IS THERE A NEW BIBLE COMING?

To many red-blooded Americans, "Trigger" births fond memories of a horse and a hero. The hero was Roy, Roy Rogers, and Trigger was his wonder horse, faithful, true, and obedient too.

But things have changed. Say the word, "trigger," and you're talking about university campuses and students who are "triggered" by words said or intellectual positions taken in classroom lectures or material which cause the students to feel troubled, uncomfortable, erupt in tears, or sometimes screams, outcries, and shouts of distress, even death threats, to the extent that they have to flee the class and find that new campus phenomenon, the safe space.

The safe place is a comfortable spot on campus where the newly traumatized can relax and find surcease with the provided essentials: a teddy bear, a ball pit, crayons, and coloring books along with people with whom they can discuss their feelings. Trained counselors are at the ready. At Brown University a safe space was equipped with cookies, Play-Doh, calming music, pillows, blankets, and a video of frolicking puppies.

If you're attuned to what's going on in the groves of academe` lately, you know I'm not making this up.

ACROSS THE POND

This isn't a piece of American insanity, it's all over the place. A professor at the University College London, the largest postgraduate college in the United Kingdom with 35,000 students, told his “Achaeologies of Modern Conflict” students that they can feel free to leave the class in progress if they’re concerned that any of the material might be too triggering for them to handle. (From National Review)

YOU CAN HANDLE IT; I CAN'T

Triggers are subjective things. What triggers one person to discomfort or hysteria may be something that elicits no such reactions in another. The beleaguered professor never knows what words may trigger a student. Each spoken word becomes a minefield which may explode at any moment. A case in point is the professor who sent a campus-wide e-mail discussing the innocuous subject of Halloween costumes which triggered an explosion of screaming students and the firing of the professor. (All that over wearing a sombrero and a poncho?)

History is filled with troubling events--The Holocaust, The Spanish Inquisition, the kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby, Leopold, Loeb, and Bobby Frank, The Hindenburg, Pearl Harbor, September 11th, The Dust Bowl, and The Great Depression are but a few. Whether we're listening to a history lecture, ancient or modern, many are the events we'll encounter that are unpleasant and unpleasant is an understatement.

A SAFE SPACE AT CHURCH?

A solid, Bible-believing-teaching church had the custom of asking one of the men to read the Scripture and pray before the pastor spoke. One morning, the pastor called on one of the men to read Judges 11:29-40 and pray. The man refused.

The pastor called on a second man. He refused.

The pastor called on a third man. He said he would, but he would have to reverse the order and pray first.

This brings to mind the truth: what we see in the world we will soon see in the church, and when we do (not "if" we do) those who speak to appease the sheep and keep them comfortable will follow the paraphrased advice of, "Tread lightly; say no triggers."

In the light of triggers, will a new Bible come on the scene? We have all kinds of study Bibles, running all the way from "The Women's Study Bible" to the "Viet Nam Veterans Study Bible." I predict that there will there one day be "The Trigger-Free Study Bible," a Bible without the Plagues of Egypt, the drowning of the Egyptian military, the extermination of the Canaanites, and, of course, the omission of the Peyton Place of the Old Testament, Genesis 38.

The Trigger-Free Study Bible will eliminate all references to animal sacrifices (sounds cruel and is much too bloody), hell, and man's inherent sin nature (unflattering, very troubling). And, above all, it will eliminate every reference to the blood of Christ along with Christ's words about "eating My flesh and drinking My blood." Then there's the event of the crucifixion and the spear into the side with blood and serum pouring out. Ghastly!

In the book of Acts there are triggers all over the place which The Trigger-Free Bible will eliminate--the stoning of both Stephen and Paul, the breakdown of law and order, the bloody lashings, the riotous assaults on the Apostles, and the demon possessions with accompanying exorcisms.

The church will need strong elders to do as Paul did--preach the whole counsel of God and guard the gospel.