The Book Club

By David Looney

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     Once upon a time there was just one big happy family. There were no problems. God was the Father and all the people he had made were his children. Everything was beautiful 'til one day, some of the children decided they wanted to be the Father. Of course this was impossible and absurd, but the children being children, insisted. Naturally they could not be the Father so they flew into a rage and decided to run away from home. This saddened the Father, but he packed them a bag and let them go, assuming that in a short time they would return home. After waiting and waiting, God realized that the children were more stubborn than he had thought. In fact, the children never came back. They grew up and had children of their own and their children had children until there were thousands of them. None of them thought of going home because either they had forgotten where home was, and did not know their way back, or did not even remember who their Father was.

     God decided that if they were ever going to return home, he would have to tell them who he was and how to get in touch with him. So he picked some people who looked as though they could take good notes and began describing himself to them. He told them how beautiful things were when everyone was in the same family and there were no problems. The writers published what God had given them but very few people went back home because at the time everyone seemed to be having too much fun bowing down to golden cows and things. Some people did read it however, and a strange thing happened. They began memorizing what the note takers had written. This was the beginning of the book club.

     The club grew rapidly because the children needed to belong to something and they liked the story about the Father even though few of them actually went home to him. They reproduced copies of the book; ornate copies, leather bound copies, red letter copies. They put it up in front of them where the gold cow used to be. They built fancy buildings to put the book in and had regular meetings in which they bowed down to the book. (It seems that most of the children had an intense desire to bow down to something.)

     The Father was stunned. How could they possibly misunderstand? To remedy the situation he decided to send a personal representative to straighten things out. He sent his first son whose name was Jesus. Jesus told them that the book club was all wrong and that the important thing was getting back home where everything was beautiful and there were no problems. If God was stunned before he was astonished this time. They had become so attached to the club that in a rage they murdered Jesus. It broke the Father's heart. After a while he picked some more writers and told them to remind everyone about Jesus, what he had told them, and how the Father wanted his children back. The writers published God's new book. It told the children that books were not as important as rejoining the Father's family. But the club was so excited with their new book that most forgot why it was written. They made zippered copies and pocket-sized copies and reprinted them in every language. The club grew by leaps and bounds. Everyone was busy defending the book. There was a time when those who admitted they did not like the book were tortured on the rack, burned at the stake and had their heads chopped off. (Even though the book told them specifically not to do that to people.) That time passed however and torture was replaced by a more subtle but equally effective treatment.

     The story of the book club is a long one and not uninteresting. They did

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many shameful things in the name of the book. The children murdered each other and everyone had lots of problems. But they continued to memorize the book and have debates about which was the official interpretation of the club. Very few of the children found their way back home. But the ones who did, loved the Father, had a beautiful life with no problems and sometimes even misplaced their copy of the book. (The names of people and denominations have been withheld to protect the guilty.)

     MORAL: When God proposed to have a book written he had no intention of creating a detailed account of world history, but as it happens there is a lot of accurate history included in it. The scriptures give record of the Queen of Sheba's visit to King Solomon, but this is not the intent of scripture.

     His purpose was not to produce a perfectly written best seller (or he would have written it himself), but as it happens, a lot of it is fantastic reading and it has been a best seller.

     Neither did he intend to write the world a scientific textbook to be used in the public schools, but as it happens there are scientific facts included in it. But to attempt to judge the age of earth or man, disprove geological dating methods, or determine the length of a "day" of creation, is a departure from revelation into the realm of speculation. (Some local book club chapters are dedicated solely to discrediting science.) The Father could care less which theory of creation his children subscribe to: Theistic evolution, the gap theory, pictorial days, or a literal interpretation; as long as they love him--the Creator. Science greatly enhances one's understanding of the complexity and sophistication of God's creation and the scientist who explains the intricacy of that creation and how God may have accomplished its origin, is to be thanked not attacked.

     The reason for revealed scripture is not to show us what kind of government we should institute, how we should dress or what we should do on Sunday. His glorious purpose was to let us know about the redeeming family relationship we can have with him as our Father and Jesus as our brother. His is a book of redemption.

     The Bible is inspired revelation from God. I have this from a most reliable source--God's Spirit within me. Of course there are dozens of arguments from textual criticism showing objective evidence that the book is 'authentic' and revealed but my personal seal of proof is a subjective experience with the author of all life. Having been accepted into his family, the inheritance I am now receiving because of sonship makes it unthinkable and a waste of time to analyze the legality or veracity of my adoption papers. He is my Father.

     (David Looney, a recent graduate of San Jose Bible College, may be addressed at 34533 Nantucket Common, Fremont, California 94536).