Dear Pastor...
. . . do you really mean it when you advise your congregation to read their bible for themselves?
Do Christian leaders not know that one of the pitfalls that follows from Christians reading their bibles is that this activity can lead the Christian down the path of discovering the many problems and contradictions found within the bible, which may lead the Christian to ask their pastor for help in "understanding" (harmonizing / minimizing) these problems?
Do Christian leaders not realize that reading the bible (in depth) and allowing the bible to speak for it's self, can lead to irreparable damage to a Christians faith in the bible, and faith in the Jesus / God of the bible? Reading the bible, and questioning what it says and why it says what it says, has lead many a dedicated believer to abandon their faith. And besides - if reading the bible didn't help these believers in their "Christian walk", then what evidence can you offer that it really does anyone any "good" at all to read their bible for themselves?
"Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived."
~Isaac Asimov
If the Christian (the serious bible student who lets the bible speak for it's self) reads the bible, they might learn what the bible actually has to say about human slavery, or what the bible says concerning the "spoils of war" and the disposition of the conquered.
They might also learn how much (monetary value) each person is worth based on their age or sex - Lev. 27:1-8.
Perhaps another biblical tidbit that they will discover concerns what needs to be done to a bride when it is discovered that she wasn't a virgin on her wedding night - Deut. 22:13-21. Or perhaps they might learn what it takes to gain eternal life directly from Jesus himself - Mark 10:17-22 - and realize that they don't know a single Christian who has done what Jesus commanded.
And most disturbing - they might begin to wonder, even though the bible says in numerous verses that God will answer their prayers . . .
John 15:71 John 5:15
. . . they might realize that there is no evidence that a single prayer that they have ever uttered has been answered by God.
I submit that when a pastor encourages or advises his congregation to read the bible for themselves, he does this out of tradition and/or naivety. He risks church members coming to their own conclusions as to the meaning of what they are reading (which may be drastically different from what the pastor or denomination believes) and the bible readers might possibly share their controversial conclusions with other church members, which could possibly create a schism in the congregation, making the pastor and other church leaders scramble to clean up the mess before it spreads farther.
If a pastor desires that the congregation that he oversees, remains intact and perhaps grow in numbers, and he wants to minimize the risk of a future church split, then it would be in his best interest to subtly discourage the congregation from reading the bible for themselves. Entire denominations have split (and split again, and again) due to disagreements over traditional beliefs as well as biblical interpretation. One denomination (United Methodist) is in the process of splitting (again) as I write this post.
Pastors can't prevent people in their congregation from reading their bibles. Some people in the congregation will even take notes and then compare what the pastor claims that the bible says, with what the bible actually says (I used to do this). And if they discover that the pastor was dishonest or perhaps mistaken, they might confront him, or worse, they might show some others in the congregation what they discovered. Either way, it is just more mess for the church leadership to have to clean up.
The bible is like a person, if you torture it long enough you can get it to say almost anything.
~Rev. Dr. Frances Wade
Baptist denominations in the US:
Alliance of Baptists
American Baptist Association
American Baptist Churches in the USA
Association of Reformed Baptist Churches of America
Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists
Baptist Bible Fellowship International
Baptist Missionary Association of America
Central Baptist Association
Christian Unity Baptist Association
Conservative Baptist Association of America
Continental Baptist Churches
Converge (formerly Baptist General Conference)
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
Enterprise Association of Regular Baptists
Free Will Baptist
Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship
Fundamental Baptist Fellowship Association
Fundamental Baptist Fellowship of America
General Association of Baptists
General Association of General Baptists
General Association of Regular Baptist Churches
General Conference of the Evangelical Baptist Church, Inc.
General Six-Principle Baptists
Independent Baptist Church of America
Independent Baptist Fellowship International
Independent Baptist Fellowship of North America
Institutional Missionary Baptist Conference of America
Interstate & Foreign Landmark Missionary Baptist Association
Landmark Baptists
Liberty Baptist Fellowship
National Association of Free Will Baptists
National Baptist Convention of America, Inc.
National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.
National Baptist Evangelical Life and Soul Saving Assembly of the U.S.A.
National Missionary Baptist Convention of America
National Primitive Baptist Convention of the U.S.A.
North American Baptist Conference
Old Regular Baptist
Old Time Missionary Baptist
Original Free Will Baptist Convention
Pentecostal Free Will Baptists
Primitive Baptist Universalists
Primitive Baptists
Progressive National Baptist Convention
Reformed Baptist
Regular Baptist
Separate Baptist
Separate Baptists in Christ
Seventh Day Baptist General Conference
Southern Baptist Convention
Southwide Baptist Fellowship
Sovereign Grace Baptists
Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists
United American Free Will Baptist Church
United American Free Will Baptist Conference
United Baptist
World Baptist Fellowship
. . . and finally
Independent Baptist Church's
(not affiliated with any Baptist group, association, or convention)
History has proven over and over again that the bible feeds (causes) division. If Christians (which includes Baptists) base their religious beliefs, doctrines, and traditions on what they read in the bible, and as a result of them reading the bible, they disagree on what the bible says - to the point that - they form dozens of different groups, so that they associate ONLY with Christians who believe as they do (division), then why would a pastor recommend to his congregation that they read their bible, that for well over a hundred centuries has lead to the breaking up of congregation after congregation after congregation? This is borderline insanity!
But . . . by all means, dear Pastor, keep telling your congregation(s) to read the bible for themselves - please.
Just remember, there are no contradictions in the bible, just as long as you ignore all the contradictions.
~Aron Ra
bob
r.u.reasonable@gmail.com
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