More than an instruction manual
How many times have you used illustrations about the Bible being an ‘instruction manual’? I have done so on countless occasions and, if I’m honest, I’m beginning to feel a little bit embarrassed by this.
The Bible does contain instructions, but it is so much more than an instruction manual. There is a big problem with referring to the Bible as an ‘instruction manual’, because let’s face it, who reads instruction manuals? One of the worst jobs in the world must be writing instruction manuals. You sit at your computer, writing and writing and writing, knowing that hardly anyone is ever going to bother to read what you are writing.
If we tell young people that the Bible is simply an ‘instruction manual’ we are giving them permission not to bother reading it because everyone knows that you only refer to an instruction manual when you get really stuck and things go wrong. Yes, the Bible is great in those situations, but it is so much more than an instruction manual. It’s the Word of God and it has the power to change people’s lives. It’s nothing like any of the instruction manuals that I’ve occasionally bothered to flick through.
The young people I work with don’t spend hours each week reading instruction manuals. Even when they buy new things they rarely bother to read the instructions, they simply try and figure things out for themselves. However, most people I know do spend hours each week watching television and reading books and magazines where they become gripped by stories about the lives of other people, either real or fictional.
Stories have the ability to take us on a journey, to take us out of our day-to-day lives, to another place, another time, another culture, even another planet. A good story can make us laugh and cry and get us sitting on the edge of our seats. Most of us love becoming engrossed in a story.
That’s why God gave us an amazing book of stories instead of an instruction manual. The Bible is a book full of stories that we can engage with, relate to, and learn from. Many of the stories are true and they take us to another place, time and culture. It contains stories about real people and it tells us about their triumphs and their defeats, their strengths and weaknesses. It goes behind the scenes and reveals what they are really like, just like many reality TV shows try to do. It tells stories about kings and queens alongside stories about ordinary people like you and me. The stories contain all the ingredients needed to make a Hollywood blockbuster – love, betrayal, friendship, deceit, rejection, messed-up families, war, heroes and villains, sex, scandal and murder.
One of the marks of a good book or TV series is one that you can’t put down or stop watching, we become so engrossed, so involved in the story and the lives of the characters that we almost feel that we are a part of it. That’s the most amazing thing about the Bible. It’s not just a good story that we can become engrossed in. No, the Bible is actually contains a story, a true story, that we can actually become a part of for real. The Bible isn’t just a book that we can read to relax, to unwind at the end of a busy day – no, the Bible is a book that can completely transform your life. Yes, it does contain instructions, but it’s unlike any instruction manual I have ever read!
Questions to consider:
- How do the young people you work with perceive the Bible? (Also think about how you perceive the Bible.)
- How can you challenge (if necessary) their perceptions?
- How can you help people become engrossed in the Bible?
- What are the similarities/differences between the stories young people read about in books/magazines or watch on televisions and the stories that we find in the Bible?
Phil Green, *essential project director
