A new push is under way to get people reading the Bible ”” a sensible antidote to Americans’ well-documented biblical illiteracy. Behind the drive are influential Texas pastors Randy Frazee and Max Lucado, who both have new books out to guide people through the Scriptures. As capable as these read-your-Bible champions are, however, theirs is not the most straightforward task.
For starters, they are fighting against a social current that is making book-reading of any sort a harder sell. But perhaps even more significant are the disturbing discoveries awaiting readers who are lured back to the “the good book” ”” content that might come as an unpleasant surprise to Christians convinced it’s only certain other religions that must account for violence in their sacred texts.
As becomes unavoidably clear from a stroll through the Old Testament, the Bible can be gruesome, too.
Somebody might misuse the Bible? Thats never happens before.
The author paraphrases Jenkins when he says:
[blockquote] The discerning course, Jenkins says, is to situate the bloody passages in their place and time — a place and time with a vastly different moral understanding of violence and its justifications. [/blockquote]
Really?!!! Have either Jenkins or Krattenmaker been made aware of the wars and genocides which have occurred between 1900 and 2011 (and continue as I type in many places). A vastly different moral understanding of violence? Have they heard of the atom bomb? Stalin? Hitler? Rawanda? The world wars? Sheesh.
Oh my, just shut off the electricity for about six months. Then we will see a very quick revision of our moral understandings of violence and justifications.
Very likely outcome of one or more deliberate EMP events….except only six months without power is very optimistic.