Can't you make the Bible say anything you want?

Well yes, and using the same rules of interpretation I can make the dictionary say the very same thing. In fact since I discovered this, I have stopped using the dictionary :). I am of course being deliberately silly (my grand kids will tell you it's what Grandpas do best!). You would not stop using the dictionary because some abuse it. The subject of interpretation is a huge subject. I gave some guidelines in the February posts 2011. It's only a start, but one which I hope can be helpful. Those posts start with the same title as thins one. However in the context of the posts of this month, I have a different agenda than outlining how to interpret the Bible. My goal here, as with the rest of this month's post, is to point out that the questions raised here are part of the propaganda and/or the excuses that are used to dismiss, without real investigation, the issues that pertain to faith and the Christian life. Having said this, I need to acknowledge that those of us who name the name of Christ, have given lots of ammunition to those who do not want to believe. We in the Church are far from perfect. Authentic Christianity does not claim that it is! For my own part, I apologize and repent for the times this has been me!

So can we make the Bible say anything we want? Well yes, but not without twisting what is says. Peter warns that we do this to our own destruction (2 Peter 3:16). Not even among those who name the name of Christ are immune from this. Some have taught that Christians cannot be deceived. It's like being in denial that you are in denial. We are all in denial at some level and we are all deceived at some level. Otherwise (Christian) why would we be admonished not to be (Galatians 6:7)? The real issue, more than 'can we make it say anything we want', is surly 'what does it say?'

The Bible has a central theme, a central message, and it has to do with the need and the means God has provided for us, to get right with Him. Then having done so, the what and the how of living life to the full. It is summed up in just a few words at the end of John's gospel “these things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31). The phrase “life in His name”, is not just talking about eternal life when you die, but as the context of John's gospel clearly shows, is it “life in all its abundance” - life in all its fulness in the here and now (John 10:10). We need to understand that ”getting saved” is not just something that happened (or didn't happen) in the past, with little or no implications for life in the present. It is every bit as much a journey as it is a destination, and that is in many ways, what the book I am writing is all about.

The foundation of our getting right with God, and being able to live life to the full, was laid down for us at incredible cost by Christ on the Cross. Most know of John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” They (you) may not know the two verses that follow “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”.

Part of what this is saying is that the heart of the issue, the one to which we will all in the end be called to give an account, is about what we do, are doing or have done with Christ. Never mind how good or bad are those who call themselves Christians, never mind how the Bible is used and abused, never mind all the rationalization and denial, never mind how much better you are than buddy who lives down the street, the real issue is what we do with Christ. We read “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

When I appear at the pearly gates (if this is indeed how it will happen) my entrance pass, my passing grade if you like, has to do with what Christ has done for me and my response to that incredible sacrifice. Am I trusting in my own goodness (fail) or am I trusting in the shed blood of Jesus as necessary and sufficient substitute for my goodness (pass with flying colours)? How about you? What have you, will you do with Christ? And how about you, how about me? Am I (are you) showing by my (your) life that it's all true? I am saved by faith without works (Ephesians 2:8,9) but my works are evidence of my faith (James 2:18). The journey and the destination are both important!