Converge Bible Studies: Perplexing Scriptures

By Josh Tinley

Christian communities, with a few exceptions, consider the canon of Scripture closed. There’s no process for adding or removing books from our Bibles. Even so, we end up creating our own canons, whether intentionally or unintentionally. There are certain texts that come up frequently in worship or in the youth room or in the children's Sunday school wing. And there are certain texts that we never read in worship or Sunday school. Perplexing Scriptures examines some of these passages. This study may raise more questions than it answers; but as you work through each session, you will begin to see how God’s love and grace are at work, even in the most troubling texts.

Converge Bible Studies is a series of topical Bible studies based on the Common English Bible. Each title in the series consists of four studies on a common topic or theme. Converge can be used by small groups, classes, or individuals. Primary Scripture passages are included for ease of study, as are questions designed to encourage both personal reflection and group conversation. The topics and Scriptures in Converge come together to transform readers’ relationships with others, themselves, and God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Abingdon Press
• Release date: Jan 21, 2014
• ISBN: 9781426789540

Josh Tinley

Josh Tinley is a high school math teacher who spent ten years as editor of youth curriculum at The United Methodist Publishing House. He is the managing editor of LinC, a weekly electronic curriculum for youth, and is the author of Book of Fidgets; Kneeling in the End Zone: Spiritual Lessons From the World of Sports; and numerous articles and curriculum pieces. Josh lives outside of Nashville with his wife and three children.

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INTRODUCTION

The pastor of a church I once attended had strong feelings about children’s Bibles. She believed that children could and should learn stories and teachings from Scripture in an age-appropriate manner, but she was wary of putting a Bible into a child’s hands.

There’s no lack of gratuitous violence in Scripture. And there’s plenty of sexual content. If you go by the Motion Picture Association of America’s film ratings system or the Entertainment Software Rating Board standards for rating videogames, you’d have to conclude that no child should ever open a Bible without parental supervision. Many churches give their children Bibles when those children begin the third grade. Do third graders really need to read about Jael’s gruesome, tent-peg-to-the-temple killing of the Canaanite general Sisera (Judges 4:18-22)? Do they need to peruse the comprehensive list of unlawful sexual relations in Leviticus 18? Probably not without guidance from an adult.

Children grow up in the church singing Jesus Loves Me and getting to know a God who is patient and forgiving and eager to have a relationship with every person in all of creation. What happens when young people encounter Scriptures where God appears to lack patience and grace? What happens when they read about God commanding King Saul to kill every single living being among the Amalekites—men, women, children, and animals (1 Samuel 15:1-3)? What happens when they discover that God executed a couple for being dishonest about their offering money (Acts 5:1-11)?

Pick up your Bible. For Christians, this anthology of 66 books, letters, and other writings (73 if you’re Roman Catholic and 76 if you belong to one of several Eastern Orthodox churches) is our canon. For as long as this collection of writings has been in place, Christians have been in near universal agreement that our Bible is authoritative and inspired by God. Christians have different understandings and interpretations of what authoritative and inspired by God mean, but we all recognize the Bible as our holy book.

The word canon comes from the Greek and means rule or ruler. For religious communities, a canon defines the community’s relationship with the divine and establishes guidelines for how people within the community should live. Christian communities, with a few exceptions, consider our canon closed. There is no process for adding or removing books from our Bibles. Even so, Christian communities end up creating their own canons, whether intentionally or unintentionally. There are certain texts that come up frequently in worship or in the youth room or in the children’s Sunday school wing. And there are certain texts that we never read in worship nor bring into the Sunday school class or youth Bible study.

But the obscure and unsavory Scriptures that we don’t like to deal with are still Scripture. Those who are new to the faith or those who are critical of Christianity can easily find Luke 14:26, where Jesus says, Whoever comes to me and doesn’t hate father and mother, spouse and children, and brothers and sisters—yes, even one’s own life—cannot be my disciple. And even if we intend for our youth Bible study on Elijah’s showdown with the prophets of Baal to conclude with 1 Kings 18:39, there’s nothing to stop a teenager from reading on to verse 40, where Elijah rounds up his defeated rivals and kills them. We may not like to deal with these verses, but they’re in our canon; and we have to answer for them.

Judaism has a different understanding of canon than Christianity does. The Jewish Bible, or Tanakh, contains the same writings as the Protestant Old Testament, albeit in a different configuration. But the Tanakh is only one piece of the Jewish canon. Judaism holds that divine revelation has been passed down both in written form, the Tanakh, and by oral transmission. The