"The Bible says" settles nothing

(This scene from the 1980's show Designing Women is a classic.)

As Pride Month comes to a close, two familiar conversations continue.

Some churches spent June celebrating LGBTQ+ people as beloved children of God.

Others spent June reminding them why they don't belong.

At the same time, the Southern Baptist Convention voted to move closer to formally banning churches with women pastors or women preaching to the gathered congregation. Other denominations continue to reaffirm similar positions. None of this is new, of course. Christians have been arguing about Scripture for two thousand years.

And that raises the age-old question:

How can people reading the very same Bible come to such radically different conclusions?

Because the Bible isn't a rulebook.

It's poetry and history, songs and sermons, letters and parables, wisdom literature and prophecy. It contains stories written over more than a thousand years by dozens of authors living in very different cultures and wrestling with very different questions.

All of the above is part of reason our scriptures are so very rich. It's also one of the reasons our Bible can be so easily misused.

Here are three things I keep coming back to.

1. Be careful you're not simply using Scripture to justify what you already believe.

One of my favorite Anne Lamott quotes says:

"You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do."

Ouch.

Because she's right.

The Bible has been used to defend slavery.

To oppose interracial marriage.

To justify segregation.

To silence women.

To condemn LGBTQ+ people.

To support war.

To argue for wealth.

Whenever I find myself thinking, "The Bible clearly says..." I try to pause long enough to ask another question:

Am I listening to Scripture...or am I recruiting Scripture to defend a position I've already decided to hold?

Those aren't always the same thing.

2. Never read one verse without reading the whole story.

One of the most dangerous habits in Christianity is treating verses like fortune cookies.

Open the Bible.

Pull out one sentence.

Declare the debate finished.

"God said it. I read it. That settles it."

But that's not how Scripture works.

Every verse belongs to a chapter.

Every chapter belongs to a book.

Every book belongs to a much larger story.

Every story takes place in a particular time and space.

And every part of Scripture should ultimately be read in light of Jesus.

Jesus is the fullest revelation of who God is.

So when you encounter difficult passages—texts that seem violent, exclusionary, or dehumanizing—stop and start somewhere else.

Start with Jesus.

The Jesus who welcomed outsiders.

The Jesus who touched people everyone else avoided.

The Jesus who consistently challenged religious certainty more than human failings.

The Jesus who told us that all the law hinges on loving God and loving our neighbor.

Start with Jesus and then go back to your difficult passage.

If your interpretation makes you feel and look less like Jesus, consider revisiting your interpretation.

3. The God you believe in shapes the Bible you read.

No one comes to Scripture as a blank slate.

We all carry assumptions.

If you believe God is mostly angry, looking for reasons to punish people, then you'll naturally notice passages about judgment.

If you believe God is endlessly keeping track of your transgressions, Scripture becomes a score card.

If you believe God is primarily concerned with rule enforcement, you'll read the Bible searching for infractions.

But if you believe God is revealed most clearly in Jesus...

If you believe God is love...

If you believe grace has the first word and the last...

If you believe every human being bears God's image...

Then you'll read the very same Bible differently.

Not because you've ignored Scripture.

Because you've chosen to interpret Scripture through the lens of Christ instead of forcing Christ into the narrowest possible reading of Scripture.

It's taking the Bible seriously...not literally.

The Bible deserves better than proof-texts.

The Bible is too holy to be used as ammunition.

Too sacred to become a weapon.

Too life changing to be reduced to memes, bumper stickers, or refrigerator magnets.

The Bible shouldn't simply help us become more knowledgeable about what's in the Bible--as if we're prepping for some sort of heavenly pub trivia night.

It should help us become more like Christ.

When you read the Bible, does what you read

Make you more loving?

More compassionate?

More humble?

More like Jesus?

Because if it doesn't...

It may be time to read it again.