Monday, December 08, 2014

All About God?

We're using a curriculum called Animate: Bible for our Sunday evening Bible study at church.  It's great - I would recommend it.

Last night, Bishop Willimon, in his video, gave five guidelines for helping us to interpret the Bible.  The first one was "The bible is all about God."

My goal isn't to argue with a Bishop, but do you think that is true?

Don't get me wrong; I do believe the Bible is about God. The Bible reveals to us who God is, what God is like, God's expectations for how we should live our lives, how God is present with God's people.  It is the revelation of God for us.  It shows us how God see the world and his creation.  The Bible is about God.

It's the "all" that is tripping me up.  Is everything in it about God?  Consider the parable of the two lost sons.  In it we have a beautiful image of the father - and through that, I believe, much of God's nature is revealed.  Through the parable, though, I think that Jesus is not only revealed what God is like to us, but also what we are like.  In the parable, we can find ourselves.  Some of that parable is about us.  Jesus is saying, "Are you like the first son, squandering what you have demanded to be given, and then coming back in repentance?  Or are you like the second son, resentful of the love and grace shown the first son?"

The Bible is about God, but in it, we also find out about ourselves.  I might be missing Bishop Willimon's point, but I just don't see that it is ALL about God.

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