What To Do with Problematic Bible Verses
At City Church, we have addressed that when it comes to the Bible—we need to be honest about the lens we bring to it. As Rachel Held Evans reminds us, “You can bend Scripture to say just about anything you want it to say. You can bend it until it breaks.” As a church community reading the Bible, we are growing in unveiling the lenses and biases we bring. How cool is this! Now, the next challenge I have for us is this: how do we not only confront our own lenses but continue to take the biblical passages head on that totally gross us out (Like Bill’s sermon on Sunday).
For me, as a woman in ministry that has been deeply hurt by exclusive patriarchal theologies, I know I have a inclination to celebrate all of the biblical passages that affirm women in leadership. Bible stories that bring liberation and healing for women are some of my favorites! When I come across verses like “women be silent in the church” I have a temptation to just explain away the text. I want to say “well in that context it really meant x, y, and z.” And while there is validity in contextualizing harmful Bible verses, the texts still have been used as weapons of harm and oppression. So, what do we do with the Biblical texts that continue to be used to hurt people?
Like most things, I don’t actually have a definitive answer. I do, however, have a spiritual practice that has helped me see God in the messy story of the Bible and help me move towards healing. Rather than ignoring or explaining away hurtful texts, I will actually mourn them. I will think about the people it hurt then, over history, and now. I will ask God to show me God’s heart in it all.
You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted;
you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that mere earthly mortals
will never again strike terror. - Psalm 10:17-18, NRSV
Today, try this. Ask God to be with you as you think about the parts of the Bible or religion that upset you. Pray for God to comfort you. Pray that God will help you now only see your own pain but the ways the Bible has been used to create pain for others.
As God mourns with the oppressed and afflicted, would we join in.