In several of my posts I have stated that over time, we have turned the bible into God. Some of the comments that have been made on Facebook have stated that we must take all of the bible as inspired by God and it’s either all truth, or it’s all a lie. With that in mind, I thought it would be good to explain what I mean by turning the bible into God and why we should be able to see the bible differently.
Where is Your Foundation?
Maybe we should start with this question. Where is your foundation? In Matthew Jesus is talking, and paraphrasing, says the following; we will be recognized by our fruit (which would be the fruits of the spirit, which remember, against these there is no law), …….
Galatians 5:22-23 – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
……. and he also says, the entire law and prophets can be summed up as, in everything we do, do to others what we would have them do to us …….
Matthew 7:12 – So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the prophets.
……. after saying this, we then see him say the following regarding building a foundation.
Matthew 7:24-25 – 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.
If your foundation is built upon the love of God, you can let God guide and direct you, without bias, to see what God wants you to see, even if some of that is different than what is written in the bible, and your foundation will never be shaken. If, however, your foundation is built upon the bible, if God leads you to see something that is different than what is written, that may have contained the cultural and personal bias of the writer, you will most likely be unable to see it because when you start taking a few bricks out, the whole foundation crumbles around you. When your foundation is built upon the rock, you can take a few bricks out and the foundation built on the love of God, still stands solid and secure.
It is interesting that the parts of the bible we typically don’t want to let go of deal with judgement and condemnation. The reason this is interesting is because judgement and condemnation have to do with the law. The only time in the bible we are told that something supersedes the law, or the law is summed up by, is loving God and loving others, exhibiting the fruits of the spirit, and doing to others what we would have them do to us. Why is it so hard for us to act like Jesus instead of wanting to be God?
The Irony of Human Beings Wanting to Be God
Why do we want to judge and condemn? Where do we think this will get us? Scripture is very clear about where this will get us.
Romans 2:1-3
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgement on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgement do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgement against those who do such things is based on truth. So, when you, a mere human being, pass judgement on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgement?
Herein lies the irony, when we want to judge and condemn others, we bring judgement on ourselves. Why would we ever want to do this? Wouldn’t it make much more sense to follow the parts of the bible that supersede judgment; love, fruit and the golden rule? If we would actually do this, we would be amazed at the transformation we would see in our world.
Do We Have to Have the Bible to Know God?
First, understand, I am not saying to totally disregard the bible. The bible has some very good things to say. I am simply saying, before you take the entire bible as the “inspired word of God,” open your mind to letting God give you discernment on this. Some people will say, if we don’t have the bible, how will we know God? Remember, we have not always had the bible, and even the bible says we are without excuse to know God.
Romans 1:19-20 – since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so people are without excuse.
We get to see God and experience God’s nature in everything God has made. From the smallest organisms to the largest universe, we can see God’s great power and collaboration in everything God has made. Without everything working together, in all of what God has created, everything would cease to exist. Everything, except God, is dependent on something else to exist in God’s creation. Understanding this gives us even more insight into the irony of human beings desiring to be God.
We Need to Open Our Mind
When we turn the bible into God, we can actually close God off to showing us anything different than what we read in the bible. When this happens, we can misinterpret what we call faith and let that keep us from searching the depth God intends for us. This can actually be one of the most limiting and dangerous things we can do because we close our mind to God.
What is Faith?
Hebrews 11:1 – Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
What is it we hope for? We hope for the love of God! When we examine the scriptures in Matthew and Galatians we looked at above, we see the what keeps us from condemnation and judgement is loving God and showing the same love (and fruit) to others that God has shown to us.
What is the assurance of what we do not see? When we examine the scripture in Romans 1 we looked at above, we see the assurance of God’s existence, both visible and invisible qualities, are a continual state of “being made known to us”, since the beginning of time, in everything God has created.
So, faith is being confident in the love God has for us and the assurance that God is continually being made known to us through everything God has created. Understanding this, closing our mind and saying, “I accept this on faith,” is actually not faith at all. Opening our minds to all the great mysteries God will show us, is not only one of the greatest shows of faith we can have, but we can also do it with confidence knowing nothing can shake the foundation we have in the love of God.
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