(Ir)religiosity

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“The Bible is Propaganda!”

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That’s the claim that Tony Jones makes in The New Christians.  I first read the book last year when it came out (read my short review here), but I’m re-reading it now for a class I’m taking on the Emergent/ing church at ANTS (Oh, and Tony is actually teaching it.  So that’s cool) and that quote really jumped out at my this time.

“The Bible is propaganda.”  Pretty provocative.  But it makes more sense when you think about it.  Tony explains further:

Propaganda has a point and a purpose.  It doesn’t claim to be objective.  It’s trying to convince someone of something.  It’s trying to get people to join a cause, join a movement.  Isn’t that exactly what the Bible is? . . .It is a living, breathing document that makes a claim on its readers’ lives.  It’s like the pamphlets surreptitiously printed by Paul Revere and his compatriots in 1776 — propaganda in that sense.  It’s God’s manifesto, Jesus’ Little Red Book.

I think Tony is right.  The bible is propaganda.  Maybe if we actually owned up to the fact that we have an agenda — of realizing God’s kingdom, of pursuing justice, promoting peace, and participating in cosmic restoration and renewal — we might be more effective in bearing witness to the hope that lies within us.

What think ye?

Written by Blake Huggins

January 30th, 2009 at 7:30 am

Posted in Uncategorized

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  • http://tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com andrew

    fair enough. the bible makes a case and is convincing.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/Florin Florin

    It's more helpful to see the Bible as a means to an end than to see it as an end in itself. The Bible is a guide to the Truth, not the truth itself.

  • http://carolysinger.livejournal.com Carolyn Frantz

    OMG you're actually taking that course!??!? Not fair! Then again, it's kind of not fair that I get to go to Ephesus… hm, the drop-add period is still going on… any room in that class?

  • Thomas

    The Bible is propaganda to bringsupport for Kings. It was created to help instill support for kings hence why “slavery is never considered a sin or immoral by even Jesus Christ. Jesus also tells us to submit to our master as we also submit to God as our heavenly master. In Genesis 3:16 God decrees that as a result of the “fall” the wife will henceforth be ruled over by her husband thereby relegating women to the status of a slave. This second class status for women is reinforced throughout the Bible. We can gather in history how many kings took their own wives (the Queens heads or had them burned on the stake. The women even if they were Queen had no true authority for the most part as equal to a King. We also see how slaves are regulated in the Bible like who goes free and who doesn't and how to punish them. This is just like a Kingdom ruled by a king and the Bible is propaganda to reinforce the subjects into the service of the King. To much hypocrisy about a loving God in the Bible when we have such a family destroying infamous institution as slavery and the Bible no where says it is a sin or immoral. Even the 10 commandment support the institution of slavery.

  • Thomas

    The Bible is propaganda to bringsupport for Kings. It was created to help instill support for kings hence why “slavery is never considered a sin or immoral by even Jesus Christ. Jesus also tells us to submit to our master as we also submit to God as our heavenly master. In Genesis 3:16 God decrees that as a result of the “fall” the wife will henceforth be ruled over by her husband thereby relegating women to the status of a slave. This second class status for women is reinforced throughout the Bible. We can gather in history how many kings took their own wives (the Queens heads or had them burned on the stake. The women even if they were Queen had no true authority for the most part as equal to a King. We also see how slaves are regulated in the Bible like who goes free and who doesn't and how to punish them. This is just like a Kingdom ruled by a king and the Bible is propaganda to reinforce the subjects into the service of the King. To much hypocrisy about a loving God in the Bible when we have such a family destroying infamous institution as slavery and the Bible no where says it is a sin or immoral. Even the 10 commandment support the institution of slavery.