Birds, Bibles, and Boys

Because I will unabashedly name-drop when given the chance (and what is personal blog but a platform for notoriety), here is an excerpt from a book that Judy Douglass loaned me. Me personally. Because she follows me on twitter.

I have learned that when we take our hands off the pages of the Bible, read and listen to its words, and enter into its story by faith, something happens.

It renews and continues to renew its powers. It becomes what it was meant to be, something both more intimate than an old pair of jeans and more unusual than alien creatures, something like a familiar stranger or an unpredictable neighbor or a pet lion whose presence invigorates its surroundings.

Something like the glory of the ocean, which on the surface appears gentle and strolling and pleasant to observe, but under that surface there's a vibrant, teeming, swirling, dynamic world full of beauty and wonder.

Or perhaps listening to the Bible is like having the most powerful person in the world sit down with you for coffee and chat with you. --taken from The Blue Parakeet by Scot McKnight.

Other than the fact that Scot's name is sorely lacking an additional "t," I highly esteem chapters one and two of this book (as that is all I have read). He's punchy (if verbose), challenging, and fair in his critiques.

As far as I can tell, he upholds sola scriptura (Scripture alone is our ultimate authority) but focuses on the manner in which we interpret the Bible. I'm not going to give you a book report. If you really cared, read it for yourself. Then call me and we'll have coffee and talk about it. And if you are a single guy and do this, I will call it a date so that I can feel better about myself. (okay, not really. well, maybe).