Bowdlerized Bible

2 Thessalonians 1 is today’s epistle reading in the Revised Common Lectionary. Or, actually, it’s a few bits and pieces of 2 Thessalonians 1. The reading includes the first four verses, which includes Paul’s customary greeting, thanksgiving, and encouragement, skips most of the chapter, and then includes the last two verses where Paul promises to pray for the Thessalonians.

What’s missing? Verse 6 is missing: “it is just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you.” And verse 7: “The Lord Jesus Christ shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire.” And verse 8, which talks about God’s “retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.” And verse 9:, which warns of “the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.”

Gee, I wonder why those verses got left out? And I wonder what kind of Christians are formed by a steady diet of bowdlerized Bible.