Is the Bible a Dangerous Book?

                                                                                                                                      

I have not doubts that the Bible is a dangerous book,  perhaps the most powerful and dangerous book ever written. Take, for example, this story by Shane Claiborne, a Jesus-loving, Bible-loving Evangelical activist. In 1995, a group of homeless mothers decided to occupy an abandoned cathedral in North Philadelphia. The Archdiocese announced that they had 48 hours to leave or be arrested. Standing with these mothers, Shane writes:

"When we were arrested around these housing issues, a police officer took us to jail for standing with homeless friends facing arrest. He searched me, found my Bible, and said, "I'm going to have to hold on to this.,,, It's a dangerous book." He smiled, but I thought---it is a dangerous book. For hundreds of years this book has gotten people in trouble, locked up, executed."

Indeed, the Bible has been seen as a threat by those who support or profit from what Walter Wink calls the domination system:  imperialists, plutocrats, oligarchs, Fascists, Communists, and even some Christians, such as enslavers who edited the Bible to emphasize the parts urging slaves to obey their masters. 

On the other hand, I could give countless examples of how the Bible has inspired those seeking to end slavery, war, the oppression of immigrants and women, and other evils. 

But to be honest, I would also have to add that the Bible has been misused to justify all these evils. For this reason, the Quaker Elias Hicks condemned Christians who believe that the Bible alone can bring about peace, justice and the Kingdom of God. In a sermon he preached in 1828, he alluded to the Protestant Reformation when the Bible was translated into the vernacular and circulated widely by the printing press. This did not lead to peace and love, but rather "the worst of persecutions and sanguinary wars were introduced among Christians" (The Journal of Elias Hicks, ed. Paul Buckley, p. 419). 

I know from personal experience how hurtful the Bible has been to the LGBTQ community. When I was a youth service project coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee and Southern California Quarterly Meeting in So Cal back in the 1990s, I took the Quaker youth to the Rev. Carl Bean AIDs Center in LA where those dying of AIDs were being cared for. It was a profoundly moving experience for our youth. Many of those in this center not only suffered from a life-threatening disease, they had also experienced heart-breaking rejection because of their sexual orientation. We sang "Happy birthday" to a man who told us this was the first time in his life that his birthday had been celebrated. We learned that he passed away several weeks later. 

After our service project I took the youth to Rev. Carl Bean's Unity Fellowship Church, which seemed like a typical Baptist Church but had many LGBTQ members who were Black and Latino. Many were street people who suffered poverty and rejection. During his sermon, Rev. Bean lifted up a Bible and said, "If this book has been used to make you feel unworthy because of who are or who you love, don't let it." With that, he threw the Bible to the ground. There was a stunned silence. Than he stooped over, picked up the Bible and said, "But if this book helps you to see that God loves and accepts you and wants the best for you, then take it to heart." With that, he held the Bible to his chest.

It was a dramatic moment, like the moment when Jesus read from the prophet Isaiah in his home synagogue in Nazareth.

Rev. Bean's understanding of the Bible as not condemning LGBTQ people has been confirmed by the diligent research of Kathy Baldrock,  a straight Evangelical Christian who "saw the light" and became an advocate for the LGBTQ community. , I highly recommend her book Walking the Bridgeless Canyon: Repairing the Breach Between the Church and the LGBT Community. I also recommend a documentary inspired by her work called 1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture, which shows how a mistranslation of the Greek caused untold harm to people who are seeking to be Christian but have faced rejection and condemnation. 

One of the most hopeful developments in this election cycle has been the  rise of James Talerico, the dynamic young Texas candidate for the Senate who uses the Bible to call for social justice. He is seen as heretical by Christian nationalists but I feel he understands the Spirit that inspired the Bible far better than his critics who idolize Trump, the antithesis of Christ. My wife Jill, an Evangelical Christian, loves Talerico and bestows on him the highest compliment an Evangelical can give: "He knows the Bible!"

How can we approach the Bible in a life-giving, Spirit-led way? One way that I have found helpful is the "Friendly Bible" approach by Joanne and Larry Spears. This was simplified by a Pacific Yearly Friend named Steve Matchett as the "Come as You Are" Bible study approach. In either case, there is no leader, no expert, providing a "correct" interpretation of the Bible. Instead, there is a convener who chooses a passage (sometimes with help from the group), explains the ground rules, and allows the group to be guided by the Spirit. We begin with silent worship and then each participant reads a verse from the chosen passage. Participants then take turns sharing and don't speak twice until everyone has had a chance to speak. They can ask questions, express doubts, offer insights. What they can't do is argue or challenge another person's interpretation. I have found this approach to be helpful in bringing participants closer to each other and to the Spirit. 

This approach can also inspire us to take action. For example, at Pacific Yearly Meeting's annual session in Monterey in 2026, a women felt led to share her passionate concern about a detention center that was being proposed not far from where our annual session was taking place. It felt clear to me, and to others, that she was being led by Spirit to share her concern with the entire Yearly Meeting. When she did, the clerk asked for a committee to be formed and we met and crafted a minute opposing detention centers that was approved by the Yearly Meeting. This has never happened this way before--we usually go through a laborious process--so I feel confident that Spirit was at work. Here's the minute that was approved:

As Quakers, we at Pacific Yearly Meeting affirm that of God in all people. We stand in opposition to the violation of human rights and human dignity, including, but not limited to construction and operation of immigration-related detention centers. They deny due process, disrupt families, harm children, and damage the fabric of healthy communities. We call on Quakers and people of conscience everywhere to take spirit-led action to confront these immoral developments.

In the past, members of Orange Grove Meeting visited detainees at Adelanto and worked for immigrant rights. I hope we continue to find ways to support our immigrant neighbors and those in detention. 

It's also worth pointing out that this minute is in keeping with Biblical teaching. The Bible frequently tells us to treat immigrants like those who are native born (see Exodus 22:21,Numbers 15:15-16,  Jeremiah 22:3, Matthew 25:35). In Hebrews 13 we are told to treat strangers as if they are angels in disguise and to treat those in prison or being tortured as if it is happening to us. 

Treating others as we wish to be treated is of course the most important teaching of the Bible. It's an ethical imperative shared by all the world's major religions. 

Quakers believe that to understand the Bible, we must live in the Spirit that inspired it. We know how Jesus and his followers lived their faith: they practiced love, peace, healing, and caring for the poor. How do we know that our reading of the Bible is guided by that self-same Spirit? The Apostle Paul tells us that we will know by the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal. 5:22-23 NASB). 

I am grateful for the Bible and all that it teaches me. I don't see it as a rulebook, but as a spiritual guide that encourages me when I am struggling, and challenges me when I am complacent. I don't read it literally but I take it seriously. It inspires and empowers me to be my best self and to work for the good of society and the world.  

For those who would like to deepen their understanding of the Bible from a social justice perspective, I recommend the work of Ched Myers (who used to be the director of the AFSC in So Cal) and Bert Newton, a dear friend who is the executive director of Making Housing and Community Happen. Both of these men are activists as well as scholars of the Bible who challenge the domination system just like Jesus.

Here are their bios in brief:

Ched Myers is an American theologian, biblical scholar, and activist known for integrating Scripture with movements for peace, justice, ecological stewardship, and economic equity. Author of the influential Binding the Strong Man, he co-directs Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries and has spent decades teaching radical discipleship and public theology.

Bert Newton is a Pasadena-based housing justice advocate, Mennonite minister, author, and community organizer. As Executive Director of Making Housing and Community Happen (MHCH), he mobilizes faith communities to support affordable housing. A former associate pastor and "housing navigator" helping those with mental illness to find housing, he also writes and teaches on biblical interpretation and social justice/ His book Subversive Wisdom: Sociopolitical Dimensions of John's Gospel explores the social and political themes embedded in John's Gospel and their implications for faith and justice. His podcast Parody and Subversion in Matthew's Gospel. examines the Gospel of Matthew, exploring its literary, cultural, and historical context and interpreting Jesus' movement as a nonviolent challenge to existing systems of power.