I have been accused in my day of worshiping a book. It's not true, but that doesn't stop people of falsely accusing me. If you were to burn a copy of the Quran, Moslems would be outraged. You've burned their holy book. I don't believe the Bible to be that kind of holy. Yes, yes, I know, a lot of them say "Holy Bible" on the cover, but I don't believe it. So if someone were to burn a Bible in my presence, I'd lament their loss of a valuable resource for truth, but not for some sin they committed in burning the book.
The Bible tells me that God breathed out the Scriptures (2 Tim 3:16-17). Peter said that "men, moved by the Holy Spirit, spoke from God" (2 Peter 1:21). The Bible, then, is the written Word of God. He breathed it out. His Spirit directed men to speak His words. He directed it, superintended it, and protected it. Today we have over 5,800 manuscripts (as compared, say, with Homer's Iliad which has 643). Doing textual analysis, scholars can be confident that what we have today is at least 99.5% true to the original documents, and nothing in that 0.5% calls into question any significant doctrines. So while I can't be absolutely certain that, say, I should expect to be able to drink poison or pick up snakes without harm (Mark 16:18), I don't think I need to worry about that being a required practice for believers. Just an example. The Bible claims to be God's Word, sourced by the Son who was the Word Incarnate (John 1:1, 14), and inspired by the Holy Spirit. As such, the entire Bible is Jesus's words as well. That is not insignificant.
So when I maintain that the Bible is inerrant and infallible -- insofar as they align with the original manuscripts -- when read as it was intended to be understood, I am not trusting in the Bible or worshiping a book. I am trusting in God. My God could produce such a book. My God could maintain such a book. My God can even explain such a book (John 16:13). It is truth (John 17:17). So those who argue that it is not don't have the same God I do. Theirs was either unwilling or unable to produce and protect such a book. The God I worship is. He has. And it would be foolish of me to take it as any less reliable or authoritative than He is. Which, I suppose, is precisely what those who deny the reliability of Scripture are doing -- they're taking their unreliable Scriptures from an unreliable God. If God Word is sufficient to equip God's people for every good work (2 Tim 3:17), I will trust God and surrender to the authority He claims.
7 comments:
It's not the books itself that we hold in high regard, but the words in the books. It is a danger we need to be wary of, for it would be all too easy for us to fall into the Moslem way, but we dare not fall the other way and make the books meaningless.
I've always found the "worshiping the book" claim to be kind of stupid. As if it is not possible to separate the contents of the book, from the physical book. As is what's in the book isn't just as much God's Word when it's communicated verbally. It is an important distinction between Christianity and Islam though. Especially when the people who'll accuse you of "worshiping" the Bible don't hold Muslims to the same standard.
Yes, isn't that interesting. Muslims do indeed consider their book holy, but they don't seem to be accused of worshiping it.
The left tends to give Muslims a pass for all sorts of things they'd rip Christians for.
I have heard the charge that we Bible-believing Christians “have a paper Pope” as our authority. These accusers must not comprehend that our faith and trust is in the Author of the Word as revealed in the Bible, not in the physical book. (And as Craig points out, we might not even utilize a bound book but audio or a screen, etc. Originally, the Bible’s texts were on scrolls, of course.)
The irony in charging us with “worshiping a book” is not lost on me: I have seen RC clergy parade a huge book (presumably a Bible, but who knows?) around the streets and in church spaces, held up high, as if they revere it above all else. However, unless you read it, rightly divide it, apply it, and obey it, as the ultimate authority--all done through the ministry of the Holy Spirit--the words on the pages of a Bible have no power to save, and the physical Bible is merely an object of idolatry (or perhaps a “good luck charm”).
When I was the librarian at our church, there were times I needed to discard Bibles due to poor condition, etc.; I donated or gave away the ones in decent shape, of course, but I had no problem with trashing unusable ones; I knew that God’s Word is imperishable.
Just to be clear, you're not necessarily suggesting the Bible isn't "holy", but rather that you don't regard it as holy in the same way muslims regard their tome. Would that be correct?
I think we can regard "things" as holy without saying their like or equal to God.
And of course, destroying a book which says "Holy Bible" on the cover can absolutely be sinful if the book belongs to someone else or the if the act is an expression of rebellion against the God who inspired it. Just sayin'.
I'm saying the book isn't holy. The print, the pages, the book itself. God Himself is holy and what He says is holy, but that doesn't confer some kind of "holiness" to the paper and ink that are used to express it.
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