The Bible Idol

Recently a friend began a discussion on the concept of whether or not some Christians make the Bible an idol. After all, anything good can be made bad by worshipping it rather than the Creator, right?

Someone who loves nature can find that the desire to admire forests, mountains, rivers—rather than leading to thoughts of how wonderful the Creator must be, if the creation is so beautiful, may instead lift thoughts no higher than the exhilaration that can come from adoration. Nature then becomes an idol.

Or those who play or watch a sport may find their thoughts persistently interrupted with the need to think in that vein, to skip fellowship to be out on the field or court,  to neglect relationships and duties to scream at a television screen. Sports then becomes an idol.

Or for those with a creative bent—as the spirit explains to the ghost in a C.S. Lewis' novel—they may begin with a desire to share glimpses of heaven and end by worshipping their very method of communication or, ultimately, themselves.

"Every poet and musician and artist, but for Grace, is drawn away from love of the thing he tells, to love of the telling till, down in Deep Hell, they cannot be interested in God at all but only in what they say about Him. For it doesn't stop at being interested in paint, you know. They sink lower—becoming interested in their own personalities and then in nothing but their own reputations."~The Great Divorce

Hmmm... Does that sound familiar? Not of an artist you may know, but of a Christian? Maybe it's you; maybe it's me—"becoming interested in their own personalities and then in nothing but their own reputations." Yes. I know that disease.

It may start as love for God, but then morphs into a love of a habit, thought, (God forbid) a favourite Bible verse. Then in their "zeal without knowledge", they print signs saying who God hates, they picket military funerals for reasons that don't relate to the family or the deceased, they preach truth without love or love without Truth (is that love?). In these cases we live as devils in the name of Jesus!

But is it correct to say that the Bible can become an idol? Maybe. But more accurate, I believe, would be to say that our understanding becomes an idol.

If we choose pet verses and miss the balance of Scripture, we break the Law of God.
"For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it."

Interestingly, the above verse is in a passage in James exhorting the churches to not show favouritism. Whether we twist Scriptures to damn a fellow Christian or someone outside of the faith for not adhering to the convictions we feel, we show favouritism. We accept those who think like us and treat anyone else as enemies. This partiality is equivalent to bias towards the rich over the poor, which is specifically addressed in James. This divisiveness makes enemies of those who do not think like we do.

If someone is an enemy, what did Jesus command? Instead of hating your enemy, He said "I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."

If someone is truly wrong, living in sin, love would have them repent and reap the mercy of God, but pride wants to condemn them without a trial. 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community, wrote: "To make intercession means to grant our brother the same right that we have received, namely, to stand before Christ and share in His mercy." 

And, I would argue, this is the same right (to be prayed for) should be given to the lost too, who are not yet born again; therefore, to pray for an unsaved sinner, is to acknowledge that I was once in sin and (still struggle and have) need of God's mercy, and, but for His grace, I may have become worse than they.

True love desires that the one loved live in such a way as that he or she will benefit from the grace of God. You cannot love someone and desire their temporary happiness at the cost of their eternal happiness or at the cost of the value of their life. 

To want the best for someone, may require what some call "tough love." This does not belong just to the rebellious, who choose what is recognised as bad, but may also apply to one who is lazy and seeks pleasure rather than God. It may be necessary, out of love and only from love, to share with them the way of Truth, and pray they repent rather than reap the consequences of their sins. If they don't and the harvest of consequences comes, then love would lead one to come along side them to bear the burden and find the Saviour. 

Love and Truth summarize the whole Bible. As Mart DeHaan, former President of RBC Ministries, loves to tell—all Scripture either points to Christ as the Hope of all time or, by showing sin and weakness, points to our need for a Saviour. 

We, none of us, are guiltless. We all are responsible to be one who "correctly handles the Word of Truth." To "correctly handle" Scripture, one must be in it faithfully, consistently, listening, repenting, correcting our focus from one thing back to the Saviour and from another thing back to the Saviour. 

We will be accountable for knowing Scripture and for applying Scripture rightly (as this verse specifies). To know Bible passages and quote them does not prove you are righteous for even the devil quoted verses back to Jesus. 

Our knowledge of the Bible must be lived in obedience, love, and humility. If we find ourselves isolated from others, it may well be that pride has entered causing division. And, it may not be their pride, but yours or mine. Dissension and pride of any kind are something God hates.

Therefore, for our own standing before God, we must know and rightly apply the whole of Scripture to our own lives. But, also for the sake of the Body of the Messiah, to which all born again followers of Yeshua are members (arms, legs, hands, hearts), we bear responsibility.

"An element of sickness gets into the body; perhaps nobody knows where it is from or in what member it has lodged, but the body is infected. This is the proper metaphor for the Christian community. We are members of a body, not only when we choose to be, but in our whole existence. Every member serves the whole body, either to its health or to its destruction." ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

When we stand before Yahweh, will you and I be "approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed"? Today is all we may have.

What are your thoughts?

Don't Forget Your Mind

I went to see some friends perform in a play based on The Screwtape Letters. The script well represented C.S. Lewis's book and the essay Screwtape Proposes a Toast. It reminded me again, with Lewis' usual combination of wit and truth, of the subtleties of sin.

The demon Screwtape explains to Wormwood, the younger demon, that truth isn't to be avoided, but twisted. It is much more efficient to block the human ears to what he doesn't wish to believe than to constantly be whispering lies to him.

A follower on Twitter--Bob--illustrated this idea very clearly this week (for those who don't understand Twitter, think of it as being like what used to be status--now "What's on Your Mind?"--updates on Facebook, but more frequent).

I posted a link to an article our ministry wrote about why God allows evil. Bob responded that it was simple logic: 1) God doesn't exist. 2) Evil is only in the mind of Christians.

I asked him if he didn't believe murder to be wrong. He tried to dodge the question with all sorts of rabbit trails, but eventually agreed to a definition of murder as the taking of a human life that cannot defend his- or herself. He said it wasn't okay, but he would do it if he was willing to take the consequences. He also added that he didn't believe it was evil. "Murder is murder," he concluded.

Then Bob brought God and Jesus into his arguments. I reminded him that he did not believe in God.

Bob said he had read the Bible. I told him I was glad, because it is good to know what you believe and why. I have read it for about 27 years. If what I believe about its truth is wrong, I have lost a false peace. If what he believes is wrong, he loses everything.

He then quoted a verse, obviously twisting it, as a comeback to my statement. When I smiled and pointed to his taking it out of context, he agreed, but said he believes that's how Jesus meant it.

Finally, I asked him who he thought Jesus was. He said, "Jesus is who he claimed to be." Our conversation ended when I asked him who Jesus claimed to be.

Bob wanted to believe the Gospels about Jesus, but did not want to accept any of Paul's writings. He, of course, failed to understand that Jesus did not write anything about himself. The writers were eyewitnesses or wrote down the statements from eyewitnesses to Jesus' life. Paul, likewise, wrote as God revealed to him. This was accepted by believers at the time these men lived and have been passed down together for nearly 2000 years.

Bob is just one of many who sample religions like dishes at a smorgasbord. They believe they can gather truths and create a religion comfortable to their lifestyle. What they fail to understand, for one thing, is the founders of each religion would never assent to the points of another. Buddha claimed there is no God; enlightenment comes from within oneself. Muhammad tried to kill the Jews and Christians that would not convert to his belief in Allah. And more isolating than all the rest is Jesus statement: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Every religion, except the Bible, gives you a chance to have pride in your own accomplishments, to gain the right to heaven, to balance evil with good. The Bible says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;" "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord;" and "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He has saved us... not by works lest any one should boast."

Atheists, though too simplistic, at least try to balance their unbelief with an effort at logic. Smorgasbord religionists ignore their minds almost completely in their attempt to sample only what they like or feel.

God asks us to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Do you know what and why you believe what you do? It is equally as dangerous to avoid the mind as it is to avoid the heart. Don't forget to think.

Uniquely You

Have you ever noticed that ultimately everyone who tries to be unique becomes a type of what we have seen elsewhere? A singer tries to be unique. He may have a new sound, but his life becomes a pattern of the lives of other singers or writers, actors or businessmen. In trying to break a mold, they become more and more like everyone else. They want to live the way they want to live, so they follow the patterns that others are following blatantly or secretly.

Professor Bruce Herman, in his lecture at Oxford in 2008, stated it this way: "This self-concept is actually more the sum of consumer choices than the wholesome identity one develops through a deep sense of belonging and accountability in community. And individualistic pursuit of self often results in isolation and anomie rather than meaning, belonging, and a sense of vocation.”

"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation." ~ Oscar Wilde

In one of his books, C.S. Lewis explained that the more we try to be originals, the more we become copies. It's as if, in the effort, we use our heads and create ourselves out of our environment and heredity, mimicking what we have known instead of becoming who we are created to be.

"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it," says Lewis. "[God] makes each soul unique. If He had no use for all these differences, I do not see why He should have created mores souls than one. Be sure that the ins and outs of your individuality are no mystery to Him; and one day they will no longer be a mystery to you."

Seeking out the Creator may be the only way to become the true original masterpiece He created you to be.

"Never forget that only dead fish swim with the stream." ~ Malcolm Muggeridge

Northerness

This time of year--fall, winter, Thanksgiving, Christmas--sets me thinking about years past. Almost inevitably, I feel an ache for an intangible day, an idyllic childhood, a memory of complete acceptance in my family. Almost inevitably, in my memory, I come up empty of such a life, day, moment. Why?

One of my favourite authors, C.S. Lewis, tried to capture and analyze this feeling throughout his lifetime. He called the ache "Joy" and described it as different from both pleasure and happiness. In his youth, Lewis discovered the feeling inexplicably rising up in the midst of a piece of music or a story. It could never be duplicated at will from the same music or story, however.

Looking back in his autobiography, Lewis wrote, "I doubt whether anyone who has tasted it would ever, if both were in his power, exchange it for all the pleasures in the world. But then Joy is never in our power and pleasure often is.... Joy is distinct not only from pleasure in general but even from aesthetic pleasure. It must have the stab, the pang, the inconsolable longing.... All Joy reminds. It is never a possession, always a desire for something longer ago or further away or still 'about to be'.... I sometimes wonder whether all pleasures are not substitutes for Joy."

At this time of year when Nostalgia settles in with the bustle of activity, what is it really that you are longing for? Could you go back to it or is it just a stab of Joy?