The Secret Bible

I must have an abbreviated Bible.  As I look around I see people who call themselves Bible based Christians proclaiming views that are inconsistent from what I read in by abbreviated version.  There must be a secret Bible that I have never seen before and it has a lot more words in it than mine. 

But, based on the proclamations of some of these secret Bible people we can begin to fill in the missing words.  Let me give an example based on the old biblical adage “By their fruits you shall know them.” 

Jesus said: “Heal the sick” in my Bible.  But the secret Bible must say something like, “Heal the sick who deserve it, earned it, or can afford it, as long as you don’t use government to assist and someone makes a big profit.”  You see what I mean?  The secret Bible has a lot more words that put conditions on the message that do not exist in my Bible.  If you follow the Bible I read you will measure your success by whether or not all sick people are offered healing, but there are no conditions as to what means can or cannot be used.  In my Bible the only question that needs to be answered is “Did you heal the sick?” not “Did you heal only some of the sick according to the principles of Darwinian Capitalism?” 

There are other examples.  In the bible I read it says “Blessed are the peacemakers.”  In the expanded version used by so many it must say, “Blessed are the Colt Peacemakers.”  In the version I read one could get the idea that making peace requires peaceful actions.  In the expanded version peace is maintained through the use or threat of the use of violence.  Jesus uses military power to expand the empire of this world as the primary peacemaking tool in the secret Bible.  In my Bible Jesus refuses to use violence even when His life is threatened by crucifixion.

There are some things included in the version I read that are not included in the secret Bible.  For example, mine speaks at least 26 times about interest payments and only twice about homosexuality.  In the 26 or so times it talks about interest 24 call it a sin and at least once calls it an abomination.  The other two times are in the twice told story of the talents.  In that story my Bible says that the interest gained belongs to God and not the servant.  This is where the secret Bible seems to say something else.  It appears to say “You can keep the interest on a loan for yourself and do whatever you fancy.  It also appears to say make yourself richer and richer as proof of God’s blessing.  Store it in a safe place and don’t share.  In my Bible it tells those who have much to sell it off for their soul’s sake.

In the secret Bible Jesus must say a lot about homosexuality as the people of this book talk about it all the time.  In my Bible Jesus never even brings up the subject, which could lead people to think it was not an important issue for him.  Funny thing is that homosexuality was quite open in many parts of the Greco-Roman world.  You would think Jesus would at least mention it in my Bible, but he doesn’t.

There are a lot of differences between my Bible and the secret Bible of so many Christians.  It’s too bad we can’t all agree to use one common book as authoritative for all Christians.  It would make things a lot simpler.