What in Scripture most troubles you? What narratives or doctrines? Is it the unrelenting violence (up to and including genocide) committed in the name of our God – even, according to some narratives, by our God? Is it the patriarchy and misogyny? The factual or conceptual discrepencies? I’ve come to believe our attempts to honestly answer this question help us to surface our unrecognized convictions about God, ourselves, and our world.
Some of the Scriptures that disturb us do so only because we misunderstand them. Some disturb us because they present as truth some predication of God we find offensive. Truth is, we need these stories and teachings to disturb us occassionaly, to disrupt and disorient our readings, and, thereby, our assumptions about God, ourselves, and our world. We can’t think we’ve got Scripture nailed down! The living God who speaks in and throught them, will not allow that!
