Is The Bible Clear?

I recall a visiting pastor preaching often in the church of my childhood. People loved him for many reasons, primarily because he was a “son” of our church and a very good preacher. I explicitly remember this—repeatedly he would declare that “the Bible is abundantly clear!” He preached it with that exclamation mark too. What he said the Bible said was a sure thing; it was “abundantly clear.”

It Was Easy to Believe—then!

As a child, I believed that—that the Bible is abundantly clear. I was taught to believe that. And I’m certain I wanted to believe that as well. Why wouldn’t I? Good people who loved me, who wanted good for me and who wanted me to be good, my parents who raised me and the congregation that formed me, they all believed that. And that was abundantly clear!

But when I became an adult, I began to wrestle with this idea that the Bible is abundantly clear. My struggle? If the Bible is abundantly clear, then why do Christian people and groups who say so continue to separate from one another when it becomes clear that they don’t agree on what the Bible clearly says? Doesn’t the very fact that there are so many denominations and independent churches reveal that the one truth we all agree on is that the Bible is not abundantly clear? Or perhaps that the Bible is clear only to my tribe? And as odd as this will sound, that obvious reality may be an excellent starting point for us to be in conversation with those with whom we disagree.

An Active Struggle With An Old Idea

Friends, if the Bible is clear, why are things that are clear to me not clear to some others. And conversely, how is it that certain matters are clear to others and not clear to me? Is it possible the Bible doesn’t intend or pretend to be clear on most things or many things or some things? What if, instead, the Bible is inviting us into conversations with God and one another? Is it possible to Imagine how respectful conversations could lead us to fresh ideas and discoveries?

And I wonder—why aren’t we talking with one another about both our beliefs and our doubts? I’m reminded of the Jewish story coming out of Jerusalem that my brother loves to tell. “A Rabbi is praying at the Western Wall. Some tourist approaches the Rabbi and says ‘You must feel really close to God, praying here every day.’ ‘Actually,’ says the Rabbi, ‘some days it’s like talking to a brick wall.”

Isn’t that how it feels to talk Bible with someone who reads it through a different lens than you? But talking is important. Yet the key to knocking down the walls between us is not talking; it’s listening. Therefore, I commit to listening so that I might understand what bothers others so much that they would separate from me. And I trust they will listen to me as well. That’s what we call a conversation.

“My Clear” and “Your Clear”

Difficult as it is, I need to acknowledge that people who read the Bible through a different interpretive lens than mine have something to teach me that I can only learn from them. But the only way any of us can be in conversation with others is if we are willing to confront the possibility that we could be wrong. And furthermore, that there is a tension between “my clear” and “your clear”, and that perhaps things will never be as clear as we want them to be. Perhaps that’s okay. It could even be the way God intends it. Perhaps God is inviting us to live in these tensions as an expression of our unity in Christ. And perhaps clarity is the forbidden fruit—what Adam and Eve were reaching for?

If we could share clarity on just one thing, then maybe it could be Paul’s declaration — “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (I Corinthians 13:13).

Could that be enough? It is abundantly clear that it hasn’t been, but could it be enough?