Another great post from Rachel Held Evans today on reading the Bible we have.
Although, one statement had an underlying assumption that I want to clarify:
It is somewhat ironic, it seems to me, that both liberals and conservatives make the same error. They both assume that something worthy of the title word of God would look different from what we actually have.
Not all “liberals” (nor conservatives, dare I say?) consider the Bible as “Word of God.” My denomination makes it clear (most of the time) that the Word of God is first and foremost, CHRIST. And if the word of God is infallible and inerrant, it is because the Word of God is Christ.
Again, nowhere in the Bible does it say that the whole Bible is the Word of God. Why? The Bible is a collection of independent scrolls which were, for the most part, written without the intention to be “in the Bible.” The Bible is not aware of itself being the Bible.
Therefore, again, claiming that the Bible is the ‘Word of God’ is a faith-claim external to the text itself. It is a choice, but one that is not often viewed as a choice. Conceptions making reality again, and experiences being ignored. We can do better.
