I’m sending this post from my Prescriptive/Descriptive Gospel series out to help preface and be part of my “What is a Trauma-Informed Gospel?” series. It offers a framework as well as some questions to help us approach the ideas we’ll dig into in future posts.
If the Prescriptive/Descriptive Gospel series is of interest to you, find all other posts linked at the end of this article. This post originally published March, 2021.
I find myself now reading the Bible with a completely different set of lenses than I used to. In the past it seemed right to me that the Bible was to be read prescriptively – that the purpose of every individual story, as well as the larger narrative, was to convey "should" or "should not." There were some big snags in operating from this perspective, though.
An obvious example is the life story of David, especially with the understanding that he "was a man after God's own heart (a)." Sometimes it seemed clear that David really was a man after God's own heart, like when he didn't kill Saul (b), even with multiple chances to do so and with more than reasonable cause. Yay! David did a mind-bogglingly right thing – what we can all probably agree he "should" have done. He was obviously a good person who was obedient to the Lord, whom he claimed to trust and worship.
But then, hold up! What's this??
King David spied on the naked wife of another man, decided he wanted her for his own, and hatched a plot to have her husband killed so he could marry her? *GASP*
Isn't he supposed to be a good guy? This is so mind-bogglingly WRONG, how could he have thought that was ok?? I think we can all agree it was something he "shouldn't" have done!
Thankfully, it’s pretty clear in this particular story that God condemned David's actions, because he sent Nathan the prophet to tell David exactly what was what, so phew, there’s no ambiguity about how God felt about this obvious and egregious sin... but the Bible is riddled with other stories (even within David's own life) where it doesn't seem clear whether God was or was not condoning the more questionable – or even downright awful – actions of His so-called followers. We can dig into the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (the first recipients of God's covenant, even!) for some good examples of this.
Ugh. It turns out that Scripture is not as cut and dry – not nearly as black and white – as we crave it to be.
There are so many instances in which the obviously good people (or people who are supposed to be on the side of good) do horrible things, and those things aren't called out. They're just presented without commentary.
Then we struggle.
Ack! Is God condemning or condoning these behaviors? What are we, the faithful Christians, supposed to do with such things? Or on the other hand, what are we who are not believers supposed to think??
What do we do, what do we do?
Most of the time, no matter what side of the issue we're on, we'll sit in the judge’s seat with our prescriptive lenses on, and feel the need to either defend God and his sovereignty, or condemn him. Sometimes in passing our judgments on God, either for or against, we feel a sense of righteous indignation, and sometimes sitting in the judge's seat makes us squirm... but we do our best to ignore that. What other choice do we have? We have to come down on one side or the other, don't we? We have to take a stand about whether these perceived "shoulds" and "should-nots" are just or not! Right? If we don't, won't we come in for judgment for not being firmly on the side of "right" (whatever we judge that to mean)?
We find it extremely difficult to relax and allow scripture to just be descriptive – to just tell the story – when it's supposed to be authoritative*... as if its authority depends on our defense or zeal.
But I believe the Bible to be describing the immense and intricate story of creation, the original trauma, and ongoing redemption.
It has no reservations about laying bare all the ugliest results of humanity trading God's judgment for our own, describing in heartbreaking detail the ramifications of living in the shade of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (c). But then it reveals the breath-taking compassion of a God who is not afraid to plumb the depths of deepest darkness, shine his light on his loves, heal them, and work impossible good out of unrelenting evil.
So, "what do we do? What do we do?"
How do we approach scripture with these new lenses?
When we pick up our Bibles, can we take on the role of observer, instead of arbiter?
Can we practice noticing where brokenness and inappropriately-self-appointed judgment are motivating the actions of those we read about, and perpetuating the trauma of sin throughout the generations?
Can we notice how God does not shy away from the broken ones, but finds them and delights in lifting up and blessing even the most undeserving who will trade their standard for his?
Can we begin to release this anxious fixation we have on categorizing everything in Scripture into either "should" or "should not?"
Can we release ourselves from the ill-fitting and heavy burden of being the ultimate judge?
Note: It can be really uncomfortable when we first start looking at scripture through these lenses, so if you’re experiencing that, know that you are safe. You’re not in danger of eternal condemnation for allowing yourself to look at things this way, even if these ideas fly in the face of how you’ve always understood God and the Bible to be. The discomfort won’t harm you, and it won’t last forever. You’re safe.
*As far as the Word of God being authoritative, I believe this 100%, since Christ is the Word of God and he is absolutely authoritative. Christ has the final word. And he gave us the Holy Spirit to guide us in exploring the heights and depths of who God is and who we are, and to reveal those truths to us more and more fully, causing us to look more and more like him as we go.
a- Acts 13:22
b- 1 Samuel 24
c- Genesis 2
Read the rest of the Prescriptive/Descriptive Gospel series here:
Part 1: Prescription vs Description: Which is the Gospel?
Part 2: What Does a “Descriptive Gospel” Require?
Part 3: Marimba Interlude
Part 5: Your Goodness is Futile