How to Interpret the Bible: 101

Step 1: Decide first what your beliefs are, then flip through the pages until you find something that vaguely supports your opinion and flaunt it like patent leather shoes on your confirmation day.
Step 2: Rinse and repeat! Of course I'm kidding, but I hope it illustrates the point that too many people use the Bible to bolster political and moral decisions that could be better made by listening to their hearts. After taking a week off to relax and reflect in the suburbs of Chicago and the Finger Lakes region of New York, I returned to the South to begin a new volunteer position about 15 minutes down the road from Mill Spring in the town of Tryon, North Carolina. Lori and I walked to church this Sunday and were greeted with smiles, coffee, and an interpretation of Ecclesiastes that really made me think outside the box. The Grace Foothills church has been meeting in the Tryon movie theater for about three years now, and it features a live band playing new age Christian music as well as television and movie clips that put a modern spin on the traditional Sunday sermon. I have to admit that other than a revamped version of Amazing Grace, I prefer singing older hymns as I feel they offer a certain reverence that is missing (for me) in the new age stuff. The sermon spoke to our cynicism as Americans about government and the people in power. The pastor asked us to "give to Caesar what is due Caesar and give to God what is due God." I was on board for a while, but was thrown off when he mentioned serving in the military as a necessary function of American citizenship. I think anyone would be hard-pressed to find a passage in the Gospel where Jesus wanted us to kill other human beings in His name, and I immediately succumbed to the same cynicism that he was trying so hard to dispel. After talking to Lori about her thoughts on the sermon, I realized that focusing on that one sentence had blinded me to many of the other valid points that were made about being a good member of society. After hearing the military comment I wanted to disagree with him on principle and chose to focus on the negative rather than the positive. We as Americans have a unique opportunity to express ourselves because our government tries (though often fails) to protect the basic human rights that so many people in so many other countries do not have. After my discussion with Lori I remembered a letter the Pastor read about early Christianity and how despite constant persecution by the Romans, those first Christians managed to be model citizens while subscribing to a higher form of order, that of goodness and brotherhood to all mankind. I only wish he had started with that anecdote and focused his sermon around the difficulty of upholding Truth and Humility in the face of hardship. So...my updated version of How to Interpret the Bible: 101...Step 1: Think for yourself. Step 2: Read each passage with an open and honest heart. Step 3: Carry out the message of peace, love, and kindness in every way possible.