The Bible gets blamed for a lot of our own foolishness. So much narrow-mindedness, prejudice and even hatred get justified by selected biblical rendering.

With good intentions, many church leaders gave those of us raised in Baptist congregations an appreciation for the Bible but a less-than-honest understanding of its inspiration and purpose. We were taught by example and silence to ignore or excuse inconsistencies within the larger and deeper biblical revelation.

We were presupposed to the belief that the Bible was one big cohesive book — fully harmonized in its message of God and redemption. Critical analysis, no matter how honest, was not to be applied to a holy text.

The result was an elevation of the Bible to an equal status with God —without recognition of idolatry. Instead of being embraced as the written Word of God — an important revelation that leads to an ongoing, redemptive relationship with the Living Word of God — the Bible was often presented as an end rather than a means to faith.

We were taught that “all Scripture is inspired by God,” but learned by example that the Bible was to be read and applied selectively. “The Bible says so …” could preface most any nonsensical statement and be given the irrefutable status of divine authority.

Questioning an interpretation of Scripture — especially if long and deeply held by a person of authority — was quickly considered heretical. The fact that the Bible has been used for generations to wrongly support injustices from the mistreatment of Native Americans to African slavery to subjugation of women did (and still does) little to diminish the zeal and certainty of those claiming divine approval of their proof-texted social and doctrinal positions.

To challenge such strongly held biblical interpretations — even ones clearly at odds with the life and teachings of Jesus — were (and still are) met with the charge of “not believing the Bible.”

Ironically, those claiming the strongest allegiance to the Bible are often the last to arrive at truth. If you disagree, just name the fundamentalists at the forefront of the civil rights movement. There were none, despite the claims of racial sensitivity some make today.

However, when it comes to using the Bible to support one’s own preferred positions, lessons are rarely learned well. That’s why Christian fundamentalists will be among the last — not only in Christendom, but also in the larger society — to see the errors in their current discriminatory attitudes toward women.

As a result of this arrogance-infused certainty, the Bible and the faith tied to it are seen by many as repressive and exclusive — making Christianity unattractive to those who want no spiritual dimension in their lives that requires intellectual and moral imprisonment to religious doctrine that violates even the most basic understandings of human rights and justice.

Why does this matter? Because the church of the future has little hope when its public perception becomes one of ignorance, inflexibility and condemnation rather than one of honest searching for truth, humility based on the recognition of human limitations in finding truth, and an eagerness to embrace others in the loving and redeeming ways as exhibited throughout the life of Christ.

Well-packaged, immovable, easy answers — propped by selected readings of the Bible — to life’s tough questions may satisfy a few. But an honest, ongoing struggle to follow Jesus sounds much more like the desired role for being his disciples.

“Believe like me — I’m right,” has never been the message given to Christians — no matter how or where you search the Bible in hopes of finding a slither of support.