But herein is the Bible itself greatly wronged. It nowhere lays claim to be regarded as the Word, the Way, the Truth. The Bible leads us to Jesus, the inexhaustable, the ever unfolding Revelation of God. It is Christ "in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," not the Bible, save as leading to Him.
- George MacDonald
This post is certain to raise eyebrows for anyone that was raised in a religious environment similar to mine. If you were raised, or have ascented to the beliefs about the Bible as proclaimed by most Fundamental Christian denominations, the only thing that I ask of you is to consider one thing before dismissing this quote out of hand as absolute hogwash. If you really think about it, doesn't it make sense? Check the claims of the quote against the Bible. Does the Bible make the claims about itself that many Fundamental Christian teachers seem to present? It never has, in my study of it, made claim to be God Himself - though many teachers would appear to almost treat it as it is. It never claims to be Christ in any way shape or form. It should be revered as God's word...I don't dispute that, but I don't find any grounds to elevate the wonderful and mysterious records it contains to the level of God...certainly not to the level of something demanding worship, and more importantly, our ultimate, absolute loyalty. He and He alone demands and deserves our praise and worship. As so eloquently stated by MacDonald and echoed by my friend Robert in his commentary on this post, the Bible leads us to Him...it puts us on His trail (or maybe, puts Him on ours). It is Him that we are to be loyal to, and nothing else before Him.
1 comment:
Yes! I encountered this life-changing idea fully, I think, in the question: "what's the Bible for?" How you go about answering that question goes a long way toward determining just what kind of a Jesus-follower you will be, if you follow him- and not a mere text-based religion that seems to be about him- at all. It's much safer, of course, though not terribly faithful, to attempt to mediate one's relationship with God and the world via "Bible-based religion," but this serves only to keep God at a safe distance, locked away in the box of our ideas about him, unable to do the dangerous but necessary soul-work that we all require. Jesus is a living Lord who desires to have an actual relationship with us. The Bible helps us to know Jesus- it points to him and to the wooing of humanity that God has been about since he made the world, but it is a means to the end of relationship with God; it is not the relationship itself. I do not finally believe in the Bible; I have faith in and follow Jesus, with the Bible as a vital tool that helps me to do so.
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