A Bible just for you. . .

I suppose you can blame it all about the time when secular publishers began to notice how much money there was to be made in the religious book selling industry -- particularly in the selling of Bibles.  About that time the number of versions available exploded -- within a generation going from basically the KJV and RSV to versions that were specific to specific needs and tastes.  I am not yet talking about the plethora of study Bibles but the idea of tailoring a Bible to a context.  The next thing you knew there were Bibles for specific age groups, marital status, reading levels, and such.  You had everything from a Bible for teenage boys to one for alcoholics in recovery and everything in between.  It did not take long for the computer and smartphones to launch their own version of the modern day app complete with everything from a targeted reading pattern to a verse a day.  All you need to do is to google a subject and put Bible verse in with the search to see how these resources are adapted to you, to your interest, and to you wants -- in many ways no different than targeted advertising.

All of this raises a question.  Should a version of the Bible be tailored to me or should I be shaped by the Word of God?  In fact, some are now beginning to wonder if the use of Scripture memes and apps has not skewed the way we hear and read and know God's Word.  I think they are on to something.  We have come to expect that Scripture will be adjusted to fit us instead of us adjusting to what God's Word says.  That is not only true for liberals but also for those who might be considered and who might consider themselves conservatives.  Increasingly we know the Scriptures in snippets and not even verses or sections of verses.  We know just enough to be dangerous.  That is a problem worth a good discussion.  

We do not need a Bible just for me.  We need to hear objectively the whole counsel of God's Word.  We do not need someone to edit out God's Word so that it fits a targeted audience.  Sinners are the targeted audience for Scripture and God wills that all would be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.  I have grown increasingly uncomfortable with the way we hear only parts of Scripture and then mostly the parts we want to hear and not the whole counsel of God's Word.  Even in the way we edit the readings to be sensitive to things going on in culture is offensive to me.  We try to minimize things that might offend when the whole message of God's Word is offensive -- we are sinners marked for death in need of a Savior because we cannot save ourselves.  You have to get to that before you can acknowledge the goodness of the Father's love in sending His Son to be our Savior.  How long before we edit out sin and death until the message of Jesus is merely inspirational and not salvific?  Oh, wait, we are already there.

If you hear Law and Gospel, sin and forgiveness, death and resurrection, you should be thankful.  Not even most Christians hear that on Sunday morning so it stands to reason they do not seek it out from God's Word either.  Be thankful that we hold to the faith once delivered to the saints and do not try to re-invent or edit away the sharp edges of God's Word.  For it is in these that His love is most marvelously displayed.