The Bible according to me

Orphan letters with a word or two in a text, snippets of horrific global events on the news, “friends” spouting random opinions and miscellaneous personal information: this is communication in our tidbit world. Does our Christian School Bible Curriculum or Sunday School Curriculum mirror this accidental, piecemeal approach? Do we teach the Bible as an unrelated collection of nuggets for our use?

It is possible to make the Bible say most anything we want it to say. As a teenager in my country church, I heard an illustration of extreme proof texting. Apparently the issue of that day and place was women’s hair; the bun traditionally gathered at the neck-base was climbing seductively upward. This prompted a sermon based on Matthew 24:17 King James Version: “Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house.” This verse conveniently contained the nugget to stop the dangerous bun inclination: “top knot come down”.

I gained a new notch on my grandma belt this month so I went baby shopping. In a Christian bookstore a diaper bag blazoned: “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed” (I Corinthians 15:51). The cleverness was squashed by trivialization of context for me, a new widow.

Our glorification of the individual has overgrown our sense of tradition and community. We are accustomed to selecting options so we choose which part of the Bible we like and then our favorite version of it. Our embraceable scriptures tend not to be determined by factors such as awe, responsibility or obedience. We are pragmatic; we use whatever will help us feel better. Positive verses, analogous to self-help substance, are very popular.

If we are selfish in our approach to the scriptures, how will those who follow view the Bible? Our Christian School Bible Curriculum and Sunday School Curriculum must reckon that they are training church leaders for the next generation. We have an opportunity to ground children in the whole counsel of God. We dare not squander it.