DID GOD WRITE THE
Wrong Book?
LEARNING HOW TO RE-READ THE BIBLE AT SUMMER CAMPS LYDIA CHAMLEY | SUNZ Camp Team Leader
‘WHEN WE READ THE BIBLE, IT’S EASY TO FEEL LIKE GOD WROTE THE WRONG BOOK. WE COME TO THE BIBLE WITH OUR PROBLEMS, QUESTIONS, RESPONSIBILITIES, DECISIONS, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, OUR VIEW OF THE WORLD. WE WANT ANSWERS AND PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS. BUT AT FIRST GLANCE, THE BIBLE SEEMS SURPRISINGLY SILENT ABOUT OUR LIVES AND ISSUES.’1
L
et’s be honest for a minute. It’s not just young people who can sometimes read the Bible looking for easy and direct answers for our 21st century lives. It’s human nature to put ourselves at the centre and think that anything that doesn’t directly apply to us, must not be for us. That is why we need to learn how to re-read the Bible. We need to unpack not only the worldview of the characters in this collection of ancient stories, but our own context and beliefs. Then we can learn how to translate the stories to recognise the unified narrative that points us to Jesus and know that the Bible really is ‘the living word’ of God. This complex idea is unpacked beautifully in The Insect and The 1 Roshan Allpress and Andrew Shamy (2009). The Insect and the Buffalo. How the story of the Bible Changes Everything, p16. Venn Foundation.
10 www.sunz.org.nz
Buffalo: How the Story of the Bible Changes Everything by Roshan Allpress and Andrew Shamy.2 The main theme/argument behind this text is that while the Bible is a collection of smaller stories, those stories piece together into a larger narrative about a God who created the world out of love and desires a relationship with creation and humanity. However, humanity rebels. Despite this rebellion, God sends a rescue mission to liberate us; that rescue mission is centred upon Jesus Christ and God’s consistent message that He wants a relationship with humanity. A simple pattern echoes throughout the Bible: creation > fall> redemption. And whatever story we read takes on new meaning when framed with Jesus behind it. 2 Roshan Allpress and Andrew Shamy (2009). The Insect and the Buffalo. How the story of the Bible Changes Everything. Venn Foundation.
