The Evangelical/Fundamentalists have created a mindset that leaves me cold, and it can be summed up in one phrase:
“Well, MY Bible says….”
But does it really? If you consider where all these books in the volume we call a Bible came from, it just isn’t that cut and dried.
The various books of the Bible were written over centuries by different cultures to different audiences in all kinds of situations that we just don’t take into account anymore.
For instance, consider the ever-popular verses to keep women in their place-
Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. 1 Cor. 14:34-35
Paul’s audience and the culture of the time has to be taken into account. This was written to people living in the Roman culture of patriarchy which was law at the time. Patriarchy was a given, a way of life for centuries.
Patriarchy exists in the Bible because the Bible was written in a patriarchal world. (The Making of Biblical Womanhood by Beth Allison Barr, p. 3. Link below.)
Point being, we can’t just read the text at face value without considering the context.
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Then there’s the translation aspect. The original text was written in languages few of us have been taught. The original manuscripts have been translated over and over, then there have been translations of translations over the centuries, to the point that the original meaning is often questionable at best. Then you add to this the absolute fact that agendas have been translated into versions, and you have some serious questioning to do.
Consider this quote from Wikipedia:
King James issued directives to ensure the translation adhered to the ecclesiology of the Church of England, reflecting its episcopal structure and doctrines, including the belief in an ordained clergy. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_James_Version)
The king decided he wanted his version to protect the power of the clergy. He had an agenda. He liked his hierarchical structure of power that subjugated the masses and he wasn’t about to undermine that. And this is KJV, the version so very many of us were taught to believe was so accurate and reliable. Surprise.
image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bible_from_1300_(17).jpg
This all goes along with a prevailing attitude of certainty. "I know that I know." Which leaves no wiggle room, no space for considering another point of view, no space for the vague possibility that just maybe things might not be as they appear. And that certainty will inevitably lead to an arrogant, know-it-all attitude which, frankly, is more childish than anything else. The older I get, the more I realize I just don't know.
Churchianity is rife with certainty. So many of us have been indoctrinated into the mindset that you have to have everything "right", that your doctrine is "biblical" and thus above reproach. Thus, anyone that takes issue with anything you believe is just simply wrong. And so much of this goes back to the whole "MY Bible says..." attitude.
We won't influence anyone with an arrogant, know-it-all Karen attitude like that. So when someone wants to get feisty and rolls out, “Well, MY Bible says…” you can take a step back and consider how it just may not. Let's just be nice.
Recommended Reading
The Sin of Certainty by Peter Enns
The Making of Biblical Womanhood by Beth Allison Barr
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