It bugs me when preachers or politicians quote the Bible and act as if that closes the debate.  To quote the Bible is to enter into the debate, to take part in a conversation that spans centuries.

 With a bit of tongue in cheek, I've said that the Bible is somewhat like a Rorschach test.  You may have seen the series of ink blot images that are so ambiguous that when the psychologist asks you what you see, you are free to project your own imagination onto the images, supposedly revealing something of your own subconscious emotional chemistry. 

 Historically people have found Biblical "proof texts" to defend nearly everything our imaginations can conjure, including slavery and genocide, communism and pacifism.

 There are some important major themes that resound consistently throughout the scriptural tradition -- care for the poor and justice for the weak; trust in God rather than your own power. 

 But part of the richness of the Bible is that it preserves centuries of debate and conversation among God's people about their conflicting interpretations concerning how we should live.  Our Jewish neighbors have done better than Christians at keeping alive the sense of Biblical dialogue, treasuring the debate and preserving conflicting interpretations.  The greatest violence ever visited on holy writ is the conceit that the Bible has only one voice, as if it were dictated by God as its single author. 

 We see many conversations and debates within the scriptures themselves. 

 The Deuteronomic historian presents Israel's early history within his theological conviction that God rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked.  Job directly challenges his theology, with a series of debates about a just man who suffers.  (A later editor, unable to sustain the tension, added a happy ending!) 

 The story of Ruth is a form of protest literature against the policies of ethnic purification during the period of Ezra and Nehemiah.  The heroine Ruth is a foreigner, a Moabite, and an ancestor of King David. 

 Proverbs teaches a form of conventional wisdom -- live this way and you will prosper and gain respect.  Ecclesiastes posits the absurdity and vanity of such conventions.

 The First Commandment says that God punishes the descendents of the unfaithful to the third and fourth generation.  But Jeremiah and Ezekiel change that tradition, declaring in God's name that the person who sins will be responsible for one's own unfaithfulness, freeing the children from their guilty inheritance.

 In Jesus' day the conventional Biblical interpreter expected a messiah who would be a military warrior and political ruler.  Early Christians proffered a minority view supported by prophecies about a humble, suffering messiah. 

 Paul's letters encourage a church community where women have equal authority and standing with men.  A generation later, disciples writing in Paul's name put women back into a subservient place.

 Some biblical writers contend that human beings are fundamentally good; others that we are totally depraved.  We are told to treasure and tend the earth as protective stewards; we are also told that the earth is a disposable commodity to be exploited.  Most of the Bible focuses entirely on how we live in community as faithful people here and now; a few passages dismiss this earthly life and cling principally to promises of an afterlife.  Some verses imply that what you believe is of paramount importance; more typically the scripture contends that living as loving, just, compassionate people is more important than belief.  Is God primarily an angry, punishing judge or a loving, forgiving parent?  Depends on where you are reading?  Jay Cole and Desmond Tutu read the same Bible, but they come to dramatically different conclusions about God and humanity.

 It may be that what you choose to emphasize from the Bible says more about you than it does about the Bible.  But for Christians, Jesus is the lens of our interpretation.  And it is pretty clear if we focus on his life and his actions, that he regarded people with profound love and compassion.  He recognized and encouraged their goodness.  He spoke of the earth, its plants and seasons and creatures with affection and familiarity.  He invited people to live here and now in the light of God's reign on earth.  He healed and fed and loved those outside his own religious traditions with equal generosity as his own people.  He absorbed evil, anger and violence, and responded with love and forgiveness. 

 The spirit of Jesus is a spirit of compassion, love, hospitality, reconciliation, liberation and union.  When it faced with competing interpretations, Christians do best when we default in the spirit of Jesus.  For us, he is the ultimate Word.