"Every Time I Go to Church the Preacher Talks About Money!" or How to Desecrate the Bible in 5 Easy Steps

I've used the illustration before, but it occurred to me to wonder what, exactly, a Bible would look like that had every page that dealt with money torn out.

Step 1: Find two identical Bibles and a highlighter. One Bible will be your control. Set the control aside.


Step 2: Read the Bible and highlight any references to a) money, b) concern for rich or poor, c) offerings or tithes. The last category is pretty tricky. There are a ton of passages about offerings in the Torah. And offerings may be appropriate for a number of occasions - guilt offerings, thank offerings, offerings of well-being. Since the law was given not to a capitalist society, but a bartering and trading society, how does one approach the different classes of offerings? Especially since some of the passages deal not with the offerings themselves, but how they are to be presented? I used editorial judgment. Suffice it to say, I did not highlight every passage that had to do with offerings. If I did, there would be a lot more eliminated. I also did not highlight passages where money was used only as a simple metaphor (e.g. when Paul talks of "the riches of God.")


This step took about a month and a half. I'm a pretty quick reader, and I skimmed, mostly. It was a good exercise, because I learned a lot. It's been a while since I read the Bible cover to cover.

Step 3: Remove the highlighted pages with a pen knife. I started out using a cutting mat until I became a bit more skillful with the knife. If you just pull pages from the Bible, not only will it leave a ragged edge, but you will damage the binding. I think you need the binding to help make your point. People need to recognize it as a Bible, and not just a sheaf of papers.


I was surprised, good post-Enlightenment, non-superstitious thinker that I am, how dirty and sacrilegious it felt to cut pages out of the Bible. I am sure that according to some people's theology, this act alone means I'm headed straight to hell.

Step 4: Stack the removed pages next to the Bible you have thus desecrated.


Okay, even though I knew intellectually that I would be removing a good chunk of the Bible, I had no idea how much I would be removing. That's one huge honking stack of paper.


I understand that this whole illustration is a kind of hyperbole. If one verse on one page deals with money, you take the whole page - not just the verse that dealt with money. Instead of measuring column inches, the way one might do in an analysis of newspaper coverage, you simply remove the whole page. But I think that this approach is more appropriate. This gives you a feel for how pervasive the concepts of stewardship of money and social justice for the poor really are.

Step 5: Compare your control (the untouched Bible) with the desecrated Bible.


Here's where it really hits home. This Bible with the money pages removed is the "desecrated" Bible. I would argue it is also the "spiritualized" Bible - the scriptures with the nitty gritty reality of everyday living removed. This is the Bible for folks who let Jesus into their hearts, but not their wallets. This is the Bible for folks who say that talking about social justice for the poor is "class warfare." In other words, this is the Bible for a substantial portion of professing North American Christians, who give an average of 2% of their income away.

By the way, for all those who inevitably say when they see such a project, "someone has too much time on their hands," let me point out that I did this project during 30-minute daily devotionals. It is hardly "wasted time." I consider it a kind of physical prayer. This project has become a tangible reminder to me that my stuff is not my own.

Anyway, I'm planning on using these Bibles during worship in the near future. So here is our Bible - one more time, for the sake of effect:



Deuteronomy 15:4&5: However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, if only you fully obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today.