Our church is currently teaching “The Story”—an edited version of the Bible, divided into 31 weekly teachings for all age groups. I first heard of it from my pastor friend who taught it in his church. At the time, I didn’t think much about it. But now, I’m a little confused. “The Story” reduces the Bible by 75%, leaving out Israel’s bloody wars and genocides, and then, whole books like Job, Jonah and Ecclesiastes, almost all the Psalms and Proverbs, much of the Sermon on the Mount, and most of Paul’s letters. Over my lifetime I’ve seen a dozen new versions, translations, and paraphrases of the Bible. But this is the first selectively edited version. How do we reconcile this with God’s warnings not to add or take away from His Word (Deut 4:2; Rev. 22:18)?
Of course what the editors of “The Story” (using the NIV) are trying to do is to condense (and sanitize?) the Bible to make it read like a novel? Their promotional slogan is: “Read the Bible like you've never read it before!” And that’s the problem. It’s NOT the whole Bible.
One of the recurring themes in this blog is my emphasis on teaching sound doctrine (2 Tim 4:3). In 1996, “The Coming Evangelical Crisis” was written by a number of Christian authors, e.g., John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, Albert Mohler, to warn of a trend to minimize expository teaching; and if not turned around, doctrinal error would be the result. I don't believe “The Story” in itself will do that. Not if it creates a deeper love for God’s Word and whets the appetite for more of it (and a weekly reminder from the pastor that this is not the whole story). At a time in history when the Bible is being increasingly marginalized, I just think we have to use extreme caution.
Hi Dr. Greg,
ReplyDeleteGood post. I appreciate your concern. Doing some pulpit substitution for a friend, I preached a couple of sermons using the chapters in the book as a basis for what was to be covered. I have to confess to being overwhelmed in what had to be covered in the sermon in such a short length of time. In two sermons, we had to go from the kingship of Hezekiah, through the attack on Jerusalem, to a victory given by God, then the eventual downfall and trudge into captivity. It was too much. And both sermons went overlong (ouch!).
But I understand why the book was written. So many people have it on their "bucket list" to read the bible. And almost no one reads it cover to cover. It is too easy to get lost in the minutiae (of course, it is not minutiae to the people experiencing it in the story!), of peoples' lives and miss the real story. Namely, God loves mankind for His own reasons and God has a plan for mankind. "The Story" allows that part to be easily grasped, placing it on the bottom shelf.
In order to make all of the history and God's actions sensible to the congregation, I created a chart that overlayed the timelines of the prophets and kings (who was involved in whose ministry at what time) with the backdrop of the history of the southern and northern tribes. A friend told me afterwards that for the first time, he was able to see how that portion of Old Testament history fit together.
However, there is a reason that the bible says, "Study to show thyself approved." Study involves work. It involves challenging one's own presuppositions, dearly held beliefs, and selfish pride (allowing someone or something else to be right). Studying the bible is not tabloid reading, though some of the scandals in the bible approach that level of journalism.
I remember when there was a minor furor over the "Reader's Digest" version of the bible was printed. In talking with someone who did not study the bible but occasionally attended church, he was absolutely convinced that all of the mainstream English speaking churches would eventually convert to using that version. But he did not read that version himself, or any version for that matter.
As you have noted, we can pray that this whets the appetite for more food of a more solid nature amongst those reading "the story," and a closer connection with Jesus, which is the real desire of the authors.
Thanks for the post,
Larry Q
Larry
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing your insightful explanation of "The Story". We are definitely on the same page (pun intended). My concern would be that biblically ignorant newbies will not understand that there is so much more...
Also, regarding the reduction, or 'taking away' from, God's word, I have to wonder who made the decisions on what to keep and what to delete! I wouldn't want to be in his socks come the judgment day!!!
Greg