For The Bible Tells Me So

The Ethical Commands Are Confused And Contradictory

Enns spends much time critiquing the historicity of Scripture, but he doesnt stop there. He go after its ethics, too. The Bible is not an instruction manual, he insists. Waiting for the Bible to tell me what to do means well . . . be waiting forever . Enns then plunges into a lengthy discussion of the incoherence of the OTs moral exhortations, particularly in Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes. Moreover, he argues, the laws given to Israel are contradictory and inconsistent.

But again, Ennss insistence that the Bible cannot provide coherent moral guidance presents a number of problems for his own position. If it doesnt provide moral guidance, then why do the NT authorsand Jesus himselfrepeatedly treat it as a source for moral guidance? For example, Jesus appeals to the supposedly fictitious story of Adam and Eve and draws moral lessons from it about divorce and adultery . Not only did Jesus think this story was real , he thought it provided clear moral guidance . Paul tells us Scripture is profitable for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work . It sure sounds like the apostle thought the OT was able to provide clear moral guidance.

At a number of points throughout The Bible Tells Me So, Enns moves beyond telling us what the Bible isnt and tries to express what it actually is. For example, he writes:

The Bible Tells Me So

Includes 7 films

What if the Bible is fine just the way it is? Not a well behaved Bible, where everything lines up and makes sense, but the messy, troubling, and weird Bible we actually have? What if the Bible doesnt need to be protected and defended, but understoodjust as it is? What if the real problem isnt the Bible but the false expectations we sometimes bring to it? Perhaps, when we let the Bible be the Bible rather than what we expect it ought to beor need it to bewe will find a deeper faith in the process. We hope these films with biblical scholar Peter Enns around the chapters in his book, The Bible Tells Me So will stir your imagination, deepen your trust in God, and that the Bible comes alive in new ways for you and your community.

“This is a book that every Christian will be the better and richer for having read. Phyllis Tickle, author of The Great Emergence|The curriculum, written by Andrew Hill, includes 7 sessions with an accompanying discussion guide. Purchase The Bible Tells Me So book HERE.

SESSION TITLES AND FILMS

• SESSION ONE// I’ll Take Door Number Two
• SESSION TWO // God Did What?!
• SESSION THREE // God Likes Stories
• SESSION FOUR // Why Doesnt God Make Up His Mind?
• SESSION FIVE // Jesus Is Bigger Than The Bible
• SESSION SIX // No One Saw This Coming
• SESSION SEVEN // The Bible, Just As It Is

Good Genes Are Nice But Joy Is Better

The plight of families who struggle to reconcile their religious beliefs with their childrens sexuality is the focus of the film For the Bible Tells Me So, which was screened recently in the Thompson Room at the Barker Center for the Humanities.

The documentary tackles the issue head-on with a series of candid interviews with children and parents of faith who struggle to come to grips with their religions strict interpretations about homosexuality and their love for one another.

Included in the film are conversations with the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, Gene Robinson Harvard Divinity School student Jake Reitan Chrissy Gephardt, daughter of former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt as well as other adult children and their parents facing the same challenge.

Later, after seeing Michael Moores 2002 film on U.S. gun violence, Bowling for Columbine, he was inspired to make a movie that reconciled homosexuality and scripture, by bringing the argument to a level that normal laypeople could understand.

The result is the 97-minute documentary that incorporates the voices of several religious scholars, including Harvards Monroe psychologist Paula J. Caplan, lecturer in the Program on Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality and a fellow at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute and the Rev. Professor Peter J. Gomes, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister at Harvards Memorial Church.

Reitan agreed.

Recommended Reading: What Does The Bible Say About Women Being Pastors

Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable To Read It

I confess that I do judge books by their covers. Or at least by the back cover. I read a lot of books and am always careful to read the endorsements on the back and the description on the inside flap. Although endorsements arent everything , they can reveal quite a bit about where a book is headed. Thats their purpose anyway. In this case of Peter Ennss new volume, The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It, the endorsements reveal quite a bit. One will find blurbs by Rob Bell, Rachel Held Evans, and Brian McLaren, among others. Interestingly, Tony Campolo also offers one but with the caveat that, As an old-fashioned evangelical, I have some problems with what he has written. Given that Campolo is by no means a conservative fundamentalist, his statement does an admirable job preparing the reader for whats coming.

But perhaps most illuminating was the inside flap, where the publisher describes the books purpose: In The Bible Tells Me So, Enns wants to do for the Bible what Rob Bell did for hell in Love Wins.

Ennss case for why we should change our view of Scripture is divided into three parts: the Old Testament God is portrayed as a genocidal tribal deity the Bibles historical accounts arent, well, historical and its ethical commands are confused and contradictory. Ill touch on each of these three claims below.

The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable To Read It

Peter Enns

But dont fear, Enns says, because all of this isnt really a problem once you understand one simple fact: the real God didnt do any these things the Israelites just said he did . The OT narratives are just the standard polemic of ancient tribal people who didnt know any other way to describe their God. had no choice, Enns writes. Thats just how it was donethat was their cultural language. . . . God lets his children tell the story . Problem solved.

Or is it? The Canaanite conquest certainly presents some difficulties, but Ennss solution creates even more. I will offer just three observations.

One other possibility is that Enns could argue the Bibles ethics are only confused some of the time, but when it comes to things like murder, its clear. But, of course, thats begging the very question at hand. If God himself is going around murdering people , then apparently the commands against murder arent so clear after all. In the end, Ennss approach to this entire issue is grandly confused. For one who claims the moral high ground in objecting to Scripture, hell need to come up with some better answers.

For one who claims the moral high ground in objecting to Scripture, hell need to come up with some better answers.

Ennss position is that the Bible gives a picture of God that is the exact opposite of how he actually is.

Read Also: Does The Bible Promote Slavery

Bible Lesson In Gay Rights

• Send any friend a story

  As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.

  Give this articleGive this articleGive this article

For The Bible Tells Me So

Directed by Daniel G. Karslake

Documentary, Romance

Daniel Karslakes documentary For the Bible Tells Me So wont win any prizes for technique, but innovation surely ranks very low on this filmmakers to-do list. Mr. Karslake has said that the movie is mainly intended as a feature-length primer that can be deployed in arguments with homophobes.

Directorially, the movie is unremarkable, with one conspicuous and unfortunate exception: when Mr. Karslake apes the supercharged empathy of an episode of Dateline on NBC, right down to the verging-on-schmaltzy music. Otherwise, the interviews with scholars parsing the Old and New Testaments are paired with the expected archival photographs and illustrations of biblical scenes. For the Bible Tells Me So is, strictly speaking, an educational film, with the artlessness that that phrase implies.

For the Bible Tells Me So moves through its stories of coming out, detailing how individuals adjusted to their new reality and how parents reacted .

But there is no denying that the film, however inelegant, fills a need. The inevitable DVD should be packaged in a plain cardboard sleeve, so that viewers can carry it in their pockets and, if confronted by a homophobe, hand it over and say, Watch this, then get back to me.

For The Bible Tells Me So

For the Bible Tells Me So is a 2007 American documentary film directed by Daniel G. Karslake about homosexuality and its perceived conflict with Christianity, as well as various interpretations of what the Bible says about sexual orientation.

It includes lengthy interview segments with several sets of religious parents regarding their personal experiences raising homosexual children, and also interviews with those children.

The film features an animated segment, “Is Homosexuality a Choice?”, in which a summary of the then-current scientific theories about sexual orientation is given. It is directed by Powerhouse Animation Studios and narrated by Don LaFontaine in one of his last non-trailer narration roles.

The film premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.

You May Like: How To Grow Spiritually Bible Study

The Historical Accounts Arent Historical

In chapter three, Enns dives into the historicity of the biblical accounts, both old and new. He reminds us the biblical authors shape their stories to make a pointthey are not objective observers and dont pretend to be . And they did so for a reason, namely to address the issues Gods people were facing in the present. Enns is absolutely correct about this point. We shouldnt have a view of ancient historical accounts in which we naïvely assume they did history like we would today. In the ancient world, historians would often decide what to include, what order to put things in, how to compress or combine scenes to save time and get the money shot, and so on . So far, so good.

Ennss newfound certainty doesnt stop there. Throughout chapter six he often refers to the actions and teachings of Jesus without any qualification about whether these things really happened or were said. Indeed, when it comes to the passages he uses to formulate his own interpretation of Jesus, he seems much less concerned to challenge their historicity.

Indeed, when it comes to the passages he uses to formulate his own interpretation of Jesus, he seems much less concerned to challenge their historicity.

This raises an obvious question: If Ennss approach is the genuinely ancient way of reading the Bible , then why did no ancient people read the Bible this way? Enns insists that only he is letting the Bible be the Bible. The careful reader is not so sure.

Editors Note: The Bible Tells Me So

My mothers Bible always looks like its about to burst at the seams. She circles, stars, and underlines verses with special meaning. Some passages have dates written in the margins, sometimes with notes about a particular occasion, or about what the verse meant to her at the time.

My mother filed sermon notes, newspaper clippings, pages from devotionals, pictures, birth certificates, church bulletins, and wedding programs in between the pages of her Bible. Our familys story was wrapped up in the stories of Noahs Ark, Samson and Delilah, King David, Solomons Temple, Jonah and the whale, Queen Esther, John the Baptist, Jesus, the disciples, Paul, and even Revelation.

Pages from the Bible also wove their way into our lives, sometimes in odd ways. We had a chart with the names of the 66 books of the Bible above the TV, so that while I was watching Little House on the Prairie or Gilligans Island, I could memorize the books of the Bible during commercial breaks.

I loved reading the Bible and sharing it with others. I volunteered as a teacher at Vacation Bible School and as a counselor at Bible Camp as soon as I was old enough. I started Bible studies in high school and college. As a teenager, I even wrote my own commentary on the book of Hosea.

My mothers Bible symbolizes to me the sense Ive always had that God is at work in our lives, just as he was in biblical times. Examples like Priscilla are some of the passages that are starred and underlined in my Bible.

Read Also: What Dies The Bible Say About Gay