The Bible Tells Me So

This book is not for everyone. Some people may find the content of this boom to be heretical. Some will want to question whether they can believe anything is true. Some will find freedom for a kind of faith that is deeper and truer than proof text theology and a shoehorn faith. 

I grew up with parents from different faiths. While they agreed on 90% of their Christian beliefs, the holy wars over the parts they disagreed on have left me scarred and weary. I don't like discussions where we are trying to triumph over each other through superior knowledge, or using proof texts like pieces on a chessboard, methodically working to put the other in a corner they cannot escape and must declare you the winner as they have nothing left. This is a scenario where we have a winner and a loser. In my experience, the loser doesn't come to agree with the winner so much as vows to find a way to win the argument next time around. Thus, I have come to see apologetics as an ineffective way to introduce people to God. 

Here Peter Enns takes on some topics from the Bible where the Bible seems to present conflicting representations of God and events. Enns puts the books and writers of the text in historical and cultural context to help us understand how the text can be true while not being a precise recording of historical fact. I may not agree with every conclusion or perspective written here, but I greatly appreciate the wit and humor with which Enns makes his case. 

The point I take away from this book is that the Bible is meant to be read with Jesus being the point of the whole Bible. I love this! This is the conclusion I had come to, as well. (Score one for confirmation bias!) Anytime we use the Bible for any reason other than to understand who Jesus is and God's plan to rescue all of humanity, we get off on the wrong path. (Let's face it, even with those standards, people find ways to go off roading.) 

In conclusion, this book reminds me that God is a real, living, complex being who I cannot know completely anymore than I can know any other person on the planet completely. It also reminds me that is a good thing because that means he is big enough and strong enough to be ruler of the universe and that he is powerful enough to save me, an insignificant human with such a small life span, just trying to love God and love my neighbors.