Saturday, April 27, 2013

The Word of God




For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

What is the word of God?  When I think of the word of God I think of The Bible.  Not that words of God cannot come from people, etc.  It's just that if someone brings you a word from God you should make sure it doesn't go against clearly revealed words from God in the Bible. 
Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.  Acts 17:11

Last weekend during our devotions Joelle picked the story of Noah to read out of the Bible Story book you see above.  In the story, after all the animals and Noah's family have entered the ark, God closes the door.  I was pretty sure that even in a Bible God does actually close the door.  Joelle had brought her Bible so I told her I thought we should look it up.  I explained to her that not everything written in a story book, even a story book of Bible stories, can necessarily be counted on to be true.  So we looked it up.

The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.  Genesis 7:16

This week I have been reading Matthew 5:13-16
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

I have been reading it in various translations.  Today I ended with The Message by Eugene Peterson.  I actually like Eugene Peterson.  I have read some of his books.  I even like The Message as a commentary on The Bible.  But I sure do not believe it is a translation.
“Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage. “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.
 Thus ends my morning thoughts on the power of scripture, searching the scriptures to see if things are true, what constitutes scripture, and teaching kids to question what they read.  Simple approach from a simple person.
 


2 comments:

  1. Lately I've been reminiscing about the days of old, when I hung out with a bunch of people who loved to study the Scriptures together. We were a small clan that wanted to know as much as we could about what some people call the "metanarrative" of God's activity to save fallen humankind. (the Bible)
    Those were great times! I could hang out with these folks and talk about this stuff for hours, only to go home and read about the same stuff for more hours. I (we) couldn't get enough of it!
    Now ... well I guess all good things must come to an end. Now ... it seems rare to get folks to want to discuss the things of God - as it's found in the Scriptures that is. It almost seems like the farther we can stay away from "Bible Study" the better the likelihood of a successful encounter with other Christians. There's something weird about that.

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  2. Maybe we should open our home for one?

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