like a fire

An interesting post over at Think Christian has me wondering about the question. Through my time in ministry, I probably would have chuckled at this question. Is the Bible sufficient for us? Is it enough to teach us all that we need to know about God and our faith in him? Sure, why would you ask.

Lately, I have been getting some questions from people hat makes me wonder. I don’t think I ever would have said that the Bible is all we need in life, apart from God. In fact, I’m not sure you can separate the two. But I am convinced that God didn’t create us to desiminate his Word apart from a relationship with him or each other. I think about Jesus leaving and not saying, pass out Bibles where ever you go and make sure people know how to read it and understand it correctly. Instead, he said, go and make disciples teaching them to obey all that I have comanded you.

I guess you could make a case that the Bible is the textbook we teach from, but it has very little to do with how we teach. I wish it were sometimes, because I have sat under some really awful teaching.

Somewhere in history, it seems like the church got the idea that if we could just teach the Bible prefectly, if everyone thought correctly and had good doctrine, then we would all act a lot better. The world wouldn’t have the problems it does now. To me, that is not only wrong, but borders on spiritual abuse.

Who, after reading the Bible and undertstanding what is says, could easily (or more easily) leave their idols behind? Does perfect knowledge (something we don’t have) lead to perfect obedience (something we won’t have in this life)? Tell that to a porn addict who is already full of shame and knows that what he does is wrong. Tell that to a teen girl who hates her body and only feels good when she is chronically underweight or who cuts herself to fell better.

I would say that, no, tha Bible apart form God is definitely not enough. Why would anyone want it to be?