FROM BISHOP LEE

Troubled by the God of the Scriptures

According to the recent poll on the 'Ship of Fools' website, the verse most people would like to see removed from the Bible is verse 12 of chapter 2 in St Paul's first letter to Timothy (1 Timothy 2: 12). This relates to the apostle's injunction against women teaching or having authority over a man. I have to admit to being slightly surprised that the divine instruction to totally wipe out the Amalekites in 1 Samuel 15: 3 was beaten into second place by this, or that the Lord's command to stone someone collecting wood on the Sabbath did not even feature (Numbers 15: 35).

This survey, which featured in the national media, is a reminder of the many verses which cause us to baulk and ask what kind of God the Scriptures are pointing towards. A passage recently set for reading in church was from 1 Chronicles chapter 13. It described how King David arranged for the Ark of the Covenant to be transported to Jerusalem in a holy convoy of much jubilation and worship. On its journey the Ark threatened to slip off its cart so Uzzah, one of the priests, stuck out a hand to steady it. Verse 10 says that the Lord's anger broke out against Uzzah for his action and he was struck down dead! It is easy to empathise with the King's anger at God over this, and also his sense of fear.

From the earliest days of the Christian faith, verses such as these have caused trouble. Can this really be the same God we see revealed in the person of Jesus? Some theologians such as Marcion made a clear distinction between the God of the Old Testament or Hebrew Scriptures, and the God of the New. He wanted to consign the Hebrew Scriptures to the scrap heap. However, Marcion found that there were plenty of unpalatable texts and verses in the material which became our New Testament. When he had cast out whole books and snipped out numerous parts of the others there was not much left to his Bible! Just an edited version of Luke's gospel and the writings of St Paul.

So if we do not want to go with Marcion what are we to make of these difficult Scriptures?

If you are not quite sure it may bring reassurance to know that the compilers of the Church of England Lectionary - the calendar of appointed readings for the year - are not either. They include challenging passages like 1 Chronicles in the weekday calendar, but the most difficult texts are omitted from the Sunday readings (or at least filleted!).

Although I appreciate the pastoral reasons behind this strategy it does mean that many Christians never hear the most uncomfortable Scriptures. As a result some people never wrestle with them and how they might impact their understanding of the Bible or God and his nature. The truth is that engaging with the God who meets us in Christ, necessitates engaging fully with the Scriptures through which God is brought into focus.

Passages such as 1 Chronicles 13 certainly affront and puzzle but they also invite us to ponder how God cannot be domesticated or used as a political weapon. In paying attention to some of the more disturbing verses, and ideally doing some listening to the context, the Spirit often brings us surprising insight and confidence.

Mark Twain is supposed to have said that it was not the verses in the Bible that he did not understand which gave him most trouble but those he did! If we are serious about growing in our faith, I hope we will wrestle with both kinds. It will repay the effort.

+Lee