Part 2 of 3: “God is not a Big Bad Meany” series
Over the years, I have had this conversation with people who were less willing than my daughter to take me at my word. The response is often, “Okay, so if it is true that God loves us more than we can imagine and that God is a god of grace and mercy, how do you explain [insert horrific Bible story here].” From the almost-but-not-quite sacrifice of Isaac, to the untimely demise of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts, the Bible seems to offer plenty of examples of God being a Big Bad Meany. So, what’s the deal?
What is the Bible?
Excellent question. To answer that, we need to ask another one: what is the Bible?
Sunday school perfect attendance award winners like me have heard it called “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth” and have sung with gusto: “The B-I-B-L-E, yes that’s the book for me! I stand alone on the word of God! The B-I-B-L-E!” Joel Osteen famously said of the Bible, “God said it, I believe it, and that settles it!” But, mnemonics, catchy jingles, and soundbites fall short of capturing the dense and often disturbing content of the Bible.
What is the Bible’s purpose?
The Bible does many things, but I suggest its main purpose is to tell us something about who God is. The Bible does that quite well; but it also does a frightfully good job of exposing humanity’s frailties. Humanity is petty and vindictive, selfish and moody. We overlook our role in catastrophes and rush to explain away things that confuse us. We spend way too much time on things that have nothing to do with glorifying God and not nearly enough loving our neighbors. If the Bible makes anything clear, it’s that humanity excels at failure. And the way the Bible does this is by delivering not just the mountaintop moments of God’s interaction with humanity, but the tedious monotony as well.
How does the Bible work?
Think of the Bible like a library that includes novels, business records, history, and more. It tells a story, but not in the way you might expect.
It is not a monolith of historical record, but rather a compilation of valuable artifacts that describe the relationship between God and humanity. To better understand the Bible’s nature, try this.
A helpful, if imperfect, metaphor
Imagine going to your church office with a massive three-ring binder and a 3-hole punch. Now collect all the documents you find and put them in the binder.
What’s in the binder?
There are Sunday bulletins and minutes from committees. Children’s drawings make up part of the book and so do thank you notes from parishioners. That instruction manual for the copier—put it in the book. The angry note someone slipped under the door? Hole-punch it too.
When you’re done, you have a binder that tells the story of the church, right? Some bits are more important than others—like the work done to craft a welcome statement for your congregation and the Bible study your pastor led on marriage and family. That’s in there right beside all the quotes you got for the new carpet in the sanctuary and the accompanying arguments for each color choice.
Unfortunately, you also have a lot of documents from that time of trial in your church; the vitriol is thick in those pages. Put it all in the book: the curricula, the choral anthem, the personnel files, the eulogies, the insurance adjustments, and even the sermons preached from your church’s pulpit.
Who reads the binder?
Now that you’ve got all that together, imagine someone reading it. There will be places you would like to explain in greater detail than the documents provide, but there’s no written record of your thoughts so you cannot add it to the binder.
Okay, so the one who reads your binder will get to know your church better, right? They will see your victories and your defeats, your strengths and your shame. But there’s a glitch. Not everyone reads it all and no one focuses on every section equally. They will all get to know your church, but not in the same way.
- Some people who read your binder will turn first to the instructional manuals and the bylaws.
- Others will look at only the financial statements and attendance reports.
- And there will be some who go straight to the handwritten parts—the cards of encouragement and the pastor’s sermon notes.
Yes, it’s all a part of your history, but some sections are more instructive for those who want to get to know your church family better, don’t you think? The ones who dive head first into the manuals may be great at administration, but they might miss out on human connection. The data people will be good at keeping the pews full and the bills paid, but chances are they will overlook some important aspects of administration. The people great at relationship building will likely need some support from the admin and analytical types.
So what?
You’re with me, right? The Bible is a sacred collection of lots of different kinds of ancient documents that together tell us more about who God is. Some sections offer more insight than others, but still, the whole thing is sacred text that helps us get to know God better.
Now back to the question: how do we explain horrific acts in scripture that are apparently carried out by God’s own hand? The answer is complicated at best and incomplete no matter how you look at it. But I suggest that when we focus on these tragedies, we miss the greater message evident from Genesis to Revelation: God loves you, God loves you, God loves you.
So rather than answer that question flat out, for now let’s set it aside and consider the evidence of God’s love and how God acts with loving compassion toward humanity. More on that in the next post.
