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Health & Fitness

Burning the Bible

Common practice needs to defer to core purpose.

So there I am.  Leading a church Youth Group out in the Wilderness.

I’ve brought my trusty RSV Oxford Study Bible, now 32 years old.  It's a prized possession.  The binding is on its 3rd taping…  The original hand-written notes are so small, I now need glasses to see them properly.

Because I am leading this group, we get lost.  Big time.

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Cell-phone service is non-existent, night is falling, and temperatures we’re not dressed for are coming soon.

We find an old and bare cabin.  Probably a crude shelter for hunters and such.

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It has a fire place and matches on the mantel.  Logs and kindling are there too, but there’s no paper!

There’s nothing to get the kindling properly kindled!

If we don’t get some serious heat until help arrives, we’re gone.

So, what do I do?  I take the only paper available that will enable lives to be saved.

I rip some pages from my Bible, crumple them up, stuff them underneath the kindling, and light a match.

This is a no-brainer.

Why?

Because the Bible teaches us always to put people first, before the texts, artifacts, customs, implements and rituals of religion.

The Word of God inspires us to know that the scripture was written for souls.  Souls were not written for scripture.

That’s our Faith.

Thus, the Bible would burn brightly, and be fulfilled in its purpose of saving lives.

And hopefully, the individuals rescued would survive to read, and praise God another day.

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