How NOT to Misread the Bible (Part 1): Why Are So Many Hating On the Bible?

When it comes to defending the Bible today, we are in a new and increasingly hostile world.  At one time the Bible might be viewed by its doubters to be little better than mythology, born out of a primitive and pre-scientific culture. Yet, its stories were considered to be, all-in-all, helpful with many good moral lessons. It was commonly called The Good Book. Perhaps, as the reasoning would go: “There was no David and Goliath, but it sure makes for an inspiring underdog story.” Over the last decade, there has been a sea change of thought which has made skepticism of the Bible take on an increasingly hostile tone.  More and more critics of Christianity see the Bible as a book which is good for no more than a few laughs: little more than a patch work of hypocritical contradictions and absurd claims. At worse, it is seen as a source of historic and unjust oppression over certain groups of people.

“Reading the Bible is the fast track to atheism.“

Penn Jillette

The hostile resistance to the Bible comes from thinking that it is full of ignorance and superstition, even immoral and evil ideas.  Many of its claims and promises are regarded as naïve and unrealistic. So, what has happened? The social influences causing this are numerous. What is very clear, though, is that much of this is caused by a fundamental misunderstanding and misreading of the Bible.  In this several part series of How NOT to Misread and Misunderstand the Bible, we will seek to correct this by exploring:

• The Uniqueness of the Bible
• The Big Story of the Bible
• How to Understand and Interpret the Bible
• Common Misuses and Misunderstandings of the Bible

Let’s begin by looking at one example of where the Bible was reviled in popular culture.

Full of Outdated Ignorance?

The West Wing, a Golden Globe award-winning television show, had an episode where Martin Sheen portraying the president of the United States, Josiah Bartlet, challenged a religious radio show host, by asking her a series of questions about what one should accept from the Bible. Quoting several Bible verses, with the ease comparable to a biblical scholar, his interrogation went as follows:

“When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go free as male slaves do.”

I’m interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. She’s a Georgetown sophomore, speaks fluent Italian, always cleaned the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be?

“On six days work may be done, but the seventh day shall be sacred to you as the sabbath of complete rest to the LORD. Anyone who does work on that day shall be put to death.”

My chief of staff, Leo McGarry, insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself or is it okay to call the police?

“…and the pig, which does indeed have hoofs and is cloven-footed, but does not chew the cud and is therefore unclean for you.8Their flesh you shall not eat, and their dead bodies you shall not touch; they are unclean for you.”

Here’s one that’s really important cause we’ve got a lot of sports fans in this town: touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean. Leviticus 11:7 If they promise to wear gloves can the Washington Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point? Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother, John, for planting different crops side by side? Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads? “Think about those questions, would you?

Millions of people who watched this heard the Bible quoted and were confronted with some apparently ridiculous concepts:

• Selling your daughter into slavery?
• Capital punishment for working on Saturday?
• No playing football?
• No planting different crops in the same field?
• No weaving different threads in the same fabric?

Many probably came to the conclusion that it is crazy to believe in such an outdated and strange book like the Bible. Yet, those who arrived at this judgement are fundamentally misunderstanding the Bible because the script writers of The West Wing are misreading the Bible.

Understanding the Bible

The Bible is a Library

Let’s start with the basics. Why do we even call the Bible, “the Bible?” The very word “Bible” is not found in the Bible. The reason for this is because the Bible was not called the “Bible” until its sixty-six books began to be printed and bound in a book form (ca., AD 1450). The word bible comes from the Greek word, biblia, meaning book. As it began to be printed in large quantities, it began to be called, the Bible (The Book,)

For this reason, it is helpful to understand that the Bible is more like a library than a book. It was written over a period of 1500 years (1400 BC to 100 AD) with more than 40 writers, under many different empires, cultures and circumstances. As you move from book to book, you will detect differences in languages, style, emphases and content. Think of walking into a library and going to the poetry sections with books filled with creative words and flowing sentences meant to inspire or cause deeper reflection. The poetry section will read very differently than the legal section which is filled with dull statues and judicial terminology relating to the rules that govern the land. These will also be quite distinctive from the historical or the fiction sections. The Bible is like this, as well. When reading it, you need to understand that it is like a library containing various styles of writing:

• History
• Law (to the Jewish Nation)
• Poetry
• Prophecy
• Gospels
• Letters
• Apocalpyse (Revelation)

One Message, Many Styles

What this means is that not every book can be read in the same way. So, the poetry of David (1000 B.C.):

¹“I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from?
²My help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.“

Psalm 121:1-2

is not going to read like a letter of Paul to the Philippians (AD 62):

¹⁴ “Do everything without grumbling or arguing, ¹⁵ so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”

Philippians 2:14-15

or the law of Moses (1400 BC):

⁹ “‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. ¹⁰ Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.“

Leviticus 19:9-10

One cannot read all of these styles of writing the same. The letter of Paul has to be read in a straightforward way which gives practical instruction. The poetry of David has a different aim of inspiring a heartfelt faith by using the image of the majestic heights of a mountain to inspire our trust to ascend higher. The law of Moses was written for the nation of Israel, as they were establishing their civil order just after leaving slavery from Egypt. All of these point to the same God, but they cannot be read in the exact same way. Just as one would not read the fantasy novel Lord of the Rings the same as the Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address or the title deed to a car, so the Bible must be read as a library containing different styles of writing.

Old and New Testaments

This “library” of the Bible, though a single volume, contains two distinct parts: The Old and New Testaments. Which of the two parts you are reading makes a big difference in how you understand what you are reading. The word “testament” simply means “covenant.,” It was a very common term at the time the Bible was written. It means an “agreement” between two parties. The Old Testament (covenant) is the agreement God made with the people of Israel revealing in detail how they would relate to God and follow him. The New Testament (covenant) is the agreement God made with all people through Jesus through his death, burial and resurrection. In making this agreement, he brought several changes to the relationship to the the Old Testament. (More on that later.) The New Testament, now, reveals how all people today of every background (not just the Jewish people) can relate to God and follow him.

Old Testament	New Testament
39 books	27 books
Written in Hebrew and Aramaic	Written in Greek
Written approximately between 1400 to 400 BC	Written approximately between AD 40 to 100
Emphasizes the Law of Moses	Emphasizes the Gospel (Good News) of Jesus Christ
Shows humanity’s need for redemption	Shows God’s provision for redemption
The Savior is promised	The Savior is given
God reveals his purposes through the nation of Israel	God reveals his purposes in the church, composed of all nations

What about The West Wing making the claim that the Bible forbids the playing of football (touching the hide of pig skin) or weaving together two different fabrics? The script writers were either sadly ignorant at best or intentionally deceptive at worst. Every passage cited by the show was taken from the civil Law of Moses given to the Jewish nation shortly after they departed from Egypt (1446 BC). At the time, those prohibitions were sensible and given with good reason for that time, as we will see later. But because we are under the New Testament (covenant), those civil laws are no longer applicable. They have not been for over two thousand years.

¹⁴ “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵ by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace…” 

Ephesians 2:14-15

The work of Jesus Christ on the cross has made the civil laws of Moses no longer relevant. In short, the script writers of The West Wing, as well as those claiming the Bible is full of outdated superstitions and ignorance, are guilty of misreading and misunderstanding the book they so confidently revile.

In our next section, we will further correct this problem by beginning to look at the story of the Bible.