"The Bible is more important than Jesus Christ"

[chrysologus400]

I meant to post this a while ago but have been pretty busy. I'm still trying to figure out how to balance 15 hours of school, 5 hours of research, 5 hours of class, and homework (significant amounts of reading, plus essays). That may sound easy to many of you, but you have to remember that I'm lazy and sleep a lot. Maybe red_affection can give me some pointers

Comments

[panache62]

I think what she wrote was pretty accurate and have little to add, but two experiences come to mind to mention.

One, I remember in high school that a big pet peeve I had (mostly from the really charismatic summer camp I went to every summer) was when a speaker made a HUGE deal about reading your Bible and bringing your Bible to chapel, but would go on to read one verse as a basis for an entire sermon. Often a small portion from the verse (for example, the word "go") would be taken completely out of context to support whatever was being addressed, like speaking in tongues or evangelization (not that those are wrong, but they need to be supported accurately.)

I also remember a twenty-something youth group helper who gave a sermon to our youth group which included a spiel about the Bible during which he threw his Bible across the room to demonstrate that we don't worship the Bible. I think we were all pretty shocked, but I remember also thinking he was right...we really don't worship the Bible....and I was glad he gave me that to

[panache62]

I do want to say, though, that I think this Pastor Thompson's statement about the bible being more important than jesus is not widely held by semi-fundamentalist churches, like the one I grew up in.

[chrysologus400]

And even Pastor Thompson, the author indicated, would probably want to qualify his statement, which was probably made during a high-emotion sermon.

On a related note, I once read an article in a Catholic apologetics magazine that compared the way some Evangelicals talk about the Bible to the way some Catholic theologians used to speak about the Virgin Mary. So much emphasis, and even exaggeration, is used to make the point about how important the Bible (or Mary) is, that, if taken strictly literally, the speaker appears to be elevating the Bible (or Mary) to a status above Jesus, although that is not his or her intention.

[ofadoubt]

someone recently said that paul ruined christianity by making it into a religion. that's how i felt toward the end of being in a fundamentalist congregation

[holyoffice]

Pastor Thompson once declared that the Bible is more important than Jesus Christ...

Yikes.

I think the Church Father known as Pseudo-Macarius once made the point that the grace of God was inscribed on the hearts of believers, so that even if people were illiterate, they didn't have to worry about being outside the Christian faith just because they couldn't read the Bible.

Personally, bibliolatry is a hard error to comprehend, because I can never separate the Bible from the historic process that led to its collection in its present form. It depends on taking the Bible completely out of context, and regarding it almost the way Muslims regard the Koran.

But if a Christian group abandons the sacraments, apostolic succession, and Holy Tradition, what else do they have? They pretty much have to make the Bible a sort of idol.

yikes

[panache62]

But if a Christian group abandons the sacraments, apostolic succession, and Holy Tradition, what else do they have? They pretty much have to make the Bible a sort of idol.

I'm sure you don't mean this, but it sounds like you're implying that the sacraments, etc were idols that they're now replacing with the Bible...

Re: yikes

[holyoffice]

I see what you mean, but you're right; I wasn't trying to suggest the sacraments, etc. are idols. I just meant that in the absence of a variety of elements of Christian belief, a single isolated element (in this case, the Bible) will assume a disproportionate influence.