Reading the Bible

Reading the Bible is an art that takes years to get right (if ever). The more I read and study the more I see there is for me to learn. On every page I find nuances of God's character that amaze and inspire me. Weeks later I might hit the same text again and be moved by yet another characteristic of God that leaps from page.

The problem with reading the Bible well is that we find it so tough to take off our predisposed ideas and let the Bible be the Bible. We come with prejudices and preformed ideas and it is God's will that the Bible should mold and shape us towards godly thinking and not that we make the bible say what we want it to.

In the continuing saga of Rob Bell's latest book we see exactly this happening. Scot McKnight a highly respected New Testament scholar is writing a series of pieces on Bell's book. This latest one makes the point of how Bell has very poorly translated scripture and at other points simply ignored fundamentally important texts becuase they don't fit in with his ideas...you can read Scot McKnights articl here

Why is this so important? Why the fuss over Bell's book?

Well because if the life to come is lived either with God in glory or in hell then we'd better get this right. Bell contends that hell is a temporary place of reformative punishment...yet the bible speaks of unquenchable fire and torment that goes on forever and ever. That sounds pretty serious to me and so we'd better read the scriptures very carefully and honestly, praying for the Spirit to guide us so that we are following God's ways and not the ways of the world.

These things are life and death issues, if we get them wrong we may be sending people to hell with a smile on their face and a pat on the back, because of what Bell has said. That would be a sad day indeed. I do believe in a literal hell because Jesus speaks about it and died to make away for us to avoid it. If it's serious enough for Jesus to die for then it's serious enough for us to contend for the truth about it.