The weirdest thing happened last week.
I just bought a new Teaching Bible – a brand new bible that I plan on using just when I preach and teach.
It was hard to part with my old Bible because it had years of notes written in the margin and certain key words circled or underlined to aid my teaching.
I was doing teaching preparation in my brand new bible and started to turn to 1 Corinthians 15.
As I was turning there, I realized I went too far – ended up in Ephesians.
And I backtracked too far and ended up in Acts.
Then I started to get frustrated as I clumsily fumbled through the pages of the New Testament.
Aren’t I a little more familiar with my Bible than this? I thought. This is ridiculous.
And, even though I was by myself, I started to feel a flush of embarrassment because here I am, a pastor, and I can’t find a rather significant and large letter in the New Testament.
At this time, I was getting frustrated at myself. Really frustrated.
Until I noticed something I had never seen before: I flipped through the end of Acts…and then noticed that the next page jumped to…2 Corinthians chapter 4?
What?!?!
No wonder I struggled to find 1 Corinthians 15. The entire books of Romans, 1 Corinthians and the first three chapters of 2 Corinthians were missing from my brand new teaching Bible. It just jumped from page 1034 to page 1067.
Good thing I was just doing teaching prep in my office by myself.
Can you imagine standing up in front of a group of people teaching and saying, "Turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 15 and let me read from it…well, give me a minute here…hold on…um… Well, look at that…isn’t that the weirdest thing…I don’t think I have that…in my Bible…"
Yeah, that would go over really well.
Nobody would believe me.
They would just think I’m an uneducated pastor who can’t find 1 Corinthians in his own Bible and was making up some lame excuse.
How embarrassing.
As I realized the issue with my new teaching Bible my mind was racing, asking all sorts of questions about biblical inerrancy and the theology of the authority of Scripture…and then I realized that it was probably just some absent-minded minimum wage employee at the printer who probably fell asleep on the job or pushed the wrong button or something. It’s kind of a big deal, I thought, to forget 30 plus pages out of God’s good book…I hope he didn’t lose his job.
I wondered if someone’s salvation would be thwarted because of this guy at the printer who wasn’t doing his job. Then I started thinking about predestination and free will in regards to someone’s salvation being thwarted because of an incomplete Bible because of a mistake by some employee at the printer – but then I was thinking so hard that my brain started smoking…so I stopped thinking about it.
I’ve contacted the publishing company and they are in the process of replacing my old, incomplete Bible with a new, complete canon very shortly.
As funny as the entire ordeal was, it really made me think: don’t we do that with our Bibles from time to time?
We stay away from the scary, confusing, hard to understand passages of Scripture that don’t fit into our theology and just disregard certain parts altogether.
It may not be 1 Corinthians, but maybe Leviticus or parts of the Psalms or that freaky book of Revelation that make us blush or whatever — fill in the blank. We sort of create a subconscious canon inside of the canon.
I’ve thought often of doing a teaching series called "The Bible We Don’t Read: Studying the Un-highlighted Parts of Scripture."
It makes me wonder: if we’re honest enough to admit it, what parts of Scripture do we disregard because its just too confusing/uncomfortable/difficult/scary?
Stan said...
1Interesting JR that your bible came with pages missing. As I was reading your post, I thought how that so ironically paralleled the thoughts I was writing for discussion from your Sunday teachings to share at our Wednesday bible study, concerning those who have all the pages in their bible, but some pages in their heart torn out.
I’ll share.
“How do we avoid being Pharisaical in judgment of those whom we should stay clear of, and not invite into our house, those who preach another gospel or a distorted legalistically corrupted gospel? Who are those who John warns us, in 2 John, to steer clear of ; those who run ahead and do not continue in the teaching of Christ, those who preach a corrupted altered gospel, but still use the Word as reference. I know some who profess to be followers of Christ, who live in a surprisingly different fashion, and speak some things that quite honestly alarm and upset me. If I elect to remove these people from my life, am I not in judgment of them? Is it my duty to correct the hypocrisy and to rectify these false illusions with Truth? There are some I know who use the Word seriously out of context and create illusions to suit their needs. How do we deal with those? Who am I when I launch headlong into a political debate in scripture? I am not a bible scholar, but can feel and know the Truth in my heart. If I have learned that it is only my mind that can be deceived, and God keeps true my heart, but where do I go when I stand in the midst of these heretics?”
I did the same thing JR with these thoughts as you did with your bible; I contacted the publisher. I prayed for wisdom and Grace.
03/11/08 7:07 AM | Comment Link
J.R. said...
2Mark Twain said, “It’s not the parts of my Bible that I don’t understand that make me uncomfortable…it’s the parts of the Bible that I do understand.”
03/11/08 8:32 AM | Comment Link
Joan said...
3Your expereince brought to mind my own of getting my first “real Bible” as a young girl. There was not a Christian bookstore nearby and I remember it being a big deal for my dad and I to drive to one to buy me my first Bible. I remember the excitement and the smell of the red leather cover. As Dad was driving home I was flipping through my Bible and looked for the passage I knew I could find – John 3:16 – but it wasn’t there! Dad pulled over and looked, and I was right; the wgole book of John was gone. So we turned around and went back and exchanged the Bible. I’d never heard of it happening to anyone else. Now I wonder how often does it happen, and how many people even know they are missing a part of Scripture. I appreciate your thoughts.
03/11/08 9:00 AM | Comment Link
Tom said...
4What kind of “Teaching Bible” do you use, J.R.? I have been looking for the right “teaching” Bible for a couple of years, but I’ve had no luck. There’s all kinds of issues with bindings and coverings, not to mention paper.
03/11/08 9:25 AM | Comment Link
Jen said...
5I do believe there are many parts of the Bible we don’t want to read or forget about. If that were a series you’d be going forward with….I already can’t wait. I have always been profound in wanting to discuss what is difficult and often over-looked.
03/11/08 3:27 PM | Comment Link
Stan said...
6Confession: I struggle with the easy parts.
03/11/08 5:00 PM | Comment Link
Carl said...
7I’m always hearing people quote from the book of Laminations, but I’ve yet to find it in my Bible. So you’re not alone, brother…hang in there!
03/12/08 12:47 AM | Comment Link
zxevil160 said...
8yxxkHY U cool ))
03/12/08 3:49 PM | Comment Link
john ross said...
9I have a Thompson Chain Reference Bible I received as a gift in 1989. The only quote in red is 2 Cor. 12:9-”My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”. I called the publisher and was told it was a typo. I just think it’s a truth I should know.
03/12/08 8:28 PM | Comment Link
Kyle said...
10that series would be AWESOME…man, im one of those guys who highlights in my bible and ive been doing it “religiously” (yes, the pun is intended) for years and i would LOVE to hear a series on the “unhighlighted parts of the bible” so basically, you should do it. like now. hurry. haha jk…love ya man.
03/14/08 3:10 PM | Comment Link