The Parable of the Pet Rock

Have you ever seen a pet rock? I met one some years ago. An American student in Cambridge was not allowed to keep a dog or cat in college, so he kept a smoothly polished rock instead. It sat on his bedside table where he could stoke it, especially when he felt lonely and far from home. He said it gave him a secure feeling.

Have you ever seen a pet Bible? People do keep Bibles as pets, and they usually sit on their bedside tables too. Every night they fondle its pages, reading a favorite verse or two to comfort and relax them before they go to sleep.

By this means, they think they are maintaining a relationship with God. Unfortunately, for all the practical difference it make to their lives, they might just as well stroke a rock as the leather of their Bible.

The Jews, at the time of the exile as told in the book of Ezekiel, tended to treat their Bible in that way. That was one of the reasons the judgment of God was coming upon them so inexorably. Yet they were unaware of it. They wanted the comfort and security of the prophetic word without having to face up to its disquieting challenge to their lifestyle. So they found way of controlling that word, muzzling its bark, domesticating it

From "Faithful Living in a Faithless World"
by D. Roy Clements

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