Trying to simply follow the Bible
Rusty Peterman, reflecting on some thoughts from Mike Cope, writes briefly on the challenges of "just following the Bible":
We get too much of our interpretation of the Bible from someone else, rather than reading the Bible and letting God do his work in us. No person, in whom God has placed the Holy Spirit, should settle for "already chewed" food. We don't nourish our physical bodies by letting others do the chewing. Why do we opt to feed our souls this way?Amen. Still, as the post makes clear, interpretation is not simply an interaction between the believer and God--it's also a community process.
posted by Milton Stanley at 5:52 PM
2 Comments:
I do think we would all be better off if we did rely on the Bible itself more. This may just be my problem, but in my past I used to read many books for Christians. Whenever I would come to a scripture reference, I would quickly skim over the scripture to get to what the author was saying about it!!! NOT good. But, as I said, that may just be my problem. I have heard others say that the more one reads his Bible, the more he wants to read it, and I find that to be very true.
I agree about the more I read the Bible the more I want to (and, I will admit, I still sometimes skim over the Bible passages, particularly in blog posts, to get to what the author is saying. You're right-probably better not to).
We need to rely on the Bible to shape our faith and practice, but it helps to have the community of saints to help us understand what it means. The world is full of whole groups of people who've tried to "just go by the Bible," but, by ignoring the wisdom of those who have gone before, they've ended up with some really screwball interpretations.
Thanks, by the way, for interacting with the post.
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