Can we ever talk to one another? Can we use the same words?

September 21, 2008 by Dan Hooper.

I was recently invited to another event intended to bring together conservative and inclusive churches over the issues of GLBT sexuality and the Christian message. One of the sponsoring conservative organizations has on its web site a statement about “the authority and power of the Bible.”

I would probably use the phrase “authority and applicability” to discuss the Scriptures in terms of most contemporary issues. While we like to hold to the idea that the Bible is eternally valid and timeless, it has been almost two thousand years since the writers’ ink was dry, and let’s face it, much of the Scriptures seem irrelevant to the world. I spend a huge portion of my Bible Study teaching time simply trying to explain the context, language, history, culture and curiosities of the Bible so that people are not completely lost or baffled.

But it is easy to get snared in all that stuff to the extent that people are still not fed spiritually because year after year the Jewish and Christian scriptures slip further into history. Dedicated scholars — God bless ‘em— devote their lives to unearthing and bringing forward that both the details and the divine message in the Bible. But there are millions of people on this planet who will never give the Bible that kind of attention, and if we quibble and quarrel over every last word of it we are still failing to communicate God’s message to all humanity.

Then there is the problem of human sexuality which doesn’t fit the picture of either sexuality or love portrayed in either Testament. Christians are dividing from other Christians over issues of human sexuality, when all that should truly unite us is our trust and faith in God’s promises.

I always insert the term “applicability” into conversations about “authority” and “infallibility.” The Bible has the highest authority, but not every word is useful to us today. the best example is that much of the Hebrews scriptures are written to address the terms of the covenant between God and the Hebrew people as an ancient nation. None of us—not even the Jewish people—today are part of that nation. Can we therefore insist that every Christian must recognize every word of the Hebrew Scriptures as authoritative for us today? That would mean that we would have to require circumcision, and also take rebellious teenagers and stone them to death.

The list is long of things which no Christian today would in his or her right mind say is applicable to our life in Christ. Obviously there are different lists which we all maintain. But to flatly insist in the totality of the Scripture being authoritative is untruthful, and to reject other Christians because they will not obediently sign on to this view is disingenuous and itself disobedient to Christ who commanded us to love one another and to abide in his love.

—Pastor Dan Hooper, Los Angeles

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