Beware the Bible Answer Man

I do not know this man.

I threw out a challenge to the Living Stones Church a few weeks ago to read through the entire Bible in 2012.  We want to engage Scripture daily and get an overview of the entire Bible in the year.  I also encouraged people to have a notebook or a journal with them to write down questions, confusion, struggles, etc.

Because…when you read the Bible…you’re going to have questions, confusion, and struggles!

Yesterday one of our Living Stoners posted on her Facebook that she was reading through the Bible and enjoying the history of Israel in the Old Testament but came across a question in regards to Noah’s flood and the amount of rain that is says rose on the face of the earth (Genesis 7:20).  It is a good question.

What was interesting, however, was to see the responses to her status.  There was one in particular that posted like seven times on her status to explain the passage, offer links to answers in Genesis, reconcile the numbers, and defend the accuracy and reliability of the Bible.  It felt like he was almost panicked.  He was desperate (at least as it seemed to me) to resolve the issue so she could continue her reading knowing that there wasn’t a single question or difficulty that couldn’t be answered.

I had a few things I could have offered to reconcile the difficulty of the text.  But honestly, I think it is good to wrestle with questions and not build a faith on having a picture of the Bible like a balloon that if it has one single prick to it – the whole thing blows up.  And when I see Bible answer men (and women), or people who get very nervous at the idea that there is something in the Bible that can’t be explained or reconciled or clearly understood I think they are promoting a balloon-kind-of-faith.

If you have some questions in Genesis…just wait until you get to Leviticus.  I have a lot of questions.  And honestly, I have more faith struggles reading through that book than any other (…and yes…I know that Rob Bell started Mars Hill with a year-long study in Leviticus).  But my faith isn’t based on having a perfect understanding of everything in the Bible.  My faith isn’t threatened by having a an unresolved question or an issue that seems hard to reconcile.

My faith is in Jesus.