When I was little, my parents would send me and my brother down to Florida to visit my grandmother for a few weeks during the summer. Eventually, Grandma turned these into little solo adventures she would call “The Great Adventure.” Before you say, “Aww, that’s so sweet!” The great adventure typically consisted of us driving around listening to Rush Limbaugh and being indoctrinated with Republican propaganda about the Clinton Affair, but she had good intentions, I suppose.
I love the fact that you correctly point out that the Bible is not the Word of God which we worship. For me the Bible is the written word.. written by people using their own understandings and experiences which in turn color what they see and write. The Bible is not history as we in this age understand history. The written word along with the Holy Spirit points me to the Living Word just as John the Baptist did in today’s reading. I do take a point of difference with you on the author of John the gospel and John of Patmos who so cleverly wrote the book of Revelation. Most scholars I have seen in main line Protestant and Roman backgrounds point out the name John was familiar and widely used. We do not know that the author of the gospel (and that was probably written by the community who followed John) and the man who wrote Revelation was the same person. Most likely they are not the same. For me that helps not to have to hold the idea that they are the same. That is one less thing I have to worry about. If they are the same that is fine, but if somehow they are found to be different, then nothing changes for me. Again, the written word, the Bible is not what or who I worship. I take the Bible very seriously, but it is not God. Thank you for pointing that out!
The most ridiculous thing I ever heard was a Baptist preacher's sermon based on the KJV English, in which he screamed for a good 20 minutes about the use of a comma in a verse as God-ordained and our salvation depended upon it. No reference to the original language of the text to explain words and phrases. As his spittle flew forth, I tried to behave, as I was a guest of a school friend; when it was over and my friend asked me if I had "received the message" I couldn't think of one polite thing to say.
This has been one of my favorites. I grew in the belief that the bible was more a book of philosophy. A book of stories to teach us lessons. There was some parts that did emphasize that Jesus was the Word, not that a book put together by men was the Word. Examples given were how much the bible has changed, lack of proper interpretation of original languages, etc.
The last paragraph of this just gives me chills. thank you!
I love the fact that you correctly point out that the Bible is not the Word of God which we worship. For me the Bible is the written word.. written by people using their own understandings and experiences which in turn color what they see and write. The Bible is not history as we in this age understand history. The written word along with the Holy Spirit points me to the Living Word just as John the Baptist did in today’s reading. I do take a point of difference with you on the author of John the gospel and John of Patmos who so cleverly wrote the book of Revelation. Most scholars I have seen in main line Protestant and Roman backgrounds point out the name John was familiar and widely used. We do not know that the author of the gospel (and that was probably written by the community who followed John) and the man who wrote Revelation was the same person. Most likely they are not the same. For me that helps not to have to hold the idea that they are the same. That is one less thing I have to worry about. If they are the same that is fine, but if somehow they are found to be different, then nothing changes for me. Again, the written word, the Bible is not what or who I worship. I take the Bible very seriously, but it is not God. Thank you for pointing that out!
The most ridiculous thing I ever heard was a Baptist preacher's sermon based on the KJV English, in which he screamed for a good 20 minutes about the use of a comma in a verse as God-ordained and our salvation depended upon it. No reference to the original language of the text to explain words and phrases. As his spittle flew forth, I tried to behave, as I was a guest of a school friend; when it was over and my friend asked me if I had "received the message" I couldn't think of one polite thing to say.
This has been one of my favorites. I grew in the belief that the bible was more a book of philosophy. A book of stories to teach us lessons. There was some parts that did emphasize that Jesus was the Word, not that a book put together by men was the Word. Examples given were how much the bible has changed, lack of proper interpretation of original languages, etc.