Should the Bible be re-written for today’s world? To reflect changes and modern-day attitudes?
I want to look at what that might mean….
Use a parable to reflect my own views
See what Jesus had to say
And finish with a prayer
What would re-writing the Bible mean? It could mean that we review all the versions and write another one. We would loose so much, so maybe it’s an update of parts that would work? I wanted to share an example that may be catchier and more “21st century”
Video of the Sower parable
I like that one and if there is re-interpretation that explains, helps us think anew or challenges us then I am all for it!
Undoubtedly there are conflicts in the Bible, if we seek to prove or disprove what the bible has to say on controversial topics, such as divorce, sexuality, the role of women, marriage it can be confusing…….indeed, my husband is often heard to remind me that in one translation of St Paul’s letters declares “ a silent wife is a gift from God”!!! , not sure I agree with that one!
If we were to re-write the bible where would we start, what would we keep, what would we get rid of and what would we update.
Maybe, as a starting point we could take just the parables and tell them in the modern day. Would that give us a way to access the messages that were at the heart of the Bible and Jesus had to say?
Keeping to a theme of parables, I thought I would tell you one of my own……..
There was once a diligent woman, who had cooked for family and friends for many years. Her trusted handbook was the Good Housekeeping Every Day, the book had many tried and trusted basic recipes and even a few unusual ones. It saw them through many trials and tribulations and was well loved, but it did become dogeared and tired, and her menus rather predicatble!
As time went on, the woman’s family decided to buy her Delia, Jamie, Mary Berry and they all became part of the family’s menus and loved by guests and friends on many occasions.
However, when there was a need for a basic cheese sauce, or Yorkshire puddings, or bread sauce at Christmas, it was great to go back to the Good Housekeeping for good reliable recipes.
So just like Jesus did I will try to explain my Parable …...
The Good Housekeeping Cook Book is like a version of the Bible we know and love! Other versions, other religious books and other ideas come along, and we can incorporate them into our thinking and use them to add to our understanding and challenge us. But when it really matters we go back to the basics!
Now what I am NOT saying is its easy to solve any problem by a reference to one passage of scripture.
I recall reading a book where a young girl wanted to leave her strict family and make her way in the world. She knew that her domineering father would not approve and so she suggested they use a method her family often turned to make big decisions. They would take out the family bible and then allow it to fall open where it wanted, read the first passage that they saw and take the advice therein.
This could have been a risky strategy because it could have opened at Isiah 32 :18 My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest. Which I guess would have meant her Father would not let her go.
As it was, she knew her father had a favourite passage which he opened and read often, and so with luck the bible would fall open there and he would read Zechariah 14:4
On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.
The strategy worked, and he allowed her to travel!
But this question of needing a Bible or Guidance appropriate to the age in which you live is not new.
Jesus was faced with similar questions about which laws to follow and what to allow. How to interpret a situation, or how to decide a course of action based on maybe the 10 Commandments or the Scriptures up to that point.
Some examples are
Working on a Sunday – Matthew 12: v 1
At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them.
When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”
……..Then they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?
How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
Paying taxes - Matthew 22 v 15
“Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax[a] to Caesar or not?”
18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So, they left him and went away.
Adultery – the woman brought to Jesus - John Ch8:v3
The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
And in my final example, Jesus was asked the question we are looking at today, not whether to re-write the Bible, but which law was the greatest, and for me this means which piece to hold on to, take forwards, pay attention to.
For me this is where it all comes together. When you need to know what really matters, what we really need to hang on to in our materialistic, 21st century world, its this. Matthew 22:36-40
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
To make the bible more appropriate for Modern Day attitudes, we don’t need to re-write it, we just need to go back and refer to it to guide us and explain to us the basics, just like in my parable.
Let’s pray for guidance of the Holy Spirit as we continue our journey of faith, using the words and music of a song.
Madeline Cranfield 5.4.2019
I want to look at what that might mean….
Use a parable to reflect my own views
See what Jesus had to say
And finish with a prayer
What would re-writing the Bible mean? It could mean that we review all the versions and write another one. We would loose so much, so maybe it’s an update of parts that would work? I wanted to share an example that may be catchier and more “21st century”
Video of the Sower parable
I like that one and if there is re-interpretation that explains, helps us think anew or challenges us then I am all for it!
Undoubtedly there are conflicts in the Bible, if we seek to prove or disprove what the bible has to say on controversial topics, such as divorce, sexuality, the role of women, marriage it can be confusing…….indeed, my husband is often heard to remind me that in one translation of St Paul’s letters declares “ a silent wife is a gift from God”!!! , not sure I agree with that one!
If we were to re-write the bible where would we start, what would we keep, what would we get rid of and what would we update.
Maybe, as a starting point we could take just the parables and tell them in the modern day. Would that give us a way to access the messages that were at the heart of the Bible and Jesus had to say?
Keeping to a theme of parables, I thought I would tell you one of my own……..
There was once a diligent woman, who had cooked for family and friends for many years. Her trusted handbook was the Good Housekeeping Every Day, the book had many tried and trusted basic recipes and even a few unusual ones. It saw them through many trials and tribulations and was well loved, but it did become dogeared and tired, and her menus rather predicatble!
As time went on, the woman’s family decided to buy her Delia, Jamie, Mary Berry and they all became part of the family’s menus and loved by guests and friends on many occasions.
However, when there was a need for a basic cheese sauce, or Yorkshire puddings, or bread sauce at Christmas, it was great to go back to the Good Housekeeping for good reliable recipes.
So just like Jesus did I will try to explain my Parable …...
The Good Housekeeping Cook Book is like a version of the Bible we know and love! Other versions, other religious books and other ideas come along, and we can incorporate them into our thinking and use them to add to our understanding and challenge us. But when it really matters we go back to the basics!
Now what I am NOT saying is its easy to solve any problem by a reference to one passage of scripture.
I recall reading a book where a young girl wanted to leave her strict family and make her way in the world. She knew that her domineering father would not approve and so she suggested they use a method her family often turned to make big decisions. They would take out the family bible and then allow it to fall open where it wanted, read the first passage that they saw and take the advice therein.
This could have been a risky strategy because it could have opened at Isiah 32 :18 My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest. Which I guess would have meant her Father would not let her go.
As it was, she knew her father had a favourite passage which he opened and read often, and so with luck the bible would fall open there and he would read Zechariah 14:4
On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.
The strategy worked, and he allowed her to travel!
But this question of needing a Bible or Guidance appropriate to the age in which you live is not new.
Jesus was faced with similar questions about which laws to follow and what to allow. How to interpret a situation, or how to decide a course of action based on maybe the 10 Commandments or the Scriptures up to that point.
Some examples are
Working on a Sunday – Matthew 12: v 1
At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them.
When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”
……..Then they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?
How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
Paying taxes - Matthew 22 v 15
“Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax[a] to Caesar or not?”
18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So, they left him and went away.
Adultery – the woman brought to Jesus - John Ch8:v3
The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
And in my final example, Jesus was asked the question we are looking at today, not whether to re-write the Bible, but which law was the greatest, and for me this means which piece to hold on to, take forwards, pay attention to.
For me this is where it all comes together. When you need to know what really matters, what we really need to hang on to in our materialistic, 21st century world, its this. Matthew 22:36-40
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
To make the bible more appropriate for Modern Day attitudes, we don’t need to re-write it, we just need to go back and refer to it to guide us and explain to us the basics, just like in my parable.
Let’s pray for guidance of the Holy Spirit as we continue our journey of faith, using the words and music of a song.
Madeline Cranfield 5.4.2019
