Scripture as Story

Christians have elevated the Bible above other texts as a sacred text. No matter how in tune with God that they are, the words of Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins will never be hailed as sacred. Not even the writings of Billy Graham are considered sacred. I am not arguing that the Bible should not be regarded as sacred. Quite the contrary: I believe each word in the Bible was divinely inspired by God—whatever that means. I do not believe for a second that God typed out the King James Version text of Exodus chapter 1 and emailed it to Moses, but He inspired Moses to write Exodus 1, and it should be considered sacred.

I am afraid that many Christians read the Bible radically different from how they read other books because they do regard it as sacred. I know scholars have written books in which they textually analyze the Bible just like they analyze any other ancient text. I am aware of a pastor who wrote a book stepping through the entire Bible as a series of stories. But the average Christian reads the Bible hoping to glean an inspirational thought-of-the-day. The Bible is not a 365-day desk calendar of inspirational thoughts. It is a story, a story told to us by our Creator.

We read Paul's mind-bending theological arguments in the New Testament. We come upon a vague prophecy that we fail to understand after reading it five times. The Old Testament chapter I read today does not seem to logically flow from the plot of the chapter I read yesterday. Then we discount it as some nuance of this sacred text. There must be some spiritual meaning for my life tucked away in this passage that the pastor will eventually preach on. Yes, there is a spiritual meaning in each and every line of Scripture. Yes, if you are a member of a Bible-believing church, your pastor will probably point that meaning out from the pulpit. Yet we never stop and ask what it has to do with the story.

As a writer, I carefully study the writings of others to improve my writing. I naturally think that means reading C.S. Lewis or the newest best-selling fiction book. When I am reading the Bible, I am usually thinking about what is that spiritual meaning God is trying to get across to me today. I fail to look at it as a story and ask how I can pattern my stories after this grand story.

Oh, another genealogy. Although I have never quite figured out how this makes me a better person, it is one of those super spiritual things that I should read quickly, so I can get back to the action tomorrow. If Michael Crichton decided to throw a genealogy into the middle of his next thriller, you would either think, this man has lost it. What a suspense killer. Or: Whoah, this guy is deep. Maybe more people would read my writing if I did daring things like this.

I am sorry, but I do not have some deep meaning under girding Biblical genealogies to reveal to you. I am a normal guy like you reading the Bible (admittedly not frequently enough) in hopes of hearing what God has to say to me that day. I want to encourage you to read the Bible as a story. After you finish fishing for the inspirational thought-of-the-day, ask yourself what the passage you read has to do with the overall story.