There's a grimness and grubbiness to a lot of Scripture because there's a grimness and grubbiness to a lot of life. It's spiritually perilous when our real-life experience fails to matchup with Scripture because we only read the inspirational sections. But the Christian pilgrimage isn't all hymn singing and 1 Corinthians 13.
There is wisdom there.
ReplyDeleteThanks.