Hi sisters,
Does the Bible ever offend you? I assume it does because a book written for all humanity across all time periods in every culture by an Almighty, immortal, infinite, all-knowing God is bound to offend everybody at some point. If it didn’t, I would actually question its validity!
However, being offended is almost synonymous with being American. The more offended we are the more culturally aware we must be. I am not saying this is right or wrong, I am just stating observations about our American culture. There are real offenses in our world and we can choose whether or not to be offended. The offense is beyond our control. Being offended and what we do with that feeling is our choice.
When it comes to the Bible, there can be seemingly offensive material. However, my offended feeling may or may not be justified. I have to start asking, “Why am I offended by this verse, passage or story? Do I have a cultural blinder? Do I understand its cultural context? Do I have a personal experience that can make me hyper-sensitive to parts of the Scripture? Am I being stubborn? Is there more research I need to do?” And more! Feeling offended by the Bible does not mean we through it out, it means we must dig deeper.
In my quiet time, I was reading in James 1. He’s so blunt. In verse 27 he says,
“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
James knows the Scriptures and he just summed up a thread throughout the whole Bible. God is EQUALLY concerned with His people seeking social justice as He is with His people pursuing individual morality. Interestingly, I hit this exact same thing with other day in my quiet time. God is repeating a theme. Do you know why Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed? I hit two different passages stating why (in the same day, which is a crazy overlap!).
“Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.”
~ Ezekiel 16:49
“… Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.“
~ Jude 7
Do you see? Social justice and individual morality. One of these is bound to upset different people groups, cultures, individuals, etc. In America, we have two political platforms that exemplify each side. Timothy Keller explains in his book, Generous Justice:
“Conservatism stresses the importance of personal morality . . . liberalism stresses social justice . . . Each side, of course, thinks the other side is smug and self-righteous. It is not only the political parties that fail to reflect the ‘whole cloth’ Biblical agenda. The churches of America are often more controlled by the surrounding political culture than by the spirit of Jesus and the prophets. Conservative churches tend to focus on one set of sins, while liberal ones concentrate on another set. Jesus, like the Old Testament prophets, does not see two categories of morality.” (Pages 54-55)
I assume feelings of offense are flowing, but the Gospel will be offensive in some way, shape or form. It has to be in order for us to see where our thoughts and ways still need to be transformed. To fixate on social justice or individual morality alone is to be operating in an extreme the Bible dose not validate. That brings me back to James putting is as blunt as he could. True religion is both.
What we need is the Kingdom Gospel. Its tagline is Follow Jesus. It creates people who are devoted to learning to live as Jesus lived. They follow His teachings, like: do not even look at someone with lustful intent (Matthew 5:28) AND give to everyone who begs from you (Matthew 6:42). To live as Jesus lived means we are also invested in helping others follow Him too. We make disciples who make disciples.
I’ll stop there or else I’ll be going on a tangent. I’ll list a few books. Consider choosing just one to dig a little deeper. I’m listing four purely for options:
- For more on the individual morality side, consider: The Hole in Our Holiness by Kevin DeYoung
- For more on the social justice side, consider: Generous Justice by Timothy Keller
- For more about how the gospel is counter cultural on multiple issues (which includes both morality issues and justice issues) with practical ways to get involved or pray, consider: Counter Culture by David Platt
- For more on the gospels in our culture and renew your focus on the Kingdom Gospel, consider Conversion and Discipleship by Bill Hull
Lastly, consider choosing the one that will most challenge you, not the one that would affirm how you think/live already. Tell someone else you’re reading it and let them hold you accountable: to reading it and changing one thing in your life. If we are honest, we are way more likely to do something if someone is going to ask us about it, me included!
By the River Together 