A few years ago a friend made a joke to me about the Holy Trinity that I don't remember, except that the punch line had something to do with "the Father, the Son and the Holy Bible." Is it just me, or have we elevated the Bible to the status of God, or even above God? I believe the Bible has become an idol in many peoples lives, specifically in the lives of most "good ol' fashioned, Bible believin' American Protestants."
I have heard sermons, with the emphasis on why the audience members need to come to Christ, that have went off-track for 20 minutes on why the Bible is infallible, inerent, 100% true, the written word of God, etc... "Believe the Bible and be saved" we preach! "Let God's word speak into your life!" we add, using the clever ploy of adding that Jesus is the Word, so we should study God's word and make it the center of our lives.
So am I saying we should ignore the Bible? No, no, no. But we have put the Bible so high up that it trumps the Holy Spirit. We don't need to follow the guidance of the Spirit when we have the guidance of the Bible. The Spirit has been long forgotten as a less understandable, strange part of God that is too complicated for us, the "people of the Book."
Feel free to study your Bible, but realize that our main goal is to know God more. That's what matters! The Bible is a multitude of voices talking about God, but listening for God in prayer and meditation, that is getting the message directly from God himself. That sounds right to me. Your thoughts?
Peace,
Matt
Currently Reading: How to Stay Christian in High School by Steve Gerali.
5 comments:
what about John 1? the word became flesh?
I've been pondering the concept of Word lately, as well. I could veer off on various tangents here about how words are much less valued in our society than ever before, or how the universe began with a word, or how the Bible (Word) and Jesus (Word) are more connected than one might think.
But let me try to stay focused by just saying this: Matt has a point about people putting the transcribed Word of God (the Bible) on a higher pedestal than God himself (the Holy Spirit). If we are good Trinitarians then we should equally value and adhere to the Father, Son, and Spirit. It seems, however, that a lot of people miss this.
I return here to my metaphor of the Holy Spirit being the unpopular little brother of the Trinity.
The Logos became flesh. The Bible didn't become flesh.
Ah, yes the Bible points us to Christ but isn't it also, as the inspired word of God, profitable for "doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteoudness"? Praise God that He not only points us to the Son but we are also given the tools to teach us how to worship and glorify our Lord.
Jeremy
I see what you are getting at Matt but we need to be careful; yes God is more important than the Bible but the Bible is his revelation to us. If we truly love God and want to follow him, shouldn't we follow what he teaches us?
Also how do we know when God is telling us something? I think we need to compare what we know God has said through the Bible to how he is speaking into our lives through the Holy Spirit.
God is steadfast and will not contradict himself and thus the Bible gives us, among other things, the ability to discern if God is saying something and what he is saying (plus what he has already said). This is one of the reasons why the Bible is so great at helping us know God.
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