The other day Chris Folmsbee called for youth pastors to stop proof texting. In truth, Chris’ post is actually more about helping students engage with Scripture, a noble and important goal! I couldn’t agree with Chris more that proof texting is lame. In fact, Chris also encourages those who work with young people to help them engage the Bible via experience. I think that’s a great thing as well. I’d add to Chris’ list that helping students engage and interact with the stories of people in the Bible is also a great way to help them understand and “get into” Scripture.

I do have a slight bone to pick with one thing Chris said. I’ll quote it in full:

1. Start with the fundamentals. Help your students know that the Bible is quite simple about 1) God 2) humans and 3) how humans interact with God and each other for the sake of the world. For example, the creation narrative is not God’ science thesis it is a biography of God.

Chris, are we reading the same Bible? Because the one I’m reading is really quite complex about God, humans and how humans interact with God. I’m not even just talking about the complex, culturally bound rituals that the Israelites used to interact with God. That Old Testament paragon, David, has a rather complex relationship with God; to say nothing of his relations with other human beings! Job may be among the most complex stories about a human and his relationship with God ever devised. In addition we have a God who at times kills people for slight infractions (Nadab and Abihu) and at other times lets things slide (the aforementioned David). I’m not even talking about theological diversity within the text, or questions of hermeneutics. The Bible is complex, not simple.

I do agree that Genesis is not God’s science thesis. Chris is absolutely right there. But I’m not sure that what we need to do with students is try to make the Bible simpler. I think what we actually need to do is help them engage in the Bible’s amazing, beautiful and ultimately real complexity. Our lives are–at times–hopelessly complex, why should the Bible be any different? Students don’t want simple. They want authentic. The Bible is among the most authentic books I have ever read. I think it is high time that youth pastors and others who are spiritual mentors to teens begin showing students the full range of complexity in Scripture. Help them engage with that. Don’t tell them the Bible is simple and if they just read for five minutes a day their lives will get better. That’s a lie. Tell them the Bible is hard. It’s difficult to understand if you don’t study it. It is confounding sometimes. But it’s also worth reading because it’s the story of God and humans and how we interact and clash with God and each other. It’s about life. It can help you, but probably not with the paltry sum of five minutes a day devoted to it. This is what we need to tell the young people we shepherd.

So, if we ought to be telling people this, why do we so often tell them something quite different? I think, in this case, the answer is simple. Wrestling with the Bible in all its authentic glory is difficult for us just like it’s difficult for students. We want to be able to give them a neat package of faith that they can put under their bed and live with. It’s not only what we want, it’s what their parents want and it’s what our pastors want. But it simply isn’t what’s best for students. The other problem is that dealing with the Bible honestly means we have to study it more. That might mean less time to devote to planning that awesome game. How many youth pastors even know Hebrew and Greek, let alone some basic ancient near eastern history? Yet those same youth pastors think they can wrestle with the Bible in an authentic way, and teach their students to do the same? I have my doubts (requisite disclaimer: I’m not saying God hates people who don’t know Hebrew and Greek. I’m saying knowing these things is essential to digging deeply into Scripture). What’s worse, most of our curriculum in youth ministry is designed by people who have little or no formal training in Biblical studies. Who would use a biology textbook written by someone who has a single undergraduate degree in psychology? No one! Yet we essentially do the same thing when we use curriculum designed by someone who has an undergrad degree in youth ministry, but little formal training in Bible.

My point is not to disparage youth pastors and others who work with teens. Rather, it’s to say that we need to step up and do the hard work that we need to do to help students. There are countless online classes where you could learn Hebrew and Greek. Picking up a few books on ancient near eastern history and reading them is also easily accomplished. Building a collection of good commentaries and consulting them during lesson preparation is also a straight forward way of quickly beginning to equip yourself to study the Bible well. Alternatively, visit your local Bible college or seminary library to cut down on expenses.

In short, I think Chris is on to some good stuff, and in fairness he does say “start with the fundamentals,” not end with them. But still, we need to be upfront with students from the start: the Bible is a hard book to understand, but we still have to do our best.