I have often heard preachers harp on the fact that the bible is our instruction manual and that there should be a warning on the front: "Ignore at your own risk!"
Indeed the bible contains the true revelation of Christ for our lives. But it is not written as an instruction manual. It is the prayer journal of sinners, it is the folklore of a desert people, it is the wisdom of grandparents and the songs of children. The bible contains a narrative, it contains a vast array of teachings, and it contains the account of how Christ clarified, embodied, and gave to humanity the essence of those teachings in his own, loving person.
I think given that this is the case, a better warning label for the bible would be the very same one Wittgenstein put at the beginning his book: "I have not written this to spare anyone the trouble of thinking about these things for themselves."
Just reading the manual won't do. We all have to take up the responsibility of struggling with the meaning of life's mystery. The Bible is as much a set of powerfully difficult questions as it is a set of answers. We all need help from each other to figure it out. Let's offer that help before we accuse others of missing the obvious.
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