Sunday, June 1, 2008

Desert Island Library

"If you were stuck on a desert island, what book would you want to have with you?"
Now before you spend much thought on this hypothetical question, know that I ask it tongue in cheek.

Not that the question bothers me. I know that these theoretically impossible questions are good conversation starters. The usual answer is what gives me pause. It often goes, "Well, other than the Bible, I would want such and such a book with me." Granted, the books that people suggest are often great, but this answer implies two things.
First it implies that the person answering knows that the respectable and expected answer, especially among professing Christians, is that they would want the Bible with them. So with very little thought other than saving face, they throw the Holy Scriptures into their book bag.
Yet how many of us, myself included, act on a day to day basis like we cannot live without God's Word? Is that what it would take for us to fall in love with the Bible? Being stuck on a desert island with absolutely nothing else to do?

The second implication is that the Bible wouldn't be enough. One would have to have something else to keep occupied. As if in some way the Bible isn't sufficient for us!!

Most of the time people's answers reflect (or attempt to reflect) a love of literature, philosophy or the intellectual. But given the circumstances, I would trade all the Tolstoy, Neitzsche, and Lewis for a good Boy Scout survival manual. Other than the Bible, of course.