ROUGH DRAFT BIBLE STUDY

Why do you write this crap?

Probably one of the most snide, yet introspective questions asked of me by someone who has actually read one of my Bible studies is “Why do you write this crap if no one reads it?” It’s honestly a question I’ve asked myself several times always with the same answer—“real writers don’t write for recognition or fame or notoriety…. They write just to write” (https://goinswriter.com/writers-dont-write-to-get-published/). Or as Mark Twain once said, “Write without pay until somebody offers to pay.” In other words, write whether people read it or not. It’s a proven fact that the act of sharing one’s ideas or thoughts through writing or speaking serves as a catalyst for better comprehending one’s ideas or thoughts. As one of my favorite Latin phrases says, docendo discimus, “by teaching we learn.”

So I write to learn, but why is it “crap?” Let me explain:

Sh***y First Drafts

I taught writing for a number years and would often start with an article written by Anne Lamott wherein she uses a scatological term far less acceptable by Christians than “crap” to describe “first drafts.”

For me and most of the other writers I know, writing is not rapturous. In fact, the only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really [crappy] first drafts…. Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. (https://wrd.as.uky.edu/sites/default/files/1-Shitty%20First%20Drafts.pdf)

Because writing students always like to say “Writing only takes a minute if you do it in the last minute,” I warned them that unless they were the reincarnation of Mark Twain himself, their first draft, just like mine, would always, always be an F effort.

Actually, Mark Twain writes, “The time to begin writing… is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is that you really want to say.” Meaning, our first drafts help us figure out what we are actually thinking so that when we finally share our thoughts with others, it’s not a pile of manure. https://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2010/07/12-timeless-writing-tips-from-mark-twain/

3 Reasons everything but the Bible should be a Rough Draft

For me, I begin with the Christian premise that only the Bible can serve as God’s final draft: what we call Sola Scriptura—by Scripture alone. The 66 books of the Bible relay God’s ideas written by prophets and apostles through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (2Pt 1.20,21; Eph 2.20). It is the final draft, everything else—that sermon by Spurgeon, the book by Olsteen, the audio recording of Billy Graham, your favorite pastor’s podcast, or even your own Bible study, are all crappy first drafts in comparison.

Here are three reasons I think Christians should see everything but the Bible as “crappy first drafts”:

1- I am not writing Scripture (I can be wrong)

When we complete our studies, and especially when we plan to share them with others, we often believe they are “inspired by God.” We (or someone else) even prays before we begin, “May God speak through [this guy or gal].” We, like the Pharisees who challenged the “final draft” Jesus with their “crappy draft” critiques, become convinced that what we studied, what we gleaned from Scripture, what we think we heard God Himself speak through the whispers of the Holy Spirit is the final copy, the very words of God.

Jesus rebuked them, as He rebukes us, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God” (Mt 22.29). Obviously, the Pharisees, the Bible scholars of Jesus’ time, “knew” the Scriptures, but they didn’t seem to know that their thoughts, their ideas, their “Mishnah” of people’s traditions and doctrines.

2- I am not reading Scripture (they can be wrong)

Jesus told the Pharisees, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your traditions” (Mk 7.9), because they believed the doctrine of their beliefs judged the accuracy of God’s Scriptures. There have been times I’ve shared my beliefs about God’s Word and have heard someone say, “What scholar backs up your beliefs?” Well, this is literally what it says in Scripture, so I guess God?

Unless we are reading the final draft, God’s Word, then we are always reading someone’s crappy first draft.

3- Scripture should inspire us to research questions not solidify answers.

“You diligently search the Scriptures,” Jesus begins His rebuke of the Pharisees with a compliment, but then adds, “Then testify about Me, yet you are unwilling to come to Me to have life” (John 5.39,40). They study the Scripture but didn’t ask questions of He who inspired it.

I think we too often use the Scripture as commentary for our beliefs, citing it secondary to the beliefs of those who agree with us because we think the Scripture exists to provide answers to our questions. When in reality, God’s Word exists so we might question who we are, how we ought to live, and why we believe the crap we write is more inspired than the truths God actually speaks.

Write, preach, teach, share only first drafts

So my approach to studying the Bible and sharing what I’ve learned with other is to always see my efforts as a crappy first draft. I don’t refer to previous crappy first drafts (my Bible study notes) but instead start afresh with just the Scripture—God’s authorized final copy. Although I will use commentary, doctrine, and other teaching of far smarter Christians than me, I always view them as other people’s crappy attempts at understanding God’s unfathomable wisdom. Like reading the drawings of a five year old trying to explain the laws of physics.

That’s my approach: what’s yours?