Let me give you two stories and you tell me which one sounds better.
It’s March 23, 2003. Just over a year and a half prior to this, the events of 9/11 shook our nation and the world. The war in Iraq was going strong as forces tried to capture Sadaam Hussein. The 507th Maintenance Company convoy was ambushed by Iraqi troops during the Battle of Nasiriyah. A young woman and Private First Class in the United States Army was seriously injured and captured. Nine days later on April 1, the PFC was rescued.
Heroic tales began pouring out of the White House and the Pentagon. This PFC had multiple bullet wounds. She had fought off attackers before being subdued and was depicted as a female Rambo. During her captivity, she was treated inhumanely. “The media suggested that she had been sexually violated in the Iraqi hospital, arousing a whole host of old, nationalistic fears about white women’s vulnerability.”1 The team that rescued her did it in Hollywood fashion with guns blazing, rappelling into the compound, and lots of aggressive maneuvers.
That’s the first story. Here’s the second.
It’s March 23, 2003. The 507th Maintenance Company convoy was ambushed by Iraqi troops during the Battle of Nasiriyah. A young woman and Private First Class in the United States Army was seriously injured and captured. Nine days later on April 1, the PFC was rescued.
Her injuries were extensive, including multiple broken or fragmented bones but there were no gunshot wounds. Yes, she was a captive, but the Iraqi doctors worked hard to save her life. The PFC said that “she had not been mistreated by the staff at the Iraqi hospital, and they put up no resistance to her rescue.”2 In fact, her story matches those of the Iraqi doctors who said, “the staff was proud of how they had treated her as a “guest” rather than a war prisoner. They said the staff donated two of the three pints of blood she was given.
“After awakening two days later, the PFC was cared for by two nurses in round-the-clock shifts. The two, one of whom had three daughters about her age, even sang softly to her, they said.” “I never saw any strangers near Jessica,” said Furat Hussein, one of the nurses. “She was never mistreated.”3
Which story sells the best war? Obviously, the first one and that’s what happened according to Jessica Lynch, the soldier that had been captured. Testifying before Congress in 2007, Lynch said, “I am still confused as to why they chose to lie and tried to make me a legend when the real heroics of my fellow soldiers that day were, in fact, legendary.” She added: “The truth of war is not always easy to hear but is always more heroic than the hype.”4
When you’re at war, stories of heroism help romanticize the ugliness, making it easier for people to get excited about the war and be willing to add their support. On this day in 2003, 19-year-old Jessica Lynch returned to her hometown of Palestine, West Virginia, receiving a hero’s welcome. Many will never believe her version of the story, choosing rather to accept the embellished version.
Today, some will pick up their Bible, roll their eyes, and say, “This is so boring. It’s dull. It needs some pizzaz!” Commentators, preachers, teachers, and translators will try to give it a spin that will allegedly entice others to read it. This is not only dangerous. It is forbidden!
Proverbs 30:5-6 says, “Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. (6) Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.” God’s Word doesn’t need bedazzled, embellished, critiqued, or edited. It doesn’t need to be made more exciting so that it will sell or entice people to read it. This kind of thinking reveals a lack of understanding about Scripture.
1 Corinthians 2:9-13 says, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (10) But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. (11) For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. (12) Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. (13) Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”
The unchanging Holy Spirit gives us understanding of the unchanging Word of God. Biblical truth is “revealed” to us by the Holy Spirit, not by some clever wording of a translator or Bible teacher. We don’t need a better version of the story. We need the Holy Spirit.
For those who aren’t saved, there are no clever ways to tell the story that will reach them. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” No matter how hard we attempt to get Biblical truth across to a lost person, it’s not going to work because they don’t have the Spirit of God. Rather than trying to make things easier for them, we need to be asking the Holy Spirit to reveal to them their need of salvation and convict them of sin – which is exactly what the Spirit came to do!
Don’t change the story of the Word of God. Let God speak and tell us exactly how things should be. And, allow the Holy Spirit to do His work as well.
“And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: (9) Of sin, because they believe not on me; (10) Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; (11) Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.” (John 16:8-11)
1https://daily-jstor-org.bibliotheek.ehb.be/how-american-soldier-jessica-lynch-became-a-symbol/
2https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/july-22/jessica-lynch-gets-heros-welcome
3https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/20030528/lynch28/dramatic-story-of-jessica-lynch-contained-both-fact-and-fiction
4https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/july-22/jessica-lynch-gets-heros-welcome
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