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.
