@Dale, I have no problem with the Christian’s Confidence.
My concern, (and it need not be shared by everyone, but I wish someone from your “side” would agree that it is or at least could be a valid concern) is that some people think that they are Christians not because they believe in Jesus Christ, Who the Bible says is the Word of God, but because they believe in the Bible, which is the Book of God or even the word of God, but is not God. It is my observation after talking to YEC Christians that this is a real issue.
Even from the outside that has often seemed to be the case from my perspective. And I’ve heard many here share that same concern, though more often referred to as biblicism.
The New Testament is full of severe warnings to test yourself against scripture to see if you really are one of Father’s children. C.H. Spurgeon calls any in the church who is not a believer, but claims to be, a ‘mere professor’ – my term is ‘believist’. There were those even in the early church.
AMEN, Sister. The best way to overcome poor theology is with good theology and we need to begin where we are at BioLogos, particularly when BioLogos has the Word/Jesus in its name. The message is Jesus Christ is the Word, not the Bible is not the Word. The message should be the same as the John 1 that the universe was created by God the Father through the Logos, rather than in 6 days de novo.
Jesus Himself said that neither He or the Father rested on the sixth day. They continue to create the universe to this day. John 5:18 Version:1.0 John 5:17-18 (NIV2011)
17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”
18 For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
I apologize for using Johannine theology. The capitalization of Father is in the NIV text.
Nothin wrong with that. John’s gospel is my favourite of the four, and I adore 1 John. If I gave them impression his theology was off-limits earlier in this thread then I sincerely and humbly apologise. Without reopening old wounds, what I took issue with was reading John’s use of a word into Paul’s use of a word. Again, sorry if I didn’t make that clear Roger. Go in peace, brother, to live and quote from John!
Of course, but those of us who understand islam know that the word of God has a different meaning. in Christianity we believe scripture is the inspired word of God. other religions believe the text is dictated by their god. It is different,.
I work for an international Evangelical organization. I’m pretty confident I regularly interact with a far more diverse group of Christians than you do on a regular basis. I don’t know where you get the insular environment thing. Just this week I have heard people from Canada, the Netherlands, Britain, Ghana, Honduras, and Peru all refer to the Word of God, meaning the Bible. No one objected or misunderstood.
And once again, you have done nothing to show that calling the Bible the Word of God is actually causing damage or that any representative contingent of Christianity has identified this as a problem. It is a bare assertion.
If you can’t or won’t see that declaring writings of people, writings which have minor errors, the “Word of God,” a name the writings do not call themselves, sets people up for a potential crisis of faith when they find what they thought was the “Word of God” is imperfect, then I can’t convince you.
Cobra, you mean you are saying, if I understand you in the right way, that we have to be careful as Christians, to call our scripture the “Word of God” and act like if it means the words in the OT and NT are quite, literally, verbatim words from the mouth of God. Is that what you mean? I think you are right, if so, because in Islam, the qu’ran is claim to be dictation from allah to mohammad, so we need to make sure to differentiate God inspired and God dictated.
Of course, that does not mean it is wrong as a Christian to say it is the Word of God what is in the Bible, OT and NT. You just have to be careful the meaning. I think Christy is doing nothing wrong by calling the Bible word of God.