Last night Jamey spoke about The Word of God. He talked about how we cannot limit "The Word of God" to only The Bible...that if we limited it to the Bible alone we would have to disregard our own personal lives and the words of theologians.
Since last night I have been thinking a lot about what Jamey said. Today I was looking at some stuff on the internet that had to do with the same subject...I wanted to share them here because they may speak to you also.
These are from Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller.
"The Bible is a collection of stories that teach us about what it looks like when God is at work through actual people. The Bible has the authority it does only because it contains stories about people interaction with the God who has all authority." (pg.68)
"...it wasn't until the 300's that what we know as the sixty-six books of the Bible were actually agreed upon as the 'Bible'. This is part of the problem with continually insisting that one of the absolutes of the Christian faith must be a belief that "Scripture alone" is our guide. It sounds nice, but it is not true. In reaction to abuses by the church, a group of believers during a time called the Reformation claimed that we only need the authority of the Bible. But the problem is that we got the Bible from the church voting on what the Bible even is. So when I affirm the Bible as God's word, in the same breath I have to affirm that when those people voted, God was somehow present, guiding them to do what they did. When people say that all we need is the Bible, it is simply not true. In affirming the Bible as inspired, I also have to affirm the Spirit who I believe was inspiring those people to choose those books." (pg.68)
"For a Christian, Jesus' teachings aren't to be followed because they are a nice way to live a moral life. They are to be followed because they are the possible insight into how the world really works. They teach us how things are. I don't follow Jesus because I think Christianity is the best religion. I follow Jesus because he leads me into ultimate reality. He teaches me to live in tune with how reality is. When Jesus said, 'No one comes to the Father except through me', he was saying that his way, his words, his life is our connection to how things truly are at the deepest levels of existence. For Jesus then, the point of religion is to help us connect with ultimate reality, God." (pg.83)
If anyone is actually reading this, Thank you for letting me share what was on my heart today.
4 comments:
I love what you've written!! You're so wonderful and I love Blue Like Jazz - I need to get a hardcopy of it for my bookshelf. :-) Love you! -Brad
I reading and thankful for you sharing you heart, thoughts, occasional pics of eliot :)
Um LOVE Blue like Jazz...Donald Miller came and spoke in the cities and I was amazed. Also I would LOVE to come help you do a little decorating! any excuse to do something fun that has to do with paint, photography, etc..... :)
I've not read that one yet, but your brother loved it!
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