The Bible is a book of…

This past week I saw a quote from someone (I don’t know who to attribute it to, sorry) who said the following about the Bible:

“The Bible isn’t a book of answers. It’s a book of wisdom.”

There is a distinct difference between the Bible being a book of answers and a book of wisdom — an important distinction and difference.

If the Bible is a book of answers first and foremost, then I think we have some serious issues to deal with. The Bible doesn’t have all the answers. Often it raises more questions than it answers. To claim that the Bible is a book of answers is to simplify the Bible into something that it is not. The Bible isn’t a Google search engine where you just want to find something in it, pull up what you want, and go on from there. If the Bible is first and foremost an answer book, then it contradicts the very nature of God. Yes, you read that correctly.

God is relational by nature. The Trinity is a prime example of that. Tell me what relationship you have that is first and foremost a question and answer relationship and I’ll show you a relationship that is not relational, that is distant, that is driven by fear, compliance, and order as the foundation. Loving relationships don’t work in that way. Hear what I am saying though — this is not an all or none statement. I’m arguing that the foundation of the Bible is not to be an answer book.

Instead, I would argue that the Bible is a book of wisdom. Wisdom is not the same as data or factoids. We are a society…