The Gospel According To Who?

I have had (and still have) more than my fair share of bibles (if you want one I will happily send one of mine to you if you don't mind my underlining) my first was a children’s bible which for the longest time was held together by orange tape, I have had red letter editions which highlighted the words of Jesus, and study bibles with wide margins which I filled with lots of notes, and I lost my favorite bible in a fire (long story). Looking around my office I have at least 7 different translations. BUT what do I read?

Apparently Thomas Jefferson had a few bibles to (which is impressive given the high cost of printing back in the day). At least 2 of his bibles he cut up, keeping the parts that he could agree with and discarding the rest (the virgin birth, all the miracles—including the most important one, the Resurrection) - sort of a “gospel according to Thomas” and he called it The Philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth . In recent years the Jesus Seminar (of dubious scholarly worth)has done the same thing by identifying the words of Jesus (not very many by their count), the words he might have said (a few more) and the words he certainly did not say (most of the gospels). This is a kind of editing that creates a scripture text that is agreeable to the editor but also a shadow of the whole scriptures (see N.T. Wright for a more in deapth critique of the Jesus Seminar).

Then there is my bible. You can tell what I read by the coffee stains and the grubby line which marks the edges of the pages of my favorite books. For a while I was proud of the stained pages, and frayed corners which told anyone who cared to notice what my favorite portions of scripture were. It was only after some reflection that I noticed, not how much of my bible was stained and worn but, how little of my bible was stained and worn. As I looked around I became appalled by those without any noticeable wear on their bibles - didn't they read scripture at all?

As a church we have been doing exactly what Thomas Jefferson and the Jesus Seminar has been doing. We are selective readers of the word. There are whole books that most Christians have never even read - nor do they show any interest in reading them. Our intent is not so sinister as Jefferson’s or the Jesus Seminar’s, but the effect is disturbingly similar. We have only half the truth (or less).

Well, so much for the rant. I think I better go and read my bible and see what it really says, not what I think it says or what I want it to say.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. the Gospel of John ch. 1