The Bible Does Not Read Like a Myth or Fairy Tale

This is post number six in my ten-part series entitled Church, Bible, and Interpretation - It's Not So Simple.

The scriptures are a great gift from God to us, His church. We have the wonderful and sometimes daunting task of interpreting the Bible the way God wants it interpreted. The writers of scripture meant certain things. We need to understand what they intended. It's my goal in this series to help however I can.

One consistent claim that haters of the scriptures make is that it reads like a myth or fairy tale. I sometimes wonder if those who make this claim have ever bothered to actually read the Bible. Their claim fails on many fronts. I bring up this issue because we, as readers, must understand that the Bible not only is not a fairy tale, but it doesn't read like one either. Rather, the scriptures read much more like actual happenings in space and time. That's because what we are reading did occur in space and time (eyewitness accounts).

To claim that the Bible is a myth or fairy tale requires that the one making the claim rule out the supernatural completely. In light of the relative insignificance of human beings in the scope of the universe, this is a staggeringly arrogant claim. Who is man to say that God does not exist? Man cannot possibly know enough to even make this claim.

When we read the Bible we run into the most important person who ever lived - Jesus Christ. He does not seem like a crazy person or fraud. He also doesn't act like a wizard or magician. Rather, he appears to be a normal person who happens to be very nice, care for people, and make some astounding claims. Jesus has an aura of reality and believability. A fair reading of scripture forces us to deal with this real person. That's not only because Jesus is real, but also because the Bible is written as a historical record, not a myth.

Myths and fairy tales do not have written records from thousands of years ago. The Bible does.

Myths and fairy tales change over time. The Bible does not.

People do not die for fairy tales. Many Christians have been slaughtered for standing up for the Bible.

We can be confident that the Bible is true. It is a written record of God's revelation to us. It describes real things happening in specific places at specific times in history. At its most basic level it is a book that is believable. When we read the Bible let's not interpret it as if it is some sort of fairy tale or myth. It was not intended as such. Rather, we must read and interpret it for what it is: God's record of His amazing acts in history, centering upon our glorious Lord.