The Lord will provide
-Genesis 22:14

Is the Bible a little too wordy for your tastes?

Why not trim it down a little?

That’s what Thomas Jefferson did. He took a razor to the Bible, removing all the stuff he didn’t like. Miracles, the Old Testament. You know, a little light editing.

He called it The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth. I’ve seen it at the Smithsonian.

It makes me wonder what I might want to cut out from the Bible. Here’s the start of my list:

• Revelation (messes with too many people’s minds)
• “Wives be subject to your husbands” (have you met my wife?)
• The 7 “gotcha” verses people use to argue about homosexuality
• Joshua (so much violence!)
• God telling Abraham to kill Isaac.

Turns out, there is a LOT of stuff in the Bible I disagree with. Stuff that has been used abusively or generally goes against the teachings of Christ.

Take the story of Abraham and Isaac. The scripture flat out tells us that God is testing Abraham. That alone seems a little manipulative for God, but the way Abraham is tested?

Some have interpreted that as child abuse.

God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son. Can you imagine the trauma Isaac endured being placed on that altar?

This is where the saying “the Lord will provide” comes from–as in, a ram instead of a boy. People forget the troublesome context it originates from.

Christians can look back and realize that God’s own son did climb up on an altar as a sacrifice. That’s an interesting comparison, but that doesn’t mean I like it.

If I took an X-Acto knife to the Bible, how would I know when to stop cutting? Like Jefferson, I have some questions about Jesus’ miracles. Should I snip them from the story? I find Paul to be kind of arrogant sometimes. Snip snip?

Here’s the thing: If I read the Bible literally, without interpretation, I would have to wonder if God is erratic or even contradictory. I would have to believe that God wanted every last person and animal in Jericho wiped from existence.

If I read these stories at face value, I would have to believe that God would threaten to kill a young boy just to prove a point.

Nope. The Bible requires interpretation. For instance, some believe the story of Abraham and Isaac was an ancient allegory, illustrating the trusting bond between God and Abraham. (Even that doesn’t erase my discomfort.)

Understanding that requires careful reading, weighing out the balance between divine inspiration and human fallibility. That’s what I try to do each week when I write one of these devotions, or a sermon for Sunday morning.

If you want to argue with scripture, I think God can handle it. Even like it.

I can hear the Holy Spirit whispering in my ear even now, saying:

“Want to wrestle with the Word?

Don’t cut it out.”

Have a great week,

Mitch