Before I get into any religious mumblings that I have to offer at the moment a couple of things.
#1 - I found out that I was sending all my resumes to potential employers for the past 2 MONTHS on Microsoft Works. Evidently that is not compatible with Microsoft Word and now I hate Microsoft.
#2 - the Galluch sent me to this site…yes..askaninja.blogspot.com. Hysterical
Now on to stuff…
I was mired in a deep conversation with my friend CrochetQueen last night about one of my continuing worries about the current Christian culture. There is, or seems to be, a luxurious amount of time spent on so called “Christian” books, and yet the Bible more often than not seems to be placed ever frequently to the back of the bookshelf.
More specifically a book will come around every couple of months and the Christian community will latch onto it as if it’s a life raft believing anything it might say as doctrine. People will run around extolling the virtues of the points made. They will adjust their lives for a quick fix, hoping that this ONE gave them what they need to fulfill some empty hole or fix some complicated problem.
I’m not saying that these books are bad. I’m inclined to think that sometimes they provide a gateway to the Bible that some people need. But there are questions we have to ask. Paul says in Acts 20:29-31 “..know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard!”
So my challenge is BE ON YOUR GUARD. Ask yourself important questions like -Who are these people that write these books? Do you know them? Do you know their spiritual condition? What does the Bible have to say about what they are saying? Did you check their references or just believe what they wrote because it sounds right? What groups are they affiliated with? Don’t just take the word of your friend Sally, check it out for yourself.
I am, by nature, fairly optimistic (at least I think I am). I know that good intentions are all abounding (of course we do know where good intentions lead don’t we?) in the church realm and with that brings a lot of caution. In Matthew 7: 24 jesus says
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the ROCK. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house, and it fell with a great crash”
The rock, obviously referring to his word (ie the Bible if you do so believe it is the Word of God), is the foundation to weather any storm and any crisis. It’s a wonder sometimes how people will build their foundation on sand (of which might be other doctrinal books), those smallish specks that might have been rock at one time but are so watered down by author‘s own opinions and far reaching emotional theology that it can‘t support you in those times of pain. It’s like going to dinner and eating the plate rather than the steak that might be on it.
That’s my fear. When a storm in life comes that those that have spent much more of their reading time in these books rather than the Bible don’t know where to go. They’ve built up a foundation on someone else’s words and not God’s. A problem that they might have had and thought licked because PHD joe’s book said they would if they said a certain prayer over and over comes back and suddenly their entire faith washes away because they didn’t investigate the truth IN the truth of God’s Word. (I actually have known this as happening. People burdened by religious tradition and hearsay but not knowing what the Word says itself, causing them to move away from Christianity all together). In Peter 3:15, Peter says “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear…”
That defense is made up of answering questions and how can we do that when we’ve spent our time somewhere else besides the word of God?
The Bible is this wondrous collection of books from thousands of years with many different eyes and hands doing God’s work. There was purpose to the pen in each sentence. Breath that rose and expelled while jotting down a Holy inspired paragraph. Can we say the same about any particular bestseller at the moment? We that are Christians and believe that the Bible is true need to build our foundation there, not in some quasi religious text that may or may not have a particular point.
These books may very well be okay, but will they ever be divine? They could be pieces of bread, but we should never lose site of where these breadcrumbs should lead us, not to more breadcrumbs but to the actual feast!
“And when you turn from the New Testament to modern scholars, remember that you go among them as a sheep among wolves. Naturalistic assumptions, beggings of the question such as that which I noted on the first page of this book, will meet you on every side -even from the pens of clergymen” Miracles by C.S. Lewis
You may not know who C.S. is. You may not trust him. But you should look into it. Investigate those people that you so blindly read. Find out what THEY believe. Jot questions down that you might have and check them against the Bible, you might be surprised what you find, or even more than that, you could very well improve your knowledge of the Bible.
I wrote this because I have, what I affectionately refer to as “spiritual hypochondria”. If there is a problem discussed, I have it, a prophesy said, well then it must have been for me, never mind that I’m not female (whaaa?). I understand that I’m a bit paranoid, but the only way to counteract some of the good and bad things that I hear and read is to gauge them against the Bible which I deem, in my own life, to be trustworthy.
Yeah, this was long.
