If you haven't heard of the Westboro Baptist Church, then I am convinced you live under a rock. However, if you're looking for an interesting laugh (if you share my humour that is...), Russell Brand did an interview with some members of the Church. Check it out here.
Brand brought up some interesting points in the interview and one of my personal favourite was the idea that we are basically destroying the world and the Church is more worried about what people do in their private life.
However, in this post, I wanted to focus on another favourite I had, which was the quote that is the title of this post: "The Holy Spirit ain't got a pen! The Bible was written by men!" So often we forget that the Bible, while believed to be the word of God, was transcribed by men. The Bible reflects not only the life of the people within the text, but of the author, numerous communities, and the world behind and of the text.
And I should mention now that I am in no way a biblical scholar. Instead, I have taken a class called Biblical Traditions and Cultures and I have worked as a Theology Writing Assistant. This makes me far from qualified for saying a whole lot about the Bible but it does give me some insight. Or so I think.
Basically, the world behind and of the text takes a critical and analytical look at how culture, history, and humanity have influenced the Bible. The book was written by and for humans. Yes, the scriptures are the word of God but they were written by men.
All of this isn't to take away from the messages the Bible presents but rather, to put them in context.
How we interpret (yes, interpret) the Bible is dependent on these worlds and also dependent on our lives and our experiences. We see the Bible how we see life: through our own lens based on our experiences.
At the same time, the type of Bible you have can make a difference. Each Bible will be translated just a bit differently and it will be difficult to have a literal translation for English. Many differences will be minor and will primarily just be different words essentially meaning the same thing. However, these differences can carry different connotations and thus, can create a different meaning for the passage.
Anyway, basically I'm trying to say that I completely agree with what Russell Brand was getting at. This is an awkward place to end but I've been slowly working on this post for too long at this point so here you go world! Enjoy!
