The Bible as an answer book

From Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell:

The Bible is not pieces of information about God and Jesus and whatever else we take and apply to situations as we would a cookbook or an instruction manual.

And while I'm at it, let's make a group decision to drop once and for all the Bible-as-owner's-manual metaphor. It's terrible. It really is.

When was the last time you read the owner's manual for your toaster? Do you find it remotely inspiring or meaningful?

You only refer to it when something's wrong with your toaster. You use it to fix the problem, and then you put it away.

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Comments

[Steve]

I think Rob is overstating things. The Bible is an owners manual, but not for something simple, like a toaster.When I began to learn web design, I bought a bunch of manuals. I bought them more to learn from than to get me out of a jam. I still refer to them because what is in them is beyond me. Within them is great wisdom.The Christian life is not boring as a toaster. It is vast and complex and fascinating. And the more we immerse ourselves in the manual, the better we'll be.I may be misreading Rob, but to me there seems to be wisdom in seeing the Bible as the book we go, as we would any manual for answers.