There are 31,102 verses in the Bible. Some folks with a great deal of time on their hands counted them.
A great many of those 31,102 verses are absolutely irrelevant to your life and mine. In fact, many of the verses one could pull out of such Books of the Bible as First and Second Kings, or the General Epistles of the New Testament, are an absolute waste of time and destructive to the high calling of love on our lives.
There are those who believe alternative facts.
Christian, literalists who maintain the inerrancy of the Bible vociferously claim that every one of the 31,102 verses of the Bible are God-inspired. This is tragic nonsense. Indeed, many of those verses are reports of human behavior at its very worst in the treatment of others. The verses are a written record of ancient Mideastern, nomadic, tribal life that justifies horrific behavior.
Some of that horrific behavior includes everything from the raping of the women to the killing of the children of vanquished members of other tribes. There are texts advocating complete genocide and all of it – ALL OF IT – put forth as authorized directly by the Holy One.
It is just ludicrous to claim that there is an equivalency of spiritual value of all texts for edification in the living of a faithful life today. It is also dangerous beyond all description to believe such a preposterous thing. And yet, literalists pulling out such horrendous verses of seemingly God justified behavior in the past, defend spiritual violence against others in the name of the Creator today.
It is in this tragic spirit and interpretation of things that the Rev. Ralph Drollinger, who leads a weekly Bible Study for the members of the current Administration’s Cabinet, is blaming the covid-19 virus as God’s punishment of America.
Misusing Paul’s Letter to the Romans, Chapter One as his justification for such an abominable claim – a claim suggesting tens of thousands of people dying worldwide and projections of thousands dying each day in this country from this virus – are all collateral damage for God’s punishment of the American people – Drollinger names gays, environmentalists and atheists as the reason for this current viral plague. This is invited, accepted Bible Study taking place with the United States Cabinet?
I suggest being far more selective of the Biblical witness. There are a number of great Spiritual Truths to be discovered and nurtured within the biblical witness. We need to disengage from thinking there are 31,102 Bible verses of equal value.
We need to distinguish, focus on and nurture far more compelling texts.
Here are 8 places to begin:
Exodus 20:1-17. The foundation for spiritual life and social responsibility.
Micah 6:4-8. All that is required of us…ever!
Matthew 5:1-11. A perspective, not of judgement, but blessedness.
Mark 12:28-31. The most important two.
Luke 15:11-32. The Greatest Story ever told on the character of God.
Romans 8:18-39. There is nothing that separates us from God.
I Corinthians 13. The quality, character and endurance of love.
Philippians 4:4-6. A life-giving perspective of hope, not condemnation.
These verses internalized, reflected upon and lived out will make spiritual first responders of all of us.