Thursday, May 03, 2018
Churches, Scripture, and being a people of the Book
I like the Bible. I believe the Bible. I want my family to know the Bible. I want my spiritual family to stand on Scripture.
And I know Scripture can be hard to understand sometimes. The Ethiopian needed guidance. Peter had some trouble getting everything Paul taught.
And I admit I come out of a heritage that prided itself of being a "people of the book." Sometimes that pride might have veered into arrogance as if we could never be wrong. But I also know I learned a lot of Bible growing up.
I want to stay a people of the Book. So how do you know your church is a Bible believing community of faith?
Is Scripture read in your assemblies? Do people need to bring their Bibles to the sermon and classes? Does your leadership study Scripture? Do they know Scripture? Are your classes Bible school or current trends and topics classes? And by the way, those are not always mutually exclusive, but you get the point. Are your small groups encouraged to read and study Scripture?
And here are few things that might concern you.
Churches that teach the Bible does not say what it means. I heard some of that growing up when worship was discussed. People would say read your Bible concerning singing and instrumental music and you will know what God wants in worship. Then they would take you to passages that only talked about one of those things. The practical outcome of that is that you are teaching people that the Bible clearly means what it does not say. That seems a little confusing.
Churches that teach the Bible does not mean what it does say. Hearing a lot of that in churches discussing women's role. Lots of teaching about male leadership in the Bible. Very confusing when churches try to explain that what you read is not what God meant.
And I got very excited when lots of preachers began to use the title Minister of the Word. I thought that meant they were hired to teach the Bible. From the pulpit, in classes, in homes. That sounds like a church that is committed to Scripture. But I sometimes hear that defined as meaning the minister of interpreting the Word. If not careful, you would begin to think the average member cannot be trusted to figure out for themselves what God means. Not sure that is a Bible church.
Hard things to wrestle with.
But of this I am confident. I want to be part of a church that tells me this about the Bible. Read it. Study it. Memorize it. Discuss it. Teach it. And realize some things are difficult to understand. And we may even agree to disagree on some things.
But I do not want to be part of a church that tells me I cannot understand the Bible unless it is interpreted for me. And don't tell me it says what is not there. And do not tell me what it says is not at all what it means.
Because it may just be that Bible really does say what it means. And means what it says.
And I know Scripture can be hard to understand sometimes. The Ethiopian needed guidance. Peter had some trouble getting everything Paul taught.
And I admit I come out of a heritage that prided itself of being a "people of the book." Sometimes that pride might have veered into arrogance as if we could never be wrong. But I also know I learned a lot of Bible growing up.
I want to stay a people of the Book. So how do you know your church is a Bible believing community of faith?
Is Scripture read in your assemblies? Do people need to bring their Bibles to the sermon and classes? Does your leadership study Scripture? Do they know Scripture? Are your classes Bible school or current trends and topics classes? And by the way, those are not always mutually exclusive, but you get the point. Are your small groups encouraged to read and study Scripture?
And here are few things that might concern you.
Churches that teach the Bible does not say what it means. I heard some of that growing up when worship was discussed. People would say read your Bible concerning singing and instrumental music and you will know what God wants in worship. Then they would take you to passages that only talked about one of those things. The practical outcome of that is that you are teaching people that the Bible clearly means what it does not say. That seems a little confusing.
Churches that teach the Bible does not mean what it does say. Hearing a lot of that in churches discussing women's role. Lots of teaching about male leadership in the Bible. Very confusing when churches try to explain that what you read is not what God meant.
And I got very excited when lots of preachers began to use the title Minister of the Word. I thought that meant they were hired to teach the Bible. From the pulpit, in classes, in homes. That sounds like a church that is committed to Scripture. But I sometimes hear that defined as meaning the minister of interpreting the Word. If not careful, you would begin to think the average member cannot be trusted to figure out for themselves what God means. Not sure that is a Bible church.
Hard things to wrestle with.
But of this I am confident. I want to be part of a church that tells me this about the Bible. Read it. Study it. Memorize it. Discuss it. Teach it. And realize some things are difficult to understand. And we may even agree to disagree on some things.
But I do not want to be part of a church that tells me I cannot understand the Bible unless it is interpreted for me. And don't tell me it says what is not there. And do not tell me what it says is not at all what it means.
Because it may just be that Bible really does say what it means. And means what it says.
