I’ve watched a lot of movies in my time. A lot of television, too. I’ve read a good number of books… heard political speeches and educational lectures. And I fear to think about how much of the internet I’ve scanned in the past twenty-odd years. Most of it is a confusing mess: stories, ideas, opinions, and policies, usually fighting against one another. I’ve watched films where mass-murderers are portrayed as the heroes of the story. I’ve listened to completely reasonable arguments supporting two sides of intensely divisive issues, and seen people flock to one or the other in droves. I’ve seen individuals and groups condemned as “the enemy,” and the very same raised up as champions of all that is good. And so, I’ve learned an important lesson: there is no moral and ethical standard in any of it that we can follow effectively. And the same argument can be made about the Bible.
At face value the Bible is not a guide to good ethical and moral behaviour. It just isn’t. The Bible, in its much-cherished pages, promotes slavery, the treatment of women and children as property, punishments which are far worse than the crimes, genocide, and many more things which most people would consider to be horrible if presented from any other source. And yet we as Christians continue to hold up the Bible and proclaim to everyone who listens that this is the ultimate guide for living a good, righteous, and holy life. We assert that “This is sinful!” or “This is God’s will!” because of the words we read therein. And no one can argue otherwise. Except of course, for the fact that we do often argue otherwise in the case of those passages which we personally disagree with. We make excuses and note exceptions to cover over those things which don’t fit our own ideals and constantly repeat those things which support our own righteousness. Isaac sends away Hagar and Ishmael to die in the desert, but God told him that’s okay, so no harm done. Joshua invades Canaan, slaughtering every man, woman, and child… but they were bad people, so God wanted them all dead. Slavery is okay according to the Bible… oh, wait, never mind, turns out it’s not. Homosexuality… well obviously God hates that, and it must be stamped out. We negotiate with the text all the time to agree with our own ideals and the ideals of our society and then declare that this was always what God meant and anything else is sinful and corrupt. And, as a cleric, I get very tired of it. I don’t see the Bible as a moral text, and I grow increasingly weary of the apologies and negotiations. And so, I hold to just one thing: love God and love your neighbour as yourself. Jesus gave us those words, and with them the wrestling with Scripture stops. I read a passage and ask the question, “Is this an example of loving behaviour toward both God and neighbour?” If not, then I strive not to do it. Because love is the only answer. It’s the only way to make sense of our often contradictory and confusing Scripture; the only way to make sense of a senseless world. And it always works… not just in the Bible, but in all things: movies, TV, politics, and the actions of our daily lives.
Love is the key… the only key. Through it we find the safe path forward, in as much as we ever can in our broken and complicated world. Let us know all things through love, and we grow closer to God each day.
