Lost Books of the Bible

Are you ready to learn more about the Gospel of Judas? The Book of Jasher? The Gospel of Thomas? Then, my friend, you've come to the wrong place! This short blog is about the other lost books of the Bible; the books we wish God had written, but didn't.

Let's be upfront about this and lay our cards on the table: we are disappointed with the Bible. As grand and wonderful as it is, it seems haphazard and poorly laid out. Don't pick up your keyboards yet. Let me name some of the books it would have been helpful to have.

1. The Book of Worship: Oh how I wish this book hadn't been lost! (for the humor impaired -- I am stepping on the ironic button. No such book was ever written by God, okay? Now, go back to watching Gilligan's Island and hope for a rescue this week) Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a book that said something like "This is the way worship is to be conducted. Herein is a list of the approved songs and the speed at which they are to be sung. Following is a list of the rules on clapping. "Raising hands" is covered in the appendix in the section entitled "So you want to go to hell." How fantastic would it be to have a book spelling out what God approves in worship in mind-numbing, Leviticus-styled detail? We could know that we were absolutely in the will of God because we could go down the list and check everything off as we went. We could even have PowerPoint or MediaShout slides with a magical check appearing as we covered Worship, chapter 6, verses 5-9.
But God didn't give us a Book of Worship for the Christian Age. In fact, there is no detailed description of a worship service in the New Testament. Hmmmmm. Why is that, I wonder?

2. The Book of Fellowship: This is a big one. It is separate from the others because while they spell out behavior that is acceptable to God, this book tells us if we are allowed to fellowship those who don't do everything in the other "lost" books. For example, we see in the Book of Behavior that we are not to smoke. May we fellowship those who do? If not, may we fellowship those who fellowship those who do? How many degrees of separation are required? If I find one of my elders reading an Annie Lamont book or (shudder) a Frank Peretti book, may I still fellowship him? What if he is also in possession of more than two Max Lucado books? If not, may I fellowship those who fellowship him? And so on, ad infinitum. While I agree this book would be huge and rather unwieldy, it would settle quite a few arguments.
But we don't have a book like this. In fact, books such as First Corinthians show us that the laws on fellowship are a WHOLE lot looser than the ones we live by. How'd that happen? Do some of our brethren have this book and only dribble out the info from time to time? This is confusing.

3. The Book of Behavior: We need this one now! This one would cover things like swimming (mixed? Square inch cloth per square inch body area rules? Are rules different in Maine and Florida?), playing the lottery, dress code for Sundays/Wednesdays or if you are serving communion, etc. Wouldn't this be a great book to have? It would be so huge you'd have to be in a church to have one for it would require a dozen or more to lift it. That would come in handy when you found someone breaking the rules you could -- literally -- throw the book at them.
Why didn't we get this book?

What other books do you think we've lost? Play with this awhile and make your suggestions as to books that seem to be lost... or books that some people act like HAVE been written but no one else has seen. Often, when someone confronts me about this or that, they refer to things as being nailed down and forever settled... but they can't nail it down by Scripture. Are they referring to a lost book that they and they alone have access to?

The Bible gives us a narrative of who God is and who we are. The New Testament shows us what saved people acted like and how their leaders led them. It isn't a legal treatise nor is it a set of proof texts -- for if it was a legal text it would be the most poorly written legal text in history. The Bible ISN'T poorly written. It is exactly what we needed: principles, truths, and a narrative that works in every society and every historical era. Will it tell us everything to do, think and believe? No, but it will tell us what the fruits of the Spirit are, what the kingdom of heaven is like, and how to live with each other as we wait for glory.

In the meantime... what other books do we seem to be missing. (tongue planted firmly in cheek)