Pastor Speaks - "The Bible is for Power" - May l5, 1997

One time a friend told me he was annoyed because a co-worker of his was always quoting scripture. His answer to everything was to quote a particular bible verse. My friend felt powerless. He had not made it a practice to memorize scripture although he was a very active and faithful member of the church.

Sometimes the Bible is used as a "club" to make people feel inferior. Other times it is used as a rulebook that enforces guidelines for every possible scenario. Still others wave it around and hold it high in the air as a symbol of absolute power. There are also those who remind us that they are a "Bible believing" Church.

For me, the Bible has authority and the scriptures are critical to our faith. However, It is God who is to be worshipped, not the Bible. The Bible does not forgive, Jesus does. In of itself, the Bible has no power. It needs to be read, applied to our daily lives and taken as a whole. I appreciate all that the Bible tells me, but it is God I believe in, not the Bible.

I believe we need to see the Bible FOR POWER, not AS POWER. If you read the Bible as power, then God is always created in your image. It becomes self serving instead of other serving. When God is seen as one who is all powerful or Jesus is understood as having absolute power over us then our faith may be abusive.

When we see the Bible FOR POWER, we hear the stories of the Bible, our lives are impacted by them, and we are empowered to react in a new way. When we read a story we need to see ourselves as every character, not just the hero. We also need to ask the question, "what is the story trying to tell us about every day life?"

The stories of the Bible challenge us to act differently than we are acting. For example. Read the story in the gospel of Mark about the man with the withered hand. (See Mark 3:l-6)

This is a story about a man who had a hand that was unsightly. In that day he was considered an outcast. He had to stay in the back of the synagogue so as not to be noticed. Jesus notices him immediately. God always notices the underdog. God is aware of our pain and our limitations, our guilt and oppression.

If we see the Bible AS power, we perceive this story as a miracle, Jesus acting in a powerful way to restore the man’s withered hand to wholeness. On the other hand, when we see the Bible FOR power, then we see a man who is empowered by the love of Jesus to expose his vulnerability and in a sense, come out of hiding. Jesus challenges the man to "stretch out his hand" and the man responds. If he had not responded nothing would have happened and the story would be meaningless.

The story has no power unless the man responds or is given the opportunity to act differently than he has in the past. Imagine the risk that this man took. He had tremendous courage as he came forward with the Pharisees looking over his shoulder. They never noticed the man with the withered hand because they were to preoccupied with their rules. They saw their faith tradition AS power instead of FOR power.

The Bible is not to be lorded over anyone. It is a collection of stories that grew from the faith community from both oral and written resources. It was assembled over many centuries of time, in different languages. Except for the scroll of Isaiah, no text was found complete. In fact, most of what was discovered was in fragments. This of course opened the door for bias from a particular culture or religious point of view. Why should a committee of fifty scholars in the days of King James be any more right than the scholars of our own day? If we are constantly updating and improving our homes, our automobiles, our machines and all the other things of life, why would we use a Bible that was produced over 300 years ago?

When we say the Bible is infallible we are saying we are knowledgeable or spiritual enough to know what is perfect. How can we as human beings who are imperfect possibly know what is perfect? Incidentally, the Bible says that somewhere I just don’t happen to know the particular scripture at the moment.

What really matters is not how powerful the bible is but how can it be applied to our every day lives. How can it give us the power to be happier, healthier people, free of guilt and fulfilled? What do the stories say to us? One day we may be like the Pharisees who like to keep people we don’t like out of the way. On another day we may be like the man who has a withered hand, feeling alienated or oppressed. And I suppose there are a few days, when we are like Jesus and help those who are the underdogs in life to rise to a position of acceptance and elevated self esteem.

To see the Bible AS power and not FOR power is to miss an invitation to live more faithfully and responsively. At the same time, an unopened Bible is totally useless.

If you are feeling inferior because someone is constantly quoting scripture or always bashing you with the Bible, you will discover it is advantageous to read it for yourself.

Dr. Keith Wagner - St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, Sidney, Ohio