Seeing But Not Perceiving

I am truly disturbed, actually, by the use of the Bible by people who claim to have Jesus as their Lord and the Bible as true. These very people disregard the words of Jesus with an ease and a dismissal that the critics of the New Testament—heck the critics of any piece of literature—cannot match. I find myself unimpressed by those who have a high theological regard for Christ or for the Bible, because their “high” regard tend to be translated into already knowing who Jesus is and what the text says before they ever come to the text. And if anyone points out that their understanding of Jesus or the Bible doesn’t match what is actually stated, they will claim one of a few statements that throw doubt on the one questioning them:
“I interpret the Scripture by the Spirit”
“All of the church fathers understood this.”
“I follow sound hermeneutic principles.”
“This scholar (usually from a hundred and fifty years ago) agrees with me”

Interpreting Scripture is difficult, and changing someone’s mind is almost impossible. I’ve frankly given up convincing anyone of my point of view of Scripture if they strongly hold to another point of view. I just give my reasons and move on. And, frankly, I hope that others do the same.

But it truly disturbs me when someone will hold to a high theological view of Scripture but deny what it clearly says in black and white. People who think that Jesus claimed that it’s okay to go to war. That the law of Moses can be fully lived out today. That the United States upholds the ten commandments (although that may be a misreading of the Constitution, not the Bible). That suicide is an unpardonable sin. That Jesus spoke parables to "clarify" His truth. If the Bible really is God’s word, then we need to believe it for what it says, and not try to impose our own beliefs and traditions upon it. This means we have to open our eyes without the theological/philosophical lenses and just let it speak to us, not us to tell it what it should say.