Years ago, Saturday Night Live released a video called "I Threw It on the Ground." It is a silly video. Andy Samburg is rapping about many ways he expressed himself by throwing something on the ground. In one scene, somebody hands him a cell phone and says, "It's your dad." Andy reacts by throwing the cell phone onto the ground, smashing it, and declaring, "My Dad is not a phone!" I still laugh at this years later.
Here lately, there have been a lot of messages from people who are not necessarily liberals, but who promote a dangerous liberal theology. It is the idea that the Bible is not Jesus. Jesus is Jesus, and the Bible is about him, but it is not Jesus and should not be revered as highly as it is by conservatives. To give so much honor to the Bible is called "bibleolatry," or so they say. But I feel like it is the same reaction that Samburg gave when he threw the cell phone onto the ground.
Suppose my Dad lived somewhere where I would not see him a long time, but he still wanted to communicate with me. My cell phone would be the sole source of his words to me. Jesus lives at the right hand of his Father interceding for me in his invisible kingdom where deceased believers already live. His only communication to me is through his words in the Bible.
I know that God ultimately proved Jesus by raising him from the dead, and it is a historical fact witnessed by many in the 1st century church. This one act proved all the stories of the Old Testament, creation, and our hope in a resurrection for us. But, how do I know about this today? I read it in the Bible.
How do I know that Jesus and Paul are of one mind when they speak in the Scriptures? Because Jesus specifically trained Paul, and those words are in the Bible.
If I feel like the Holy Spirit is leading me to something, but I need something objective to go to, where do I go? The Bible.
Sure, a cell phone is not my dad, but it is his words to me until I see him again. A Bible is not Jesus, but they are his words to me, both Old and New Testament, but red and black letters, until I see him again, so we had better take the Bible's words as if they were Jesus speaking to us directly, because they are.
Is not the Holy Spirit the very fullness of God in us? Isn't He more than just a "Jimminy Cricket" who points us in the right direction and hopes we go that way? The Bible is authoritative, but it's a delegated authority. It is not the fourth member of the Trinity.
ReplyDeleteWhat about times in history where the Bible didn't exist? Wasn't God able to communicate faithfully to His people then? What about today where Bibles are nearly non-existent or illegal, and someone may have only a page or two of it?
Let's get back to the Holy Spirit. Without His guidance, His wisdom, and His initiation and enabling into maturity in faith, the words recorded in the Bible remain just that: words.
I'll be honest, for someone who adheres to Calvinist theology, to limit God's ability to communicate to us to the Bible is somewhat surprising.