When Reading the Bible is Bad for You

“You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” –John 5:39, 40

The Pharisees made the tragic mistake of making the Bible an end in itself. They used it as a collection of prooftexts to justify themselves while condemning others. They substituted the accumulation of Bible knowledge for actually doing the will of God. They weaponized the Bible and used it cruelly on their enemies. And modern day Pharisees do the same thing with the Bible.  If we don’t see the Bible as directing us to the true Word of God who is Jesus, we can play tricks with the Bible. We can make it do our bidding. We can make it roll over and fetch. We can make it stand on its hind legs and dance a jig. If we just want to proof-text our own opinion, we can do that with a concordance and a bit of cleverness in ten minutes.

“The Bible clearly says, _______________________________________.”
(Fill in the blank with what you want to believe socially, scientifically, politically, theologically.)

It’s a game of proof-texting. And there is little you can’t “prove” with the Bible if that’s the game you want to play. Wars of conquest, capital punishment, the institution of slavery, women held as property, and genocidal ethnic cleansing can all be (and have been) justified by the Bible. But Jesus doesn’t endorse any of those things! If Christians aren’t going to read the Bible in the light of Christ, they would be better off not reading it at all!

For Christians the first half of the Bible is the inspired story of how we get to Jesus — the Word of God incarnate. And as Christians we should have no problem recognizing the changes in perspective that occur along the journey. Ritual sacrifice, Torah sanctions, and killing in the name of God are all eventually re-evaluated. Sacrificing animals, stoning Sabbath-breakers, and slaughtering Canaanite children all belong to the story of how the chosen people arrive at Messiah. But once Messiah has come, everything must be re-evaluated according to what Jesus taught. Jesus saves the Bible from itself. It’s Jesus who saves the Bible from being just another violent and vengeful religious text.
Speaking of violent religious texts. The same kind of criticism that Christians often level at the Koran can also be leveled at the Bible if that’s how we want to read it. I’m not an authority on the Koran, but I know very well you can justify all kinds of atrocity by reading the Bible as a flat text and apart from the light of Christ. This is when the Bible is bad for you!

If the Bible becomes a barrier to true discipleship by providing legal loopholes for avoiding what Jesus taught his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount, that’s when the Bible is bad for you. It’s true. There is a way of reading the Bible that is bad for you!

If you want a violent, retributive God, the Bible will give that to you.
If you want capital punishment, the Bible will give that to you.
If you want to hate your enemies, the Bible will give that to you.
If you want divine warrant for your every opinion, the Bible will give that to you.
If you want to be a smug, self-righteous, know-it-all, the Bible will give that to you.
If you want assurance that only people like you are going to heaven, the Bible will give that to you.
And that’s when the Bible is bad for you!

But if you want peace, nonviolence, mercy, forgiveness, reconciliation, humility, advocacy, and love, the Bible will also give that to you. But it will do so by faithfully pointing you to Jesus! When we look to the Bible without self-interested agenda, the Bible says to us, “Now look to Jesus, for he is the true Word of God.” When the Bible becomes a faithful and trusted guide to lead you to Jesus, that’s when the Bible is good for you!


(Excerpts written by Brian Zahnd)