The Right Path

I had a wonderful talk with a friend, who happens to be an atheist, about one of the uglier verses in the bible, Psalms 137:9. It’s the verse where the writer gloats about an enemy’s infants getting smashed against stones. 

My response to his belief that Christians worship a God “who loves songs sung to him about smashing infants against rocks. The book of psalm is actually a book of songs. Any way you try to slice it, your god condones killing infants and he says you will be happy when doing it” was simple.

I read scripture through the lens of Christ, if a passage contradicts Christ or interprets Christ in ways that He did not, it is not of God.  I no longer twist myself into bizarre contortions inerrantists are forced into trying to defend or rationalize stupid scripture. Of course God/Christ does not condone smashing infants into rocks, thus the writer of that verse was not speaking for God.

This has the added advantage of annoying fundamentalists, theologians, legalists, Pharisees, and of course, my atheist friend. When you can do that you might just be on the right path.