No Spare Tire: The Mirror

The Mirror

In the last post, which you can read here, I discussed having a dream about why Christians might treat the Bible like a spare tire. I concluded with one idea that the content can be challenging to read and come to terms with, but through a lifetime of wrestling with Scripture, God will bless us for our struggle. I'd like to continue with the same theme today but in a different way. 

Aside from what critics of the Bible might interpret as divinely ordained violence, the Bible is just plain violent in many places, even in the New Testament, with the persecution of the Church. In fact, many who oppose Christianity being presented within the public school system have highlighted specific examples of biblical passages that might catch young readers off guard. The latest attempt, albeit tongue-in-cheek, came from a Florida man who opposed the Florida government removing books with questionable content, suggesting the new state standards were inconsistent. Even so, his comments and petitions mirror many non-Christians' views on Scripture. 

Again, as with the last post, I want to encourage us to be honest. There is a lot of disconcerting violence in the Bible both in warfare and domestic and sexual contexts. One example of the most jarring instances of violence for me in Scripture comes from the book of Judges. The last section of chapter 19 describes the rape and murder of a concubine who was abused through a night-long process. Although it doesn't go into detail, its event is enough to make anyone feel squeezy and disturbed. Did I mention that the man she served pushed her out the door to save his skin? 

Another shocking story of violence comes from 2 Samuel 13, where Amnon falls "in love" with his half-sister Tamar. Instead of going through the proper channels to wed her (something that sounds strange enough to our modern ears), Amnon devises a scheme to get her into his chambers. Pretending to be sick, Amnon asks Tamar to be the one that cares for him (2 Sam 13:5-6). The con works, and she is sent to him. Amnon confesses his love and asks her to "lay" with him, but she refuses. In retaliation, he forces himself on her and rapes her. In typical rapist fashion, after his disgusting act is done, Amnon projects his own vileness onto her and casts her out of his chambers. What happens next is troubling as well. When David learns what happened, he gets mad but doesn't do anything. In response, Absalom, Tamar's full-blooded brother, kills Amnon.

Right now, in real-time, my Grammarly bot is showing me an emoji that looks horrified, designed to show how a reader might feel. It should feel horrified; the two situations I described were horrifying. I'm willing to bet that instances like these are why people often put Scripture reading on the back burner or treat it like a spare tire. Break glass for emergencies only.

Unlike others who criticize the Bible for this kind of stuff, I, along with anyone who does a serious reading of Scripture, don't believe the Bible endorses this kind of violence and situation. There is violence in the Bible because humanity is violent. The Bible in no way shies away from supporting this fact as reality. In this fashion, the Bible acts as a mirror showing us the failures that we commit in our fallen and sinful existence. In fact, one could argue that the Bible is a chronicle of humanity's failures. If you read closely, you'll see that from the beginning, those who God chose to call to be his people failed in some way. Adam and Eve, the first humans God created, ushered sin and death into the world. God wiped out the wicked in a flood, saving Noah, but Noah banishes his son after an embarrassing incident. Abraham passes his wife off as his sister to protect his own skin; Jacob conned his way into receiving his father's blessing. Israel formed and worshipped a golden calf after God delivered them from Egypt; David murdered Bathshebah's husband so he could be with her. The nation of Israel was sent into exile because they refused to keep their end of the covenant with God. 

The list goes on; even Peter had his troubles. God gracefully stooped down to work with humanity despite our failures. While the Bible is holding up a mirror to us, it also looks forward to the true human who would be utterly faithful to God and pull us up out of the mud; I'm talking about Christ Jesus. The Bible reveals Jesus to the reader in the Gospels as the prophesied Messiah, and through him, humans can be reconciled back into harmony with God. To appreciate this fact, we must be willing to look into the mirror of Scripture and accept our failings. We must recognize the hope the Old Testament prophets place in Christ to truly appreciate what Jesus has done for humanity and creation. It takes a willing, humble, and courageous spirit to keep looking into the mirror to see what you don't want to see, and it takes a persistent and hopeful spirit to see the beauty of what God has done despite ourselves.

If you keep looking in this mirror, reading the Bible, and as you place your hope and trust in Christ, you may see yourself begin to change. Those who claim Christ as their savior are made into a new creation. The reading of the word then begins to form us and change us into the likeness of Christ, and then our identity becomes hidden within him, where we become more and more human over time. But that will be a more complicated process with the Bible being treated like a spare tire.

I hope you were edified and encouraged by this post. In a future post, I'll describe what's worse than a spare tire.