“The Bible I Want”

Tuesday, May 10, 2022

I want a different Bible.  By this, I don’t mean that I want the latest fancy goatskin Bible in my preferred translation.  My hands are bad, and it’s difficult for me to use paper Bibles anymore.  Rather, I want a Bible that says different things than the Bibles I already own.

I want a Bible that says that the road to life is broad and found by many.  It doesn't contain specific instructions about salvation or the church.  This new Bible would say that sincerity is enough.  Then, I wouldn’t have to fear for my Methodist neighbors or have awkward conversations with them.  They’d be fine already.

I want a Bible that allows women to teach and exercise authority over men in the church.  My sister and my wife are good Bible students and gifted public speakers, more so than I am.  My new Bible would let them take the pulpit just as I do.  As a side benefit, it wouldn’t make me look like such a Neanderthal!

I want a Bible that doesn’t condemn the practice of homosexuality.  I have friends and loved ones who are caught up in that sin.  Some of them would get baptized tomorrow, if only this stumbling block were removed. 

In my new Bible, I’d take the stumbling block right out.  I like those people!  Why cause them pain by telling them that God hates their behavior?

I want a Bible that allows divorce for any good reason.  There are a lot of terrible marriages out there in which people suffer greatly.  I don’t like telling them that they must not separate what God has joined together.  For that matter, I don’t like disagreeing with my brethren who make emotional arguments in favor of divorce.  I take no pleasure in Scripture-checking people.

My new Bible would let the good people whom I like get divorced, and it would let them get remarried too.  It’s so hard to live alone!  My revision would let them find happiness with someone else.

I want a Bible that is different in many other ways too.  Its message would conform to the world and to my own inclinations, instead of demanding that everyone conform to a revelation that has not changed in 2000 years.

However, there’s a problem with the Bible I want.  In my new Bible, I would be lord, and Jesus wouldn’t be.  All of the above are my ideas, not His.

I am dying.  It’s a cliché to say that Jesus is my only hope, but words cannot convey the desperate clarity with which I see that truth.  I have no other hope left.

If I follow the Bible I want and appeal to Him for help at the last, He has told me what His reply will be.  He will ask, “Why did you call me Lord and did not do what I said?”  It chills my soul even to imagine hearing those words.

I don’t want the Bible I have, with so many hard sayings and painful demands, but I cling to it with all my strength.  I strive to honor and proclaim it, whatever the cost.  I have no alternative.

By contrast, the Bible I want is a luxury I can’t afford.

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