How to Read the Bible

WHEN PEOPLE CEASE TO BELIEVE IN THE CHURCH, THEY WILL SOON CEASE TO BELIEVE IN THE CHURCH'S BOOK  -  Carl Braaten

The prophets in the Old-er Testament spoke not about a famine in the land of food but a famine in the land of God's Word.  The Bible in America is often used to justify people's own bias and agendas than it does to surrender oneself to an untamed God.  The divisions and contradictions are legion.  For example, many Pastors in America refuse to participate in perfroming a wedding for gays but have no problem marrying people who have one or both been married multiple times.  It's like we listen to a select group of scriptures in the Bible while we ignore the rest.  And how do others read the Bible from other cultures or from other countries?  Not only does the church need to recover from private interpretation and Bible study disconnected from the corporate church, but what about reading the Bible in a global context?  Let me give two examples of reading the Bible in new ways that shatter our tidy little scriptural boxes.

In First Corinthians, the Eleventh chapter, Paul sepeaks about men worshipping with their heads uncovered and women worshipping with their heads covered.  How this works in one's culture is where issues of honor, shame, holiness, and faithfulness connect.  Jewish men for example wear a small cap when they worship.  We need to be reminded that Jewish worship is the very context where the Bible originated and came to us all.  Can it be Jewish men wearing a head covering shows their commitment to God's covenant and honors the one true God contra all false Gods?  Is this not the problem of women who did not care about wearing a head covering during worship in their society of their day?

Another example, a man from Brazil was talking to me about the prohibition of eating pork.  He told me that by this ban, God was teaching his people today that they should eat pork.  This certainly caught my attention and here is what he basically told me.  God's concern is for life and health.  Eating pork in biblical days was unehalthy and dangerous so God ordered a ban on pork.  Today my people are starving and because of technology, we can keep our children from starving.  This is why God is telling us to eat pork today.