A "secular" Bible!

There I was, casually listening to the closing minutes of this morning's "Today" programme on BBC Radio 4.  Suddenly, my ears pricked up as John Humphrys, the presenter, announced that the well-known atheist, and humanist philosopher, A.C.Grayling had just had published a "secular Bible".  That sounded like an oxymoron, and my attention was guaranteed.

It's true! The official title of the volume is "The Good Book: A Secular Bible".  Mr Humprys (himself, at best, an agnostic) read a few verses from the King James (Authorised) Version of the real Bible, and Mr Grayling then read the "equivalent" passage from his own book.  Both of them had the good grace to agree that the language of the KJV was much more majestic.

However, it's not the language of any particular version of the Bible that is important - it's the message; and it never changes.  Dr Giles Fraser, a regular contributor to the daily "Thought for the Day", and Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral was at hand to debate with Mr Grayling.  However, I was rather disappointed as he seemed to think that humour was the best defence of the written Word of God!

Mr Grayling's book, according to Bloomsbury, the publishers, draws "... on the wisdom of 2,500 years of contemplative non-religious writing on all that it means to be human – from the origins of the universe to small matters of courtesy and kindness in everyday life – A. C. Grayling, Britain’s most popular and widely read philosopher, has created a secular bible.  Designed to be read as narrative and also to be dipped into for inspiration, encouragement and consolation, The Good Book offers a thoughtful, non-religious alternative to the many people who do not follow one of the world’s great religions. Instead, going back to traditions older than Christianity, and far richer and more various, including the non-theistic philosophical and literary schools of the great civilisations of both West and East, from the Greek philosophy of classical antiquity and its contemporaneous Confucian, Mencian and Mohist schools in China, down through classical Rome, the flourishing of Indian and Arab worlds, the European Renaissance and Enlightenment, the worldwide scientific discoveries of the 19th and 20th centuries to the present, Grayling collects, edits, rearranges and organises the collective secular wisdom of the world in one highly readable volume.
Contents: Genesis; Proverbs; Histories; Songs; Wisdom; Acts; The Lawgiver; Lamentations; Concord; Consolations; Sages; The Good; Parables." 

However, what Mr Grayling apparently fails utterly to do is to deal with the condition of mankind.  I was so disappointed that Dr Fraser failed to make any mention of the root problem of mankind - that which we call sin!  Sin, according to my memory of the Shorter Catechism, "... is any transgression of, or want of conformity to, the Law of God."  That covers both sins of commission, and of omission.  Of course we may learn from the great philosophers of the past.  One of Mr Grayling's favourites would appear to be the Greek, Seneca - a contemporary of the apostle Paul.  I recall, as an undergraduate, doing some essay work on Seneca  - and discovering that his thinking was so close to that of the New Testament, that I wondered if he had, in fact, like Paul, become a follower of the Way (Who is Jesus)!  Perhaps Mr Grayling should do some deeper research into Seneca's writings!

This newly-published volume may have been named "the Good Book" - but it will not explain the sinfulness of mankind; it will not point me to the only sufficient remedy for sin; it will not show me a God Who loves me so much that, in the Persona of the Son, He was willing to suffer death for me. 

I don't believe that it was mere coincidence that, when I went up to my study for my time of private devotions, the little book that I am currently using had, for today "The Wisdom in God's Word"!  Here is the opening paragraph: "We treasure Scripture.  It's God's inspired Word, and it teaches us the way to true life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come.  Indeed, it is the source of a wisdom that goes beyond that of the wisest philosophers (I Corinthians 1:20).  Bu this fact is rarely acknowledged in pour culture." 

"... a wisdom that goes beyond that of the wisest philosophers."  And that even includes A.C.Grayling.  I think that I'll stick with the original Bible - not just the "Good Book", but the "Best"!