Last week in church, we finished up the “Puzzled by the Bible” series with a look at Revelation and the end times. Scripture references alluding to evil and suffering and hell are never among my favorite, so I chose to pass on writing a post for Michelle’s “Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday.” Instead, I wrote about the hell of shoe-shopping with my daughter.
However, as the week went on, I couldn’t escape one image that my pastor created. He recognized that some people don’t like discussing hell–they’d rather ignore those passages in Revelation–and by doing so, they are effectively ripping out the pages of the Bible they don’t like. The only problem, he pointed out, is that if we rip out those pages in Revelation, then we have to rip out the passages in the Gospel where Jesus alludes to hell. And if we rip out the passages with Jesus, then we have to rip out the prophets who foretold of Him, and so on and so on.
And as he started ripping pages, it became obvious that soon we’d be left with nothing.
While my pastor later revealed that he was actually ripping pages out of an old encyclopedia, the image stayed in my mind. Because the more I thought about it, the more I realized that we all figuratively rip out pages every day.
Perhaps we are very comfortable pointing out the sins of society, take a literal view of Creation and God’s commandments, and strive to live a righteous life, but we gloss over James 1:27:
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
All of a sudden, our literal interpretation of Scripture becomes figurative or allegorical. We read a general mandate of doing good deeds, so we’re content to continue pointing out the sins of others while 143 million children live without parents in this world. We drive by the nursing home on our way to work, not once stopping in to visit that widow without family.
Or maybe we devote our life to doing good deeds and working for social justice. We do care for the orphans and widows and spend our Saturdays in the soup kitchen. Yet, when it comes to the reason for why we are compelled to act with mercy and love, we stay silent. We read the story of Peter healing a paralytic, yet we ignore the most important words he speaks: “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” (Acts 3:6, emphasis mine).
Perhaps we don’t want to call sin, sin. We look to the changing time and culture, so we rip out pages there. We don’t want to forgive our brother for offending us ten years ago, so we rip out the passage that says to forgive seventy-seven times (Matthew 18:22). We keep ripping and ripping, and pretty soon, we’re left with some passages from a good book.
But not the Word of God.
Because we wouldn’t dare destroy words that God himself instructed.
As I walked through last week thinking over this image, I became fearful. Where was I ripping out passages, and what do I believe? Do I truly believe the Bible is the Word of God, or have I made it a good book, treating it like a buffet where I grab a little of this and a little of that?
The implications for either are great. Because if the Bible is the Word of God, then there are serious commands that I must follow, but there are also wonderful blessings. However, if this book is a just a good book, then I can pick and choose what I want, but there is no more power in those words than the bestseller I grab off the shelf in the bookstore.
And on which type of book would I rather place the foundation of my faith, the reason for how I live?
So this morning I knew I needed to at least give the topic consideration. I could no longer ignore the question chasing me last week. And so I ask (nervously) this morning, God, where am I ignoring you? What pages have I ripped out of your book?
Where are you ripping out pages, and are you content to do so?
Jennifer Vignola Davis 
We are all guilty of discarding bits of the bible that make us uncomfortable – we want those who are evil to be punished, but we don't want to be judged ourselves. We want to be forgiven, but struggle to forgive others. We forget that the bible is a package deal – we are in with both feet or nothing!
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Exactly!
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I don't think it's in you to run from anything, not for long anyway. The secular society has infected the church and now we even hear some denominations say they don't believe the Bible literally, just the essence of it. Which means like you said picking and choosing what they want to use as rules. The interesting part in all of this is us and the world want to eliminate the "absolutes," we allow ourselves to be tricked into thinking there are shades of grey. The world takes on the dangerous role of God by announcing that they're pretty good, good enough to go to heaven. I'm amazed at the ignorance of a world that can take on the role of judging what is "good enough," if they are able to judge themselves worthy then they are a god. Since they're a god they should be able to speak themselves into an eternal life right here… Oh, they can't? Guess they need the real God after all. I'm with you, it's all or nothing. God won't be mocked. Good one.
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This post is directed as much to me as to the rest of the world. I'm really having to evaluate what I believe lately because I don't want to be someone who picks and chooses what I like and what I don't. However, I do believe there are instances in scripture that have to be interpreted in light of the culture at the time–but I want to make sure that if I interpret a passage that way it is because that issue IS an issue of culture and not just something that I don't want to accept. And of course there are the easy things to interpret–love my enemy, take care of the poor, put others above me–and I so easily gloss over those commandments when convenient. God's working on me, though!
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It must have been a good sermon because Kristina was telling us about it over the weekend as well. You gave me some food for thought…
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Good one. Ripping out pages is like tearing down a room in your heart.. the room that holds all
the things that make you uncomfortable but are necessary for you to do in your walk with the Lord..
If you love Jesus you don't dfiscard anything He wants you to take care of. Don't throw it out but put it in order and keep; working to please Him. It's a long road and I know I am no where near the goal of being like Jesus but I keep trying. If you believe the Bible is the Word of God, then we should read it, study it and pray on it, not try to change it's meaning or eliminate parts of it. Thanks for the reminder.
love
Dad
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Oh Jennifer, what an incredibly convicting post. And yes, I do this all the time. I take the love and peace and grace, but I ignore Jesus' hard teachings — the parts about forgiveness and humility, patience and self-righteousness. I've though about this very topic a lot, so I'm glad you wrote about it today. And as for Revelation? I've only read it once — I avoid that one bigtime…maybe this is just the nudge to open those pages and dive in?
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Wow, Jennifer. Amen and Amen!
When you said "The implications for either are great. Because if the Bible is the Word of God, then there are serious commands that I must follow, but there are also wonderful blessings. However, if this book is a just a good book, then I can pick and choose what I want, but there is no more power in those words than the bestseller I grab off the shelf in the bookstore…
Well, that's just awesome and it made me think of Psalm 91 which is full of promises from God, but they come with conditions… if you trust Me… if you abide in Me… etc. We can't pick and choose and receive everything that God has for us.
I could go on and on, but you have really said a lot and said it beautifully. God bless you for being open and facing thoughts you didn't want to face. Truth. God's word is truth. Do we really believe it? In believing, we will turn our world upside down for the Lord.
OK, I'll hush. 🙂 You got me excited, girl, and that's a gift!
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