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11.23.2005

Only the oceanic Word of God can cure shallowness



Yes, only the oceanic Word of God can cure shallowness...

The Bible doesn't give up its influence and mysteries and understanding promiscuously. One thing that happens to scholars and readers of the Bible who take a similar intellectual approach is they will think they've 'gotten the measure' of the Great Book when they've scanned each part to some extent (the one's who actually do this), then they fall into the trap of thinking that is all there is in the Bible.

The Bible is not a book like any other book one can hold and read. The Bible contains the living 'oracles' of God. (Calvin states somewhere in his commentaries that he prefers to use the word 'oracles' of God rather than merely 'word' of God because the Bible contains words that are so much more than mere words. It contains living language. The oracles of God Himself.)

But one can come to a point where the Bible seems a stale book. Like something you've 'covered' already. Something - though you wouldn't put it like this to yourself - that has nothing more to give you. So you think it's OK to just read theology now. You've 'got' the Bible down. But that is a vain mistake. The Bible is alive and always has more to deliver. You, though, have to put effort (zeal) into getting more of what it delivers.

And you have to realize that you can't filter it through vanity and worldly pride and self-will. You have to be passive to it. Conquer it, yes, but set aside 'what you know' when you go to the Bible anew. What you know is not all that is there.

Really it comes down to this: do you see the Bible as being an influence that is above you, or do you see it as something that your intellect has focused on and measured and weighed and put in its place? Do you continually think of commentaries you've read when you read a passage? Or do you take in what you read in the Bible as if seeing it for the first time? Do you respect the Bible as something that is above you? Your past understanding won't go away. Foundational biblical doctrine once found doesn't change either. That's not the subject here.

The Bible will be stale the more you read it complete, but that is because it requires more effort the more you read it. It requires more focus and meditating and pondering on each part of it, and more thinking in terms of the whole of it. It requires engaging it that involves more time and effort. The Bible is not stale when you pause over a verse and passage and chapter and meditate on it. Draw it into mind away from the page...

3 Comments:

Blogger c.t. said...

You're really hamstringing my whole operation by being nice to me. I thrive on people kicking, screaming, and throwing things at me.

Here's my take on you (and I am a genius): I suspect like most RCs you havn't really ever come to the Bible and read it complete (i.e. read it in a way to really see what is going on there, and that includes the fact that you havn't gotten to a point in your life where, for whatever reason, you've had a motivation to do that). And what I also mean by that is I sense a blithe-personality behind your posts regarding the seriousness of the Faith and the Word of God and the general terror of the situation regarding heaven and hell.

You have positive - and rare - aspects to your personality and all that...but-

What am I saying?

The most important thing is regeneration by the Word and the Spirit. If you have that then you're able to see the truth and accept the truth. RC doctrine is divorced from the truth (and so is liberal Protestant and neo-orthodox 'Reformed' and etc., etc., etc.). So, you're divorced from the truth. And you don't seem to think it's such a big deal.

On another subject: your gallant defense of me here and elsewhere is awkward because what I do is not based on being accepted. I challenge the fact that the world is made part and parcel of mainstream Christianity, and I challenge the fact that man-fearing is valued more highly than the fear of God in mainstream Christian environments. They have no defense against this (most of them don't even understand it) but they do sense they are being shown up, and Reformed types - especially apologist types - are not used to that feeling of being shown up and being told they are off-the-mark regarding something having to do with the faith and it being true. It leaves them somewhat stunned and confused and I give them no line of retreat, so they become like the people they are usually debating and just 'say anything'. I.e. suddenly words don't have to mean much for them. But all that put together makes them feel very uneasy and unsure about themselves and what they are doing. So I will never - never - be 'accepted' by the mainstream. I can only give them shocks. I would be failing if they weren't banning me...

November 24, 2005 at 12:04 AM  
Blogger c.t. said...

People in the Village of Morality (centuriOn) value 'acceptable language' over truth. That's one of the reasons they are in the Village of Morality and not on the Way.

As I've said: part of man-fearing is the fear of language. You can choose to not use fourletterword language and still NOT fear language, but you can't care if others use fourletterword language. You just can't. You miss everything. Not just the bad language but influences that are currently above and beyond you. When you're on the Way there will be times when you have to engage things that you won't understand or that will test your independence of mind by having a 'front' designed to put off the moralisers.

On your question about going away or staying or whatever: just be yourself. That's the best thing. It's best when everybody is their self and let the chips fall where they may. I'd never ask anybody to go away. If I had one visitor or 20,000.

On what I wrote about centuriOn brushing you off. Using Bunyan's language to see these types it's not surprising that they act that way. It's common for people in the Village of Morality to be very exacting who they deem to be worth hanging around in their village. And it's also not surprising they are easy to upset. The same with the Slough of Despond despondents. They get annoyed if their whining is not validated by all who are around them...

November 25, 2005 at 11:58 PM  
Blogger c.t. said...

Really, the only reason I havn't hammered you is you don't expose enough of your 'off-the-markness'.

In your pleasant approach you don't talk about your beliefs or similar things.

Perhaps as a Roman Catholic you are just intrigued at seeing me go after other Protestants...

November 26, 2005 at 3:51 AM  

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