In this book,\u00a0Sparks\u00a0lays out what the Bible is doing and how to read it well. He writes in a compelling and readable style and the book is suitable for church groups, college students, and anyone else interested in why the Bible acts the way it does and what we can learn from that.<\/p>\n In chapter 4, Sparks deals with the problem that commonly besets Christian readers: The Bible does not speak with one consistent voice. Here is the money quote, from p. 32:<\/p>\n Though the Bible is the word of God and, as such, is at first blush expected to be consistent in its viewpoints, and, like God, free of any error, a thoughtful reading of Scripture suggests that it is neither wholly consistent nor error free.<\/em><\/p>\n Sparks then lists a number of examples over the next few pages, but he moves quickly to the hermeneutical issue that has been the church\u2019s constant companion\u00a0since\u00a0Paul: what do you do when the God speaks differently in the New Testament vis-a-vis the Old. The issue Sparks homes in on is \u201cbiblical violence,\u201d i.e., why God kills a lot of Gentiles in the Old Testament.<\/p>\n To make his point, Sparks pairs Matthew 5:43-45, where Jesus commands to love\u00a0your enemies, to Deuteronomy 20:16-18, where God gives the marching order for killing Canaanite men, women, and children.<\/p>\n Origen, approximately AD 185-232<\/p>\n<\/div>\n This is not a new issue, of course. It has been a problem\u00a0since\u00a0the first\u00a0century\u00a0or two of the\u00a0Christian\u00a0church. It\u2019s one of the reasons why 3rd century theologians like Origen argued, \u201cMaybe we should take this stuff allegorically.\u201d<\/p>\n For Sparks\u2013and \u00a0no one will be surprised if they have read the book this far\u2013this illustrates yet again how bound the biblical writers were, not here and there, but everywhere, to their cultural context.<\/p>\n To put all this another way, Scripture itself raises moral problems for Christians today if we expect it be a moral guide or a full disclosure of God\u2019s will. What we see in Scripture, rather, is a\u00a0trajectory\u00a0toward compassion.<\/p>\n Sparks concludes the chapter with a look forward:<\/p>\n I take it that many Christian readers, both liberal and conservative, will find\u00a0themselves\u00a0somewhere between the extremes represented by fundamentalism [there is no\u00a0ethical\u00a0problem in the Bible] and skepticism [since there are ethical problems, the Bible can be dismissed]. They embrace the Bible as God\u2019s word but are troubled by the difficulties in Scripture\u2026[especially God\u2019s violence in the Old Testament]. In the pages that follow I will try to suggest a way forward that\u00a0engages\u00a0Scripture as God\u2019s word\u00a0while\u00a0admitting, at the same time, that the ethical diversity that it displays is a factual problem.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0 Fort Sparks, a proper respect for Scripture means taking such a middle path.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thebiblefornormalpeople.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/SWBW-keeper-1.jpeg?ssl=1\" "\\"SWBW")
<\/a>I am continuing my short series on some thoughts generated by Kent Sparks\u2019s recent book\u00a0Sacred Word, Broken Word: Biblical Authority and the Dark Side of Scripture<\/a>![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=inspirandinca-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0802867189\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thebiblefornormalpeople.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Origen.jpeg?resize=135%2C134&ssl=1\" "\\"Origen\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thebiblefornormalpeople.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Christ-the-center-1.jpeg?resize=127%2C195&ssl=1\" "\\"Christ")
<\/a>Citing Dietrich Bonhoeffer\u2019s Christ the Center<\/a>, the Bible is human tradition, written by authors of whom \u201cnot only part but all that they say is historically related and conditioned\u201d (p. 37).<\/p>\n