I have a confession to make: I am a BabylonBee fan. For those who haven’t yet discovered this guilty pleasure, babylonbee.com is a parody news site–think christianheadlines.com meets The Onion. And it pokes fun at evangelical foibles as only a true insider can do.
Among the recent headlines:
- Ancient Documents conform “Selah” best translated “extended guitar solo”
- Unconfirmed: Calvinist laughs at joke
- John MacArthur sets new low score of zero on Dance, Dance
- Pastor prays God would give his ghostwriter right words to say
Sometimes, of course, the articles may hit a little close to home. In a recent post called “10 Super Helpful Bible Reading Tips,” these were among the “helpful tips”:
Figure out the context of a verse, and then disregard it completely. Nothing kills a good time in the Word like trying to figure out the historical-grammatical meaning of a passage. If you must know what’s going on in the surrounding paragraphs of your favorite verse, just make it up.
Make every effort to apply the difficult texts to everyone in the world except yourself. The Word is most effective when we apply it to the lives of those around us, as long as we manage to avoid letting the text speak to and convict our own hearts. When reading a text, ask yourself: how does this practically apply to all these filthy sinners in the world around me?
Remember who it’s all about: you. Reading the Scriptures becomes even more dynamic and exciting when you realize that every text points to one person: you. Do whatever hermeneutical back-flips are necessary to bend any and all texts to revolve around yourself. Like they say: you are on every page.
It’s good to be able to laugh at ourselves. It’s even better to learn from it!