Reading The Bible Right
A translation of the incredible Poem: Reading The Bible Right — by Brian Zahnd
It is a STORY We’re telling news here Keeping alive an ancient epic The great narrative of paradise lost and paradise regained The greatest “Once upon a time” ever told The beautiful story that moves relentlessly toward — “And they lived happily ever after”
Never, never, never forget that, before anything else, it is a story So let the Story live and breathe, captivate and enchant Don’t tear out its guts and leave it lifeless on the dissection table Don’t make of it something it isn’t really — A catalog of wishful promises An encyclopedia of facts about God A Journal of Law with divine decrees An instruction manual for the self-taught
Find the promises, learn the facts, keep the laws, live the lessons But don’t forget the Story
Learn to read the Book for what it is — The great and surprising story of God’s love Let there be wonder Let there be mystery Let there be tragedy Let there be heartbreak Let there be suspense Let there be surprise Let it be earthy and human Let it be heavenly and divine
Let it be what it is and don’t try to make it perfect where it isn’t This fantastic story of … Creation Alienation Devastation Incarnation Salvation Restoration With thousands of actors in the cast, More a Tolstoy novel than a thousand-page sermon
It is a story — because we are not saved by ideas, but by plots! Here’s a plot for you: Death, Burial and Resurrection Yes, it’s a story — not a plan, not -ology or -ism, but a story
It is a story patched together and told through many media Narration, history, genealogy Prophecy, poetry, parable Psalm, music, sermon Dream and vision Memory and letter
So, understand the medium and don’t try so hard to miss the point Try to learn what matters and what doesn’t It’s not where and when Job lived But what Job learned In his painful odyssey and his poetic theodicy
It’s not “how many liters of water do you need to drown Everest?” But “why was the world so filthy that it needed such a big bath” Trying to find Noah’s ark Instead of trying to rid the world of violence Really is an enormous effort at missing the point
Speaking of missing the point — It’s not: “Did a serpent really talk?” But what the cursed thing said! Because even though I’ve never met a talking serpent I’m sure that serpentine thoughts have crossed my mind
Literalism is a kind of escapism Through which you escape the aim of that deep question But the parable and the metaphor have a way of knocking us out Cold literalism makes the story small, time-confined, and irrelevant But poetry and allegory travel through time and space to punch us in the face Inert facts are easy to forget But the well-told Story will haunt you
Ah, the well-told story That’s what it takes It’s time for the Story to step out of the shadows and take the stage And demand an audience once again
It is a STORY, I tell you! And if you let the story seep into your life Then the STORY will begin to intertwine with your story And on that day, at last, my friend, you will be reading the Bible correctly