Q I become frightened when I read in the Bible passages such as Luke 12:5, "I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell." How do you deal with the scary parts of the Bible?
A I start with a theology of God as divine Love—a spiritual Father-Mother who is nothing but good to and protective of His/Her creation. So when I read passages like the one above, the first thing I do is try to find out what positive spiritual idea might be buried in there—a lot of Biblical language is symbolic, allegorical.
A book that helps me understand the Bible is Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. In it, Mary Baker Eddy says, "The one important interpretation of Scripture is the spiritual" (p. 320). To me, spiritual means above the pettiness and limitations of personalities who do bad things. Often I do reserach to see what scholars say about a scary passage's origin, cultural context, and any other issues that may clarify its meaning or reveal an unspiritual spin. So when Mrs. Eddy writes, "... we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life" (Science and Health, p. 497), I lay emphasis on that word inspired. I figure that anything divinely inspired can't be at the same time frightening or depressing.
