From the Superintendent Minister
The power of the pen
The written
word is almost always taken literally and, in its black and white
starkness, there is no room for any humorous overtone or tone of
voice which might soften or reshape the words into something
approaching what the author intended. The written word is sometimes
described as “committing your thoughts to paper” but it might
equally be called committing yourself to criticism and blame if your
words upset or offend, even when there was no intention to do so.
We attach a
lot of importance to what we read. I think that is why we insist
that important transactions in life are written down: we have a
written birth certificate and a marriage certificate; if we make a
Will it is in writing; if we finish paying off the mortgage we own
the deeds which are written documents; and we sign (by writing) our
agreement to important things. The power of the pen is indeed
mightier than the sword after all. If it is written down it is less
open to interpretation.
Many
Christians take this view of the Bible. What is printed on the page
of their favourite version is the committed word of God: “the Bible
says…” becomes their watch word. But this approach is not without
its dangers: Read John 13:27b, Matthew 27:5b, and Luke 10:37b[1].
Now some may be offended or upset by the thought of treating
the Bible so lightly, but of course that is not my intent. What it
shows is that looking only at the written word and without any other
information you have very little clue as to whether or not it is
meant to be humorous or serious.
It is also
important to realise that what is written down by humans often has
an agenda behind it, When we understand the agenda it helps us to
explore the truth of what is written in greater depth. A newspaper
story is written to attract readers and so emphasises facts which
are deemed to be attractive to readers while other facts, even
contradictory facts, will be downplayed or even omitted. A letter
written under threat of persecution and death may properly reflect
the truth of the author’s faith and belief when compared with a
letter of complaint to the local newspaper – you need only read
Paul’s letter to the Romans to spot the difference.
Even
different translations of the Bible have their own agendas – The NIV
for example seeks to provide an accurate translation of the original
languages, the NRSV gets the translation even closer to the original
languages (which is why it is sometimes hard to understand!) but
also includes political correctness so we get “brothers and sisters”
rather than “brothers” and “people” rather than “men”. The Good News
Bible tries to pass on the meaning rather than remaining accurate to
the original language text.
But all
versions of the Bible contain the inherent truth about a God who
loves us and is uniquely revealed to us in Jesus Christ. So
whichever translation or version you choose, remember “All
scripture is inspired by God and is useful
for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in
righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16) and
that it is written down so that we can always refer to it and that
we can rejoice in the power of the written word.
[1]
Jesus said to him, "Do quickly what you are going to do.",
“he went and hanged himself”, "Go thou and do likewise.".