Pious but Stupid Statements about the Bible

I was out driving today and saw a church sign with the statement, “The Bible – Your First Notebook.” What exactly does that mean? I see almost nothing about the Bible that makes it like a notebook.

It’s still better than the common statement—at least I heard it frequently when I was younger—that the Bible is like the Boy Scout Handbook. In fact, again, the Bible is almost totally unlike the Boy Scout Handbook. They do both have covers, pages, and letters on the page, but there the similarity seems to end. There are portions of the Bible that are more like the handbook than others, but even those, such a Proverbs, or certain sections of the Pentateuch, but even there the differences are overwhelming.

The Bible is a bit more like a collection of all the camp fires tales and verbal wisdom passed from one leader to another, though nobody is likely to use that as an analogy. Nonetheless, such an analogy would provide more help in learning to interpret the Bible well.

I think we see these expressions as somehow pious. People respect the Boy Scout Handbook in a certain way. People follow the directions that are in it. So it seems pious and virtuous to make the comparison.

But such comparisons are really unhelpful. The Bible presents the word of God, but it often provides us with more questions than answers, starting places for thinking rather than conclusions. I’m not saying that it does not provide any conclusions. It’s just that it’s not as simple as an instruction manual. It tells a story of human interaction with God. That makes the Bible work.

The Bible also makes much larger claims than any instruction manual. Besides the claim to bring God’s word, it claims that study of that word will bring wisdom. (Consider Psalm 19 or all of Psalm 119, for example.)

So while it may seem pious to compare the Bible to things in our ordinary lives that we respect. But we do not help people by making these claims or comparisons. The most respectful thing to do about the Bible is to represent it accurately, and treat it as it is.

I doubt such an accurate representation will fit on a church sign.