Not Everything in Our Bibles is Inspired [Paperback]

 

 

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The title of this book is provocative but misleading - the content is very uncontroversial; Neil Rees is not attacking the inerrancy of scripture, instead he explains that our Bibles include more than just the Spirit-inspired word; they contain concordances, paragraph headings, footnotes, chapter and verse numbering, maps, diagrams and many other `aids to study' that weren't part of the original writings, as well as being translations from other languages. It's a useful reminder that just because `it says here...' on the page of your Bible doesn't mean it's necessarily accurate and inspired, something worth remembering in these days of mega study Bibles which often have a particular theological/doctrinal point to make in their helpful notes.

Neil Rees's book is written in a lively and engaging style, it's easy to read and there are plenty of interesting examples from the Bible text and from life. It could also be subtitled "living as a Missionary" as many of his examples are from his life as a mission worker. He uses many of the chapters to provide expositions of particular parts of the Bible - these are very interesting and well-written but often seem to have wandered rather far from the theme of the book - it feels like only a third of the book is about the non-inspired bits of the Bible, the rest is interesting anecdotes and expositions. It's an interesting read but the title will probably put off a lot of those who might have really enjoyed it.

Even though the title might make you think Neil Rees is referring to the message of the bible, he is not. This book gives a note of balance to the Christian attitude which almost worships the bible itself. The book clearly explains how the modern bible texts were arrived at, and why the are ordered as they are, gently and reverently de-mystifying the processes which led to the way scripture is presented in the bible today. Well worth reading.

I bought the book because the title describes a subject I am very interested in. Unfortunately, there is very little content which relates to the title. A previous reviewer suggests about a third: I think it is far less. There are some wonderful gems such as the derivation of the word Jehovah, a description of how the Septuagint came about, and a very good analysis of Psalm 137. But such gems are few and far between. Much of the book seems to relate to missionary work and seems to be an entreatment for more people to take up the challenge. For example, in Ch. 2 readers are challenged to become intercessors.

Ch. 7 is, in large part, a criticism of those churches which fail to give enough support and encouragement to their missionaries, especially when the missionary has failed to establish sufficient churches in their 'target' country. However, he describes Spain and Italy as 'missionary cemeteries'. I think most people would judge them to be very Christian countries, so at this point in the book one is left wondering what Rees' real mission is? What is his standpoint? Which church does he belong to? The answer is only revealed in the Postscript to the book.

The book also contains a few inconsistencies. In Ch. 10 he tells us he uses a Bible which contains the Apocrypha 'simply because it gives me a Bible with the official seal of approval of the Catholic Church' which seems very reasonable as he works in Spain. However, on the following page he states that '..they are useful for our Christian lives and are worthy of being read and studied.' He then explains that the N.T. contains more than 100 references to the Apocrypha and these were used by the Apostles and the early church. His explanation, that this is just because they were in the Septuagint, is unconvincing. The Apostles would surely not have used them, if they were not consistent with, and useful in teaching, the Gospel message. So it seems the reason he uses a Bible containing the Apocrypha isn't 'simply' because he works in the missionary cemetary of Catholic Spain.

He also points out that, while they are both excellent works, the commentaries in the Scofield and Thompson Bibles are not inspired and must be treated with caution, which is sound advice. However, one is left wondering why he is so certain that his own interpretation of the Bible's message is the correct one. The final words of the final chapter are that the message of the Bible is clear and simple: it is all about world evangelisation. Fair enough: but what message are missionaries supposed to preach? There is little in the book which describes this. Which still left me in the dark about who, or what, Neil Rees is. The book indicates he's not a Catholic, nor a Pentacostalist, nor a Presbyterian, nor a Mormon. Only in the Postscript did I find reference to the organization, World Horizons. And then it all made sense. The book really has very little in it about the inspired Bible but plenty of 'subliminal' messages about evangelization - presumably only being correctly tackled by this organization.

The Appendix does contain a very useful list of resources for those interested in understanding the Bible better. I think any one of them would be a better buy than this very disappointing effort.

I can think of no book which better fits the saying, 'Never judge a book by its cover'.

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