"The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the Word of the Lord endures forever." Isaiah 40:8; 1 Peter 1:24
Thoughts: The Bible has been misused. It has been misused falsely to condone slavery. But never does the Bible condone slavery. If anything it mollifies slavery by saying no Jew may enslave a Jew forever- but every seventh year Jewish slaves are set free (Dt. 15:12). In the Roman world, fully one third of the population were slaves, and to not speak to them and their needs (most of the early Gentile Christian church was made of slaves) would be a huge oversight. So Paul tells slaves that they are to find freedom in the Lord even in the midst of their work- working not for a harsh master but for the Lord, knowing that every slave has an eternal reward (Col. 3). Paul says that in the church all are one- Jew- Gentile, male- female, slave-free (Gal. 3:28). So often the abolitionists- were strong Christians like Wilberforce and Isaac Newton (the man who wrote "Amazing Grace"), and the Beechers in America. Because some Christians misused the Bible to say what it did not say is wrong. But if something good is misused, that does not mean the whole thing is useless. If there are politicians who mess up- and misuse their own system for greed and selfish gain, that does not means that all of politics is rotten.
The Bible has been misused to not allow women to have freedom or be in leadership. Yet we forget how much the New Testament has been used to set women free. In the Old Testament only males were circumcised. In the Inter-Testamental period there is evidence that male converts were circumcised but female converts were baptized. In the New Testament male and female were baptized, and were made one in baptism (cf. Gal. 3:28). In the Old Testament Deborah was a judgess and a prophetess; Isaiah's wife was a prophetess too. The women were the first gospel-tellers at the resurrection, Phoebe was a deaconness (Rom. 16:1), Anna was a prophetess, as were the daughters of Philip (Acts 21:9), and Joel prophesied that when the Spirit comes women would prophesy- that is- speak forth God's Word (Joel 2, Acts 2:17). While there are a couple of verses used out of context to keep women from talking or leading, certainly few can argue that women were not called and used of God to both talk and lead.
Simply because the Bible has been misused does not mean that it is wrong about everything, or that we do not need to listen to the wisdom of the ages when it speaks of morality. This week the debate over homosexuality has been heated up by Chik FilA's owner's statement in support of the traditional family and the owner of Amazon.com giving millions to redefine marriage in Washington state. The homosexual debate is not about a gender in between male or female. For Christians, no one should bash homosexuals. Too many, think Christians are bashing homosexuals simply because they believe in traditional religious marriage. Morality is not about genetic tendencies or orientations, but about acts. If someone has a tendency toward alcoholism genetically (and this tendency has been proven) there is nothing wrong- but when they use their tendency to destroy their jobs, families, and themselves with alcohol abuse it becomes wrong. If someone has a tendency for sexual addictiveness (some have argued this is a genetic tendency) that in itself is not wrong- unless sexual immorality is used to have multiple partners and broken promises, hearts, and dangerous stds are left behind. There are at least seven passages in scripture condemning not homosexual orientation, but the act of same gender sex (Gen 19; Lev. 18:22- "you shall not lie with a man as you lie with a woman"; 20:13; Deut 23:17-18; Mark 7:20-23; Rom. 1:18-32 "shameful lusts of women exchanging natural relations for unnatural ones- and in the same way men abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another"; 1 Cor. 6:9-11; 1 Tim 1:8-11; 2 Pt 2:6-10; Jude 7; Rev. 21:8; 22:15). Homosexuality is not the unforgivable sin, nor is it the only sin- but that does not mean the act is not sin. Never is there anything in scripture that condemns slaves or women. But there is much that condemns the act of sexual immorality- that is sexuality outside the borders of heterosexual marriage.
Some would say that their ideology and well wishes for homosexuals trump what scripture says, for to condemn sexual immorality seems harsh. Others might argue from creation (children are made naturally from heterosexual relationships and sustain the race) and from providence (the prevalence of sexually transmitted disease among homosexuals) to confirm that the scriptures are right. The overall question is one that each one needs to answer- what is our standard for what we believe is right or true. If scripture is in any sense revelation of God, in which God not only teaches us about God but also about how we should live, then scripture should be lifted above the opinion of experts, friends, or experience. Anything good- any standard- can be misused (even the constitution has). The Bible has been used wrongly, but our call is not to discard it but to use it wisely.
Prayer: Lord, give me grace to hear you speaking by your Spirit through your Word.
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