If one embraces the prevailing idea that the Bible explains how I must participate in my own salvation, the Bible becomes truly mystifying. Here we supposedly have a 2000 page book, the essential elements of which can be explained and successfully applied after a mere 30 minutes of instruction. This instruction invariably involves stringing together isolated verses from here and there throughout the overall scriptures. One can do what is required by the Bible without having read or understood the vast majority of the text as long as one has proper instruction, and that instruction need take very little time. This concept of the Bible and its application could be aptly called the “connect the dots” approach. The Bible is reduced to a puzzle to be solved with the solution then broadly disseminated. Bible study becomes an exercise in the intellect with great emphasis on formal training and good skills in logic.
I judge this “proof texting” approach to the Bible as mysterious for yet another reason. Such reliance on so few passages seemingly reduces most of the Bible to a much less significant role. If some passages are essential and others are not, the non-essential knowledge could just as well been left out. Why is there so much “fluff” to the Bible?
In summary, I reiterate the two questions that baffle me if I were to accept the Bible as the roadmap to my participation in my own salvation. How does one figure out which verses are essential to that process, and what is the purpose of the 99% of the Bible which falls into the non-essential category? The idea of the Bible as an instruction book is totally untenable in my opinion. It is vastly too nuanced and lengthy a narrative to be what the church has historically claimed.