I'm aware that I didn't speak my whole mind when I recently wrote my Bibliolotry passage. I wrote that our goal is to know God. With that, I would like to say that we must seek to hear the voice of the living, active God. And scripture is a great place to start.
Honestly, I really do believe that God speaks to us through scripture. The problem I see is that we have often turned the Bible into some sort of schoolbook in which we seek concrete, scientific answers in poetry, perfect historical accuracy in stories, or symmetric storytelling between two different authors. We want the Bible to be a fact-book, or science book, or any other sort of book to prove that it is the "good book." The sad thing is that we have turned it into these different kinds of books and lost the voice that is within.
I don't know if this will make sense, but I'll try to explain; I don't know if I think the Bible is really "God's word," but I really do believe that God speaks to us through the Bible. What I mean is, there definitely seems to be a multitude of signs of human authorship. That was once a stumbling block for me. Now I see it as an amazing part of this story, that God's relationship with us has involved centuries or authors, nations, locations, all culminating in an amazing assortment of texts which compile into the beautiful story which is the Bible. And it is in truly listening to this text, rather than just "reading" it, that we hear God's voice.
This is an act of presence. It is a matter of shutting-up so we can hear our God. The same is true in our prayer lives. Can we stop and listen to God, since he has the first word?
Peace,
Matt
Currently Reading: An American Childhood by Annie Dillard.
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6 comments:
Such blasphemy. Where do you get off?? I'm sure it won't be long before you start spewing other garbage like Jesus loves everyone else as much as Christians, or like God may not want me to be rich, famous, and powerful.
Pagan.
I think one of the things that plagues the church is that so many people hold on the the B-I-B-L-E as the only word for me.
Some seem to look at the bible as an exact scientific example and then we get these lame emails from friends that talk about how "the bible has proven NASA scientists wrong" and how in Joshua when the sun is moved, it caused the day to become longer and that is why there is a day missing in NASA's records and logs of space time.
are they your friends though even after they sent you this email?
I think that people rely too much on the bible and not enough on Jesus. Am I going to hell? If I was a calvinist like Pablo I'd say no, but you might be if you aren't elected like me.
brownie
It is the WORD of God, not the WordS of God.
All kidding aside, you have a valid point, Matt. I think the reason we trust the Bible more than God sometimes is that we are scared to experience the supernatural beyond what has been clearly established or "safe" (the written word). We think we know all that we need to about life, the universe, and everything because scholars have plunged all possible depths before us. So we rely on our "study Bibles" and commentaries to fill in the gaps of scripture or make things relevant for us. But we don't seek the Spirit of God on such matters.
This is the bibliolatry we see widely in action: when we focus on and trust more in human transcriptions -- the Bible -- than on the Word of God which can and does dwell within us.
I'm with you Paul. The scary thing is that this leaves us open for massive amounts of subjectivity. We deal with this in youth ministry all the time when a teen says that "God is telling me I should date ____." How do you argue agains "God told me..."? I think objectivity is a joke, but honestly subjectivity is scary and can easily get mixed-up in this idea of trusting the Spirit.
But I would still have to say that I would rather take the risk and trust in God rather than man. After all, even our "brilliant" and "objective" scholars can't agree on what the Bible is really saying. I'm gonna take my chances with God instead.
That is a valid caution. Subjectivity has certainly led to its share of wacky theology and questionable, if not downright damnable, actions in the past.
I see the Bible as a good validator of subjectivity. If we are making claims that blatantly contradict scripture (for instance, believing Jesus is not divine) then we can assume that something is wrong. The tricky thing is deciding what to do with the "fuzzier" or more obscure passages of scripture.
There are the obvious things like loving people, taking care of the poor, and obedience to Christ. Then there are the not-so-obvious things like God's methods of creation, the Charismatic gifts, and sexual issues (e.g. masturbation). In these "gray" areas, of which -- regardless of one's literalist or fundamentalist assumptions -- there are many, we absolutely must look to the Holy Spirit for wisdom and guidance. That is the whole reason for a conscience: knowing in our hearts what is right and wrong.
Here's a question: Could someone be a Christian without ever having read the Bible? I believe so. However, we are certainly blessed by having scripture to reinforce our foundation in Christ and helping us to know God better. Let's just not assume (as many do) that it has all the answers and that we don't need the guidance of the Spirit just as much, if not more so.
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