God is the thing, and the Bible is made up of words about the thing, and those words point to something; to Someone, for Whom words simply fail. That doesn’t mean the words aren’t filled with good and lovely things that give us some frame of reference, some understanding, some insight, but ultimately God is far too big to be contained in those words. God is awe, and wonder, and mystery.
The Bible is not God, the Bible is a library filled with words about God. We can discover and explore and find comfort there. We can gain wisdom, and grow in faith through it. We can seek the character of God, and the message of Christ, and the path we’re to walk in its pages.
We can even love the Bible, (I certainly do), but we should worship the God who inspired the Bible.
I expect many Christians will dismiss these things outright and refuse to engage at all, but my hope and prayer is that many of you claiming Christianity will examine your own understanding of the Bible, and see if there isn’t something in the above words that merits consideration; not to alter your love or admiration of Scripture, but to allow you to engage in conversations about it that have some nuance, some balance, some grey and some Grace; especially when dealing with those whose understandings differ from yours.
When you say “The Bible,” what do you mean?
