The Bible: Idle Idyll of the Idol?
Do people really worship a book? Surely not.
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IS JUST SO CONFUSING
Those three words: idle, idyll, and idol, illustrate the fact. Hopefully, you will understand my use of them throughout this article.
As an Anglican (Episcopalian in the USA), I grew up being warned about idolatry in the Catholic Church. Those terrible Catholics had statues all through their churches. Idolatry! They also prayed to dead Saints. Idolatry! And worse still, to Mary as the “Mother of God.” Idolatry! They seemed to venerate their Priests, Cardinals, and of course, the Pope. Idolatry! Whereas we were pure and had no idolatry whatsoever…..
Like “fudge,” we didn’t. Did I say “fudge”?
Of course, the idolatry of clergy of all kinds has suffered a bit of a splodge with so many caught out with sexual abuse of children and others that have eaten away at the idolatry of people in power, but that’s another story. Another story too is of the wonderful people who have answered what they see as a “call” to be ministers and who have tried hard not to fail their people, or themselves.
HENRY’S DIVORCE FROM ROME
Ah, there he is in all his glory. Henry, not perhaps the most holy king of England, but then again, who am I to say? I wouldn’t have him decorating my holy places.
Back in the day, I was told that the English variety of Christianity (Episcopalian or Anglican) was the original going back to the Apostles and that Henry VIII’s divorce from Rome meant that Rome was sectioned off, not the other way around.
However, the non-dress-up Christians, (ie. Baptists, Churches of Christ and others accuse all the Cross-dressers (well, we value the Cross don’t we and we do wear robes and sashes too, so we do dress up) of idolatry. ie Orthodox, Catholic, Episcopalian etc
Yes, I know I said I would try and make this less confusing and it only seems to be getting worse.
This brings me back to the “Idle Idyll of the Idol”.
THE BIBLE HELD HIGH
Evangelicals of the purest kind (sic!), or (sick!), argue that the Bible is the literal “Word of God”, that God created the world in a single week and that everything was made perfectly at that time, and it only went wrong because of the devil and humans. (Who created them?) It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway that the most fundamentalist of them reject the theory of evolution as being of the Devil. (Yes, they do believe in him, passionately.)
Now, let’s take that a step further. Pentecostal evangelicals generally adhere to the Bible’s divine inspiration and inerrancy — the belief that the Bible, in the original manuscripts in which it was written, is without error. Pentecostals emphasize the teaching of the “full gospel” or “foursquare gospel”.
That’s wonderful of course but this is where I can introduce the word “idle” as opposed to idyll (which is the story I’m telling) and idol which is idolatry that most believers do without really knowing.
In modern times most idle worshippers don’t do their homework properly. In early centuries and in places where access to literature and research was limited it wasn’t laziness but simply the innocence of the ignorant. It was also in the interests of Bishops, Priests and Pastors to keep people ignorant. Only they held licence for the truth. (Some of that continues today).
THE ELEPHANT IS NOT IN THE ROOM
I put the photo of the elephant there because I like them. Nothing to do with the story. Although, come to think of it, let’s make it so.
Is the authenticity of the Bible the Elephant in the Room? Hmm. There are many questions to answer but not enough people to ask them.
Now, idle has many interpretations but the key one is “lazy”. An industrious, ambitious, or truly zealous worshipper with access to the best of research would take time to examine their beliefs rather than simply accept the status quo (existing state of affairs, little to do with sexual impropriety, I think).
Belief in “the Bible in the original manuscripts” as quoted above assumes there were original manuscripts. Kind of absurd really when a quick search tells you: the original manuscripts of the New Testament books are not known to have survived. The autographs are believed to have been lost or destroyed a long time ago, as history shows.
Excuse me. Do you mind if I repeat that in bold?
“The original manuscripts of the New Testament books are not known to have survived. The autographs are believed to have been lost or destroyed a long time ago.”
Now there’s an elephant for you!
What that means is that what we have of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are simply verbal hand downs, or spoken downs, from one person to another with various interpretations included along the way. (Chinese whispers come to mind, but I don’t want to be naughty!) That’s how information was passed from one generation to another in what was mostly an illiterate world. This is not to discredit it but to recognise its truth.
The autographs believed to be lost is a simple reminder that we actually don’t know who wrote the four Gospels. They certainly weren’t written by the Apostles Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Are alarm bells ringing anyone?
I hold that despite all this there is historical and human value in the New Testament and in the Old Testament, but certainly not any kind of divine inspiration that means we should elevate them to a kind of authority that can only be recognised as idolatrous. So the idyll reveals, the story reaches its climax, we shouldn’t idolise the Bible nor should we be idle about studying its origins or its authority. To be valued and ascribed as inerrant and literal. No.
I often say that should I ever need a heart transplant I would much prefer a surgeon studied in the latest medicine and science rather than a first-century physician, even if his name was Luke. The same practice should occur, in my view, in every aspect of life. So those who want to take value from the Bible do so advisedly.
And yes, if you want to see a challenge to a culture that puts love and mercy and kindness above the constraints of power politics — read the parables and the teachings of Jesus as handed down through those very special Gospels without assigning to them an authority which they don’t claim for themselves nor have in their origins.
SCAPEGOATING, EVERY TRIBE DOES IT
The practice of demonising a person or group within a community for the “benefit” of the whole group is called Scapegoating. Originally, a goat would be caught and the “sins” of the community cast upon it before it was killed in ritual worship. In some tribes, a person or a child would be chosen and treated in the same manner. Yes, this was practised in many religions, and whilst we might consider it barbaric or primitive, it still occurs today.
In various denominations some people in various ways elevate the Bible to a God-like status and use it to condemn people they don’t understand, they don’t like, and they don’t want to integrate into a peaceful harmonious society. This has happened throughout history with the Jews, Moslems, and other religions. It inspired the Salem witch hunts which saw thousands burned at the stake in the name of a “loving” God. And it happens today in African nations that have acquired anti LGBTIQ+ cultures primarily from missionaries and preachers of an ignorantly interpreted Bible and avenging God.
Not only is such scapegoating a terrible wrong for society, but it blasphemes the mercy and kindness that is shown in the character of Jesus told in those stories verbally handed down from the first century. His angry words were kept for the powerful who oppressed the poor. They were never for the marginalised.
So let’s not be fundamentalist or Idle in our treatment of the Bible. Let others keep worshipping it as “the living Word of God” as if every word and sentence was divinely inspired, “God breathed”, they say, but we can choose a better way.
Really, let’s not make an Idol of it, or any person or thing.
It seems that’s what the God people worship, requires.
(I won’t get any hate messages from this now, will I? Not from Christians, surely.)
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