Or are we to contend that perhaps we are not to follow the Bible??

If we look at the Old Testament and the New Testament as merely a guide to the step-by-step directions of how we are to live our lives, then I guess it would be rather difficult for my children to understand.

Imagine me setting out the ingredients out on the counter ...inclusive of a book with a picture that would make my children's mouths water.

They watch as I carefully measure out each ingredient ...perhaps looking back at the picture and wondering what is taking me so long.

They see me add each ingredient to the bowl as I precisely should ...and they may even ask if they can then help with the mixing, and perhaps will be allowed to even lick a bowl.

Then their only window to the world becomes that oven door ...keeping the oven light on, so they can see their imagination grow into something real and delicious.

Then when I finally take it out of the oven, the aroma almost too much to resist ...I watch their jaws not open for the delight of tasting this new creation, but drop open in quivering shock and disappointment as I throw it in the trash.

Yes, how would they respond??

Perhaps if I was cooking spinach and liver, they may be relieved if I throw it in the trash and tell them we are going to McDonald's.  But, though relieved, they may be no less confused if this were my daily routine.

We look at the Old Testament of the Bible, and it may seem like we throw it away at the celebration of the new ...understanding that the birth of Jesus, brought us a new way as He matured and taught us of the way to go.

But, we are not to throw it away ...we are to understand it, as we understand history, lending to the knowledge of who God is, and how the pinnacle of the ministry of Jesus and His death has put everything in the past into proper perspective.

If I was to be asked one seemingly simple question, on whether I follow the Bible ...then I would have to say, "No."

Of course, as 'following' goes ...we seem to follow a bit of good, and also have occasion to follow a bit of bad.  And sometimes we even have difficulty defining the two.  We often find ourselves doing what we don't want to do, and not doing which we had perhaps imagined we should do.  

We are all sinners, so none of us follow to the letter anything that we initially set out in our minds ...yes, even in the areas that we would like to. So, if that seemingly simple question was to be rephrased as: "Do I want to ...desire to...or try to follow the Bible?" 

The answer would still have to be, "No."

If I was a missionary, and I merely handed a tribal person a Bible written in their own language ...leaving them with the simple suggestion to 'follow' it, then I would fear they'd open the Bible to the Book of Leviticus and read the part about stoning someone to death.

I'd say the Bible is rather to be understood ...than followed.  And many may need help in understanding it.

Let me give an example of something a bit different:

If an airplane carrying 200 people crashes, and everyone dies ...then rightfully that is considered tragic.  Quickly, many people come together to try to discover the reason why ...and many others simply throw about theories, perhaps even some conspiracies. Meanwhile, one person driving a car has an accident ...and dies. Yes, that is tragic too ...yet, not considered on the scale of the airplane crash.  Statistically speaking, car travel is over 70 times more dangerous than air travel. Yet, if someone dies in a car crash, though painfully, we more readily accept it ...but, a plane crash leads us to spend way more time and effort looking to place blame (except, in the case of a drunken driver ...where blame is readily placed).

Let's switch to the arguments for war.  And I'm not talking about the warring within a person.  

I'm speaking of the deliberate violent confrontation between peoples and nations. That sort of killing seems never to be short on reason ...though reason would still ask why we choose the most horrific ways to settle what had often begun as mere mild disagreements.  It may escape reason, but the people cannot escape ...and though the disputes and events grow in frequency and magnitude, becoming too ugly or too massive to ignore ...the truth is ignored, and the ones holding the reins always find a way to further legitimize themselves.

So, like the airplane and car ...what is worse??  If there are those bent on killing ...and killing ...and more killing, then do we provide a resistance to this??  If a couple hundred have already died, what if a couple hundred more are likely to join them in dire death??

If thousands die ...should we soon accept a thousand more, perhaps growing to each day.  How can the killing be stopped?? What if it reached a quarter of a million people??

What if the horrifying tragedy was drawn out over many years ...and 500 times as many people ended up getting killed??  Would you settle for the horrific alternative of ending it quickly ...and likely saving not 500 lives, but 500 times as many lives??

This is the decision that President Truman was faced with ...as he granted his directive to drop the atomic bomb ...and then a second one.

I don't like having this conversation ...and don't blame you if you hate having it either, yet, the hate is what drives nations to not learn, but to engage again.

And it is the same kind of understanding we must have if we are to read of events like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the catastrophic Flood of Noah's day, and going back even further ...the rebellion of the angels.  Preservation is perhaps the word for all of this, but not of the type we hear being discussed around today.  It is not the preservation of the earth itself, but of the people in it ...and more specifically, the preservation of their souls and destiny.

We are destined on a grand scale for this ...or that.  We have choices, and those choices are a mixture of good and bad.  We often are a mixture of what could be considered a bad recipe.  But, that is not saying if we are a bad cookie we are going to be tossed away.  And the trash is the lie of a proclaimed destiny of no hope. We have a hope and a future ...and our future is of our present choosing.

The future doesn't choose itself, and the past doesn't choose the future.  Nor does our present struggle define our future.  Our future is of the ultimate choosing of our discretion ...of who we want to follow.

I may wander from the path, but it's like signing up with a company of those who will seek you out and bring you back to the right path if you go astray ...because you have designated who you are going to follow.  

Jesus is who I want to follow. I learn from the Bible ...and I don't walk the walk of Jesus, I try to walk where He will have me.  No one can fill His shoes, nor step His steps ...and we are not meant to.

We are to walk our steps with Jesus in our hearts ...not just figuratively, but with a mind of understanding.  Not understanding everything, mind you, but understanding who He is and that He loves us.  And that love should compel us to live in a way that we feel rather confident that our life is not in blatant and deliberate opposition to what He has for us ...and at the same time, understanding His allowance for us, in having died for us and in forgiving us.