Thursday, December 21, 2006

No Instruction Manual

Well, at least the Bible isn't one, says T.B.Vick.

Nor is it:
- A text book on biology/physics/history/...
- A map determining political borders
- A novel
- An oracle
- A collection of arguments for use in debate
- ...

What other things can you think of that the Bible is not?

6 comments:

::aaron g:: said...

-- George Lindbeck uses a "cartographic simile" (i.e. a Map)to describe a religion and, perhaps by implication, to describe its texts.

-- The Bible is not a Systematic Theology.

-- I've been meaning to say that I admired your post about not wanting to get caught up in blogging "competitions"ke

Sandalstraps said...

My favorite comes from the movie Saved. A character, after literally getting hit over the head with a thrown Bible, picks it up off the ground, dusts it off, and says in a pitiable voice to her attacker:

"This is not a weapon, you idiot!"

Aside from not being a weapon, the Bible is also not a self-help book.

Anonymous said...

The Bible is not an adequate counterweight for a trebuchet.

It is a marvellous tool for killing (eh, I mean "suddenly evangelizing to death") crickets.

Patrik said...

:) This is great. We'll have an apophatic theology of scripture in no time!

One of Freedom said...

To weigh in on the other side of the equation.

The Bible is not insignificant.


But also...

It is not an easy text.
It is not uninspiring
It is not a collection of phrases that can be strung together at whim to support the latest fad theology going.

And of course...
It is not a breadbasket, even though it has been compared to bread on occasion.

byron smith said...

My old rector always used to point out that it was not a doorstop (there were a lot of bibles around the church and they would sometimes be drafted into service in various unusual ways).