The Bible is misrepresented

Just before Christmas, Newsweek published an article titled The Bible: So Misunderstood It’s a Sin. The article stirred up quite a bit of controversy and more than a few Christain bloggers wrote a reaction or clarification piece. I read quite a few of those, including this cleverly titled one by Albert Mohler.

I’ll say right off that some of the points in the article are so obviously right or wrong that they are not worthy of discussion. It reminded me of a post I wrote back in October. Aside from that, I just didn’t find the piece as offensive as many other Christians did. I had a little bit of an issue with the timing, but that was more on journalisit grounds. I wasn’t offended as a Christian. So I decided to ask a few of my friends for comment on the article, Mohler’s reaction, and one other I thought worth reading.

Some of my friends took issue with the tone of the article. I’ll admit that parts seemed more agressive than necessary. Perhaps that should have been dialed back a bit. On the other hand, I have discovered that sometimes the only way to get someone’s attention is to resort to pretty strong assertions. Assuming, of course, those assertions are supported by evidence.

Overall, though, my friends helped me confirm my suspicions that the reactions to this article help prove one point.

The Bible is misunderstood - and misrepresented.

If you ask me, the Bible was written to tell a story of redemption. We can get into all sorts of troulbe when we try to use it in ways that don’t keep that in mind.

More on that in tomorrow’s book review.