Appropriate reliance on scripture

Even if the Bible is 100% correct, it is far from being 100% complete. So if you attempt to interpolate the truth about the world and all that is in it using the Bible as your only guide, don't you end up like the blind men who define the elephant from very correct but highly limited perspectives?

One of my problems with turning to the Bible to explain or rationalize the challenges of existence is that it is a logical trap.

A) You have to buy the premise of its infallibility and self-consistency for the arguement to hold yet no one interpretation is universal and there are many questions about translation, context, etc. that dillute this application.

B) Applications out of context or with different interpretations leads to erroneous conclusions (It's not the Bible's fault if someone gets it wrong). In this forum I have seen scriptural arguements for and against reliance on tradition as a source of truth.

C) By treating the Bible as God's ONLY revealed truth, don't you negate all other sources of evidence God provided. Putting biblical truths above other more obvious and reasonable sources.

D) If you view the Bible as the place to turn for answers, are't you actually turning away from God? It is easier to read than to practice the more mystical side of religion (prayer, fasting, ritual feet washing).

E) Finally, isn't deification of the Bible simply another form of Idolatry? Are we treating scripture as a God?

Please don't mistake my tone as judgemental. I am impressed by the reasoning of many of those who are quoting scripture, but am having a hard time with the logic of scripture as evidence. In seveal cases I have seen contradicting arguements that are equally scriptually based.

Hi Mike.

Why do you say it is not 100% complete?

Regarding the deification of the bible, certainly if anyone were to do that it would be idolatry. However I do not know of anyone who does that. Just simply relying of the Bible for answers regarding God and the Christian way, is not to deify the Bible.

Putting the Bible above other sources of information about God is simply because it is the most obvious and reasonable source we have regarding God. The Bible claims to be the word of God. Either it is or it is not. That is a question each person must decide for themselves. However if it is the word of God, then it needs to be read and followed.

Turning to the Bible is not necessarily turning away from God. In fact I would say quite the opposite. However if a person were to neglect prayer etc, then they would not be living the Christian life, and not following God and what the Bible tells a person to do.

Yes, sometimes people can give contradictory arguements that are both based on scripture. However only one can be correct. (at most, after all, both might be wrong!) It is the responcibility of each person to examine both sides and compare them to what the Bible says completely about that subject. Too many times people just take sections of the Bible that seem to support their beliefs without bothering to look at the context or what the rest of the Bible says. If all Bible references to a particular subject are looked at, then it becomes very clear what the meaning is.

Best wishes,

Maurice

Well Brien, and Paul T., why don't either of you comment on Paul's instruction to uphold tradition and oral teachings. I gave several quotes where Paul does that, and there are more. Also, the very earliest Christian writings underline Paul's demand.

"Even if the Bible is 100% correct"

As a factual matter, it is not possible for the Bible to be 100% correct. The gospels do not even agree amongst themselves upon as fundamental a fact as Jesus' geneaology or the number of generations from Kind David to him. Clearly there are errors present.

There are mutual conflicts in principle between various books of course, too. Many quote the apostle Paul to illustrate the importance of grace over the virtue of one's works in life, which puts him at odds with the writings of other disciples where it is shown in no uncertain terms that one's works in life do matter when one is ultimately judged.

By treating the Bible as God's only known truth one is in fact putting a great deal of faith in a group of men (authors of the various books), not God per se.