The Soda Shop Message Boards

The conversation in which Jane is questioned by a clergy-man in the presence of her aunt and caretaker, Mrs. Reed.

“Do you say your prayers night and morning?” continued my interrogator.

“Yes, sir.”

“Do you read your Bible?”

“Sometimes.”

“With pleasure?  Are you fond of it?”

“I like Revelations, and the book of Daniel, and Genesis and Samuel, and a little bit of Exodus, and some parts of Kings and Chronicles, and Job and Jonah.”

“And the Psalms?  I hope you like them?”

“No, sir.”

“No? oh, shocking!  I have a little boy, younger than you, who knows six Psalms by heart: and when you ask him which he would rather have, a gingerbread-nut to eat or a verse of a Psalm to learn, he says: ‘Oh! the verse of a Psalm! angels sing Psalms;’ says he, ‘I wish to be a little angel here below;’ he then gets two nuts in recompense for his infant piety.”

“Psalms are not interesting,” I remarked.

“That proves you have a wicked heart; and you must pray to God to change it: to give you a new and clean one: to take away your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”

I was about to propound a question, touching the manner in which that operation of changing my heart was to be performed, when Mrs. Reed interposed, telling me to sit down; she then proceeded to carry on the conversation herself.

~Jane Eyre

What are your thoughts on this passage? Was Jane in the wrong or on the right? Can one dislike parts of the Bible with a godly heart?

I don't think there's anything in the Bible that says it's a requirement for you to get into heaven... I definitely like different parts of the Bible better than others, and can get bored by the psalms especially because they're often pretty repetitive.

I personally like James a lot, because I find it to be one of the most applicable books of the Bible.

I was just talking to someone yesterday who said the same thing: that the Psalms didn't seem very applicable to him. I don't understand that. Psalms is one of my favorite books to read. There is something in every single Psalm that I can apply directly to my life. I'm not sure why so many people find that difficult.

But, as for the topic at hand, I think it's possible to "dislike" some passages of Scripture more than others and still be saved. I don't think you can "hate" passages of God's Word. It doesn't really make sense to me why someone would truly dislike particular parts, but I guess it's not really a salvation issue. It may be a heart issue though.

Christian A. wrote:I was just talking to someone yesterday who said the same thing: that the Psalms didn't seem very applicable to him. I don't understand that. Psalms is one of my favorite books to read. There is something in every single Psalm that I can apply directly to my life. I'm not sure why so many people find that difficult.

But, as for the topic at hand, I think it's possible to "dislike" some passages of Scripture more than others and still be saved. I don't think you can "hate" passages of God's Word. It doesn't really make sense to me why someone would truly dislike particular parts, but I guess it's not really a salvation issue. It may be a heart issue though.

Psalms is one of my least favorite books of the Bible if I had to pick one. I definitely appreciate many of them, Psalms 27 is very significant to me, but when I try to read through the book of Psalms I start attempting to avoid my Bible reading, both consciously and sub-consciously.

I find Psalms long and want to think that it less applicable to my spiritual life. I am not entirely sure why, but at least part of it is due to having to be still and focus completely on God. Concentrating entirely on praising God is a difficult task, especially repeatedly.

This probably points (again) to my wanting control and not wanting to give it to anyone else, a long standing family tradition.

It's important for me to remember that God isn't calling me to like every verse in the Bible, He's calling me to hear and obey His word.

Christian A. wrote:I guess it's not really a salvation issue. It may be a heart issue though.

I definitely agree with this.

To give a little background on Jane Eyre, Jane is an orphan in the custody of her aunt. She is abused physically and verbally by her cousins, while her aunt turns a blind eye to the situation, even blaming Jane for crimes he did not commit. Jane no godly role models and several heart issues. She is eventually shipped off to a charity board school where she begins her spiritual journey.

This passage is taken from the front end of the book, before Jane is sent to school. The man questioning her is trying to determine whether he should accept her into the school or not.

Jane Eyre does not make Jane's Chrisitan journey a focus point, but it does show a steady progression to a godly, self-sacrificing woman.

So, I definitely think that this conversation shows heart issues on either side. Jane is slowly refined throughout the book, and presumably the other side is not.

I agree that 'hating' parts of God's word isn't really possible if our eyes are fixed on Him. We may not like everything we read, but I don't believe truly hating it is possible.

I just really have come to appreciate the Psalms, yes, because of the constant praise to God, but also because of the honesty and transparency that David has when talking about his struggles. He always seems to be having problems with enemies, not trusting God, and such, but he always goes to God with it. He's not afraid to tell God that it doesn't feel like He's there, but he praises him anyway.

And he talks so much about how God blesses the righteous and the blameless. As I'm continuing to gain an understanding of how Christ's righteousness has been applied to me through my faith in Him, I continue to appreciate the passages, particularly in Psalms and Proverbs about the blessing of God on the righteous. Because, I know that it's not due to my effort that I'm righteous, but it's all God. It's all because of Jesus. And it's just amazing to me that I get all of these blessings, just because God loves me and made me His child and gifted me with the righteousness of His Son. It makes me so grateful for my awesome God who had such mercy on me, the chief of sinners.

I have to disagree with the heart of flesh part.
One cannot satsify both the spirit and the flesh,if you know what Im talking about.
But im not sure if thats it what it meant.

Christian A. wrote:I just really have come to appreciate the Psalms, yes, because of the constant praise to God, but also because of the honesty and transparency that David has when talking about his struggles. He always seems to be having problems with enemies, not trusting God, and such, but he always goes to God with it. He's not afraid to tell God that it doesn't feel like He's there, but he praises him anyway.

My theory is that I subconsciously shy away from that transparency and complete acknowledgement of God's control, an example of my flesh side trying to take over. I may or may not ever appreciate Psalms like you or others might, but I hope to at least come to enjoy and learn from it.

I have learned much from Proverbs; the wisdom God imparts through Solomon has been hugely helpful in my life, it lays down basic guidelines for my life and makes difficult concepts easier to understand and apply.

Thank you for your post, Bat Girl!

Though he may be knowledgable, the interviewer is not a Christlike man, so he might not think of it as we do. I am not sure exactly why it was worded that way. Whether the author intended the flesh phrase to act for or against the interviewer I do not know.

It confuses me how reading all of the Bible is really necessary. I'm sure it is, but it doesn't make logical sense spiritually. For instance, the Old Testament is jam packed with super long shopping lists on how things were made and put together. I think this is the main reason I've never even once read the Bible all the way through, cover to cover, skipping nothing. One wonders how a list can impact you, let alone help make you a better person, when it seems utterly pointless and bores you to death.
On the other hand, it seems flagrantly untrue to say some parts of the Bible are more important than others.
I suppose, in the end, disliking parts of the Bible doesn't do anything to your soul, necessarily. It sure does make one less inclined to pick it up, however, and that can.

I think it's dangerous - I don't think Luther was right in his rash judgements of Esther, Hebrews, James, Jude, or Revelation.