Bible readers should take seriously what they read, but not too seriously.
The earth looked round to Columbus
The Old Fool believes that if he were to preach for another lifetime the Bible could be the basis for his sermonizing. The Old Fool takes the Bible seriously. He has learned also not to take his present understanding of the Bible to be his final understanding of it.
The Old Fool urges you to take the Bible seriously, but to accept the probility that your understanding of it will be altered in the future. It is said that even Jesus grew in understanding.
In the past, the Bible was commonly believed to be an inspired word, word by word, by God from God. The people did not learn from the experience of past generations who insisted in vain that the earth was the center of the universe, and flat, because the Bible said so.
The Bible was taken too literally and the growing evidence about the roundness of the earth and the movements of stars and planets in space were ignored.
A believer who takes the Bible too seriously runs a risk. He may cause the Bible to be scorned as superstition and its future readers to be indifferent to it. To hold on to a supposed fact after it has been proven false is like concealing a poison pill in the truth. Parents who take the Bible too seriously ought to not expect their children to respect it for long.
In his next post The Old Fool teaches his congregation how to study the Bible. This may be the time to introduce your doubting friends to The Old Fool’s website: www.oldmennofools.com
