You know you’re not supposed to use a Q-tip that way, right? Right on the box it reads, “Do not insert swab into ear canal. Entering the ear canal cold cause injury.” A bevy of articles warn against using cotton swabs to swab your ear canal as “the majority [of earwax] is actually pushed deeper into your ear canal. This can lead to impacted earwax and a vicious cycle of feeling like your ears are dirty, using Q-tips and pushing more wax deeper in your ears.” [i]
And yet, each year, over $300 million of cotton swabs are sold in the United States, with nearly $200 million of those sales from the Q-Tip brand.[ii] You can buy a box of 750 Q-tips for under $5, so that is a lot of Q-tips that are being used in the United States. How many of those are being used for non-ear canal purposes? I’m guessing a minority.
We know we aren’t supposed to do that with Q-tips, but we just can’t help ourselves.
Might it be possible that most use their Bible like Q-tips? Against clear warnings and prescriptions to the contrary?
The Bible isn’t our daily horoscope or Ouija board. Flipping through the Bible at random to find some divine direction or answer can not only lead to disappointment, but can lead to folly.
In The Drama of Scripture, Theologian Michael Goheen writes,
Many of us have read the Bible as if it were merely a mosaic of little bits—theological bits, moral bits, historical-critical bits, sermon bits, devotional bits. But when we read the Bible in such a fragmented way, we ignore its divine author’s intention to shape our lives through its story…Hence the unity of Scripture is no minor matter: a fragmented Bible may actually produce theologically orthodox, morally upright, warmly pious idol worshipers.[iii]
How is it possible that reading the Bible can make us “warmly pious idol worshipers”? Because if the Bible is being used as a proof text for our preconceived philosophical, ideological, or political commitments, it becomes the affirming chorus, not the authority we must bow to.
Some time ago, a congregant came in to process a relationship with me. He shared that it came to light that the woman he was dating had been involved in serious and unrepentant sexual sin. He confronted his girlfriend in love, but was met with denials despite irrefutable proof. Broken and desperate, he asked God for wisdom and flipped open his Bible to Hosea. He was convinced that God was telling him to not only stay with this woman, but marry her. I beseeched him to re-consider his interpretation.
Is it possible God could have been telling him to stay and marry this woman? Sure. Is it likely? Paul says, “Flee from sexual immorality” (1 Cor. 6:18). Speaking of relationships in general, Paul says, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?” (2 Cor. 6:14).
The normative counsel of the Word is not to be conjoined with sin. Unless there is a clear word from God to the contrary (and, I would suggest it would also require the affirmation of several wise and godly Christians), we shouldn’t assume that God’s call to Hosea is his call to us.
Imagine a mother is struggling with how to parent her child and she flips open the Bible to the story of Abraham and Isaac. God isn’t calling her to sacrifice her child.
The Bible is God’s Word, not a Magic 8 Ball.
How should we use the Bible, then? Here are a few (Q)tips J:
1. Read it in context.
Instead of flipping to a passage or a verse, start books at the beginning and read them through. Just as it might be hard to understand what is going on in a novel by flipping to a random page, reading a passage without the surrounding context makes understanding it more challenging.
2. Use a study Bible.
When you turn to a book, read the explanation in front of the book. It will tell you who wrote the book, to whom they wrote it, when they wrote it, why they wrote it, and the genre of the writing. All of these impact our understanding of any text. As you read through the book, helpful notes of explanation for each verse can be found at the bottom of the page, and you can find cross-references for other verses that are related to the verses you are reading.
3. Allow the clear texts to interpret the confusing texts.
When a passage has you confused, consider going to clearer passages on a similar topic. Perhaps you are reading Genesis and you read the disturbing story of Lot’s daughters lying with him so that they can have children. The narrator doesn’t appear to condemn the act. Is incest okay? No. Leviticus 8:6-18 is clear that it is not. The appendix at the back of a study Bible can help direct you to passages related to the subject you’re studying and can help you find clear teaching.
4. Allow the New Testament to interpret the Old Testament.
The Bible takes us on a journey from creation to the establishment of God’s chosen people to the coming Messiah to the establishment of the church. God reveals more of who he is as the story unfolds. The pinnacle of the story is the coming of Jesus, God-in-flesh. When you come across confusing things in the Old Testament, it is helpful to look to the New Testament to see if it provides clarification. For instance, when trying to understand what all the priestly rituals mean in the Old Testament, it is helpful to read Hebrews, which comments on the meaning of those rituals in light of Christ.
If you want to dive deeper into study, Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart have two helpful books that can help you increase your understanding of the Bible: How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth and How to Read the Bible Book by Book. If you want to dive deeper still a Bible dictionary like Dictionary of New Testament Background and a good set of commentaries, such as ESV Expository Commentary or the Tyndale New Testament Commentaries can be helpful.
Using these basic tips (and not the Bible as a Q-tip) can help make the Bible clear, applicable and accessible. The author of Hebrews promises us that, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). What a gift we have in scripture: the Word of God given to us to transform our minds and hearts. But like any weapon, it must be wielded properly. I pray for you as you experience the Word’s power and transformation in your own life. May it be a sword and not as a Q-tip in your hands.
[i] https://www.healthpartners.com/blog/are-q-tips-dangerous/
[ii] https://www.statista.com/statistics/950065/us-sales-of-leading-cotton-swab-brands/
[iii] Michael Goheen and Craig Bartholemew, The Drama of Scripture (London: SPCK, 2017), 12.
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