Dangerous scriptures

Read 2 Timothy 2:15

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him,a worker who has no need to be ashamed,rightly explaining the word of truth. (NRSV)

Let’s face it,there are bits of the Bible we would rather not be in it. Narratives of God commanding some sort of genocide; stoning people whose offences seem pretty minor in the overall scheme of things; God hardening someone’s heart and then punishing them for their hardness of heart. And many more.

Of course we can,after careful study of the words and their contexts come to some explanation of such episodes. We want to assert truths about different cultures and eras; we want to warn against taking each and every phrase literally. Even so,we are left with some complexities and difficulties.

Which brings us to those in the Muslim faith and their sacred book,the Koran. If our own sacred book contains such problems,we can expect their sacred book to do likewise. Lifting texts from the Koran to prove all Muslims are warmongers is as unfair to them as accusing Christians of worshipping a bloodthirsty God is to us. In our tradition,as in their tradition,different students of the Scriptures will draw different things from them.

We may well strongly yet respectfully challenge Muslims as to how they apply the Koran to modern-day issues. But we too face the same challenges when we look at our own Bible. We rightly protest when others twist our Bible,so let’s not twist their Koran to prove some point or other. Our respective sacred writings may contain much that is clear but much that is anything but clear.

Blessings
David Reay