There are a few phrases that get thrown around in Christian conversation that make me more than a little uncomfortable. One is "God helps those who help themselves." which isn't in the Bible, isn't very compassionate, and just not helpful. Another is "The Bible clearly say..."
I don't know about you but there are plenty of things that I have found in scripture that the Bible says, but not constantly. I have only found a few things that the Bible does say clearly and numerous other things that the Bible seems to be not so clear on.
Take violence for instance, Jesus seems to be pretty clearly against using violence for any means (Matthew 5:38-39, Matthew 26:52-54). However, there are places where God both commanding (Genesis 6:13, Romans 13:4, Hebrew 10:30) it and condemning it (Eph. 4:32, Titus 3:2). So the Bible clearly says that violence on one hand is permitted but on the other it isn't. So which is it? Can't say the Bible clearly says, but I usually err on the side of Jesus.
What about marriage is between one man and one woman? Without diving into the man and woman part, pillars of the faith in scripture all had multiple wives ( Gen. 4:19) and concubines (2 Sam 5:13). These weren't just passing figures in scripture but this was King David, who Jesus was a descendant of, this was Abraham, hardly a minor character. King Solomon had 700 wives himself (1 Kings 11:1-6) and God wasn't angry at the number of wives he had but that they were not Israelites. So what does the Bible clearly say about marriage between one man and one woman again?
The Bible seems to affirm stoning nonbelievers (Leviticus 24:22-23) and those that are faithful will get well from their sickness (James 5:13-16). I am pretty sure we don't practice either of those beliefs even though the Bible seems to affirm it.
For me, if the Bible clearly said something then over the whole course of Christianity we would have figured it out clearly and all could agree on it, however, this does not seem to be the case. The Bible says we should love God and love our neighbor as ourselves and we still seem to argue what that love looks like.
The Bible is this 66 book work that was written over thousand of years by multiple authors in multiple languages. In it we have people profession their experience of God, the deepest thoughts on the universe, from the very beginning to the very end. I am more comfortably with vastness of God and the messiness of the human experience rather than a God that can be entirely summed up in a 5 pound book on my desk.
Scripture is an attempt (and yes a rather good one) to put into words things that ultimately we don't have words for. How can we sum up God's creation of the world and cosmos, Christ's saving act on the cross, and the Holy Spirit's continued work in the world? We use these stories of faith to explain God's continued work in the world, to recognize that we don't fully have things figured out and that time and time again God's words of grace and hope is where our faith is found.
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