I find it commendable that people spend time and energy in Bible study groups. I often wonder, however, what they are studying. Are they studying the words of the Bible as a starting point for reflection and discussion? Or are they taking the words literally and using them as their reality?

The Bible, like every other written word, has a history and process through which it came to be. Thoughts, ideas and concepts are very difficult to accurately transfer into words. There are always unintended consequences of the words chosen and the words not chosen to be transcribed. I have spent over twenty years documenting ideas and concepts as an attorney. I have yet to meet anyone who has been able to 100% accurately transfer ideas to words. In fact, the judicial system was created to account for this inability.

But the biggest problem with written words is not that they cannot accurately reflect thoughts, ideas and concepts. The biggest problem with written words is they are stuck in time while life is constantly evolving. Time is stopped when words are written. Life, however, is changing at every moment. Spoken and later transcribed words are even more problematic. The spoken words become like cotton in the wind unintentionally changing to reflect the new reality of the changing world from person to person.

And not only was the Bible written to reflect a reality thousands of years ago, most experts agree that it existed as spoken word for a substantial period of time before being transcribed. I’m not disparaging the Bible or other written words. Written words can be useful as starting points for reflection and discussion – For using the past to determine how we want to create the future. They can become problematic, however, when they are used as reality itself.

Timothy Velner is a husband, father, attorney and author living in Minneapolis. You can follow his daily blog – a series of discussions between the worry-self and the present-self at – thespiritualgym.me