Comments on: Medium & the Bible

By: Gil

Gil — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 15:00:19 +0000

Interesting thoughts Andrew (I knew you were a heretic). If the church was responsible for assembling our bibles then surely we have to have more faith than we do in the ‘authority’ of the community. Saying ‘the bible alone’ is circular because you have to ask where the bible came from and the bible’s authority is dependent on the church’s prior authority.

I still have trouble equating the message of the bible with ‘any other message’. Isn’t it different? Isn’t its authority unique? I think its value is its consistency. Christians throughout the centuries have been reading the same book and allowing it to tell them who they are and what they should live like. It’s objectivity challenges our subjectivity (a danger equally present with individual interpretations as you point out).

The bible is ‘fixed’ and so it challenges us in our constant temptation to assume that our problems are unique and that our issues are central. We read it together because we realize that, left to our own, we will find exactly what we want to find when we read it.

Very thought-provoking post (for a heretic).

By: Andrew Bergen

Andrew Bergen — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 12:52:51 +0000

Thank you for raising a very necessary thought for us from the evangelical heritage. I believe it is time for us as a church - probably specifically the Mennonite Brethren to seriously question our blind allegiance to “sola scriptura”. Maybe scripture is God’s preference in communicating with us and maybe it isn’t. However, scripture alone is a limited representation of God’s message. The authority of scripture rests only in its interpretation in a community of people called in his name. I would go so far as to risk heresy by saying that scripture alone (or any medium for that matter) has little or no authority. Jesus has given to the church the authority to bind and loose all things - not scripture. Community gives cultural relevance and accountability to the messages we hear. So, whatever message we hear, we must be very careful to bring those to the community (i.e. church) for interpretation and actualization. Otherwise, we run the risk of individual interpretations of scripture (and other mediums) which will be very divergent and perhaps destructive.

By: Clayton

Clayton — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 06:19:17 +0000

I’m not sure that there is a differnce in how He speaks to us, but I do know that there is a difference in how we percieive and receive the words from God. Perhaps it has to do with how seriously our mind is engaged in what we are taking in, and since a movie doesn’t take that much thought to take in the basic message, we probably aren’t putting a whole lot of thought into, or at least not as much as we might put into something we are reading. Also, since we have this perception that tv/movies are entertainment and books and the like are moreso educational or thought-provoking, we are probably more likely to take things that we read more seriously, based upon that bais. These are just thoughts…in progress perhaps. Thanks for making me think though.

By: Gil

Gil — Tue, 26 Jul 2005 19:49:05 +0000

So is there any difference between how God speaks through the bible and how he speaks through a movie or leaflet?

I like your last line about being aware of our shortcomings but not selling God short either.

By: Claytonhttp://claytoon.angeltowns.net

Claytonhttp://claytoon.angeltowns.net — Tue, 26 Jul 2005 19:34:37 +0000

I enjoy that last image that you shared there Gil, so very true. I fear when people say that there is only one way that God can communicate, or even when one says that one way is better. That places limitations on God that I don’t believe we have the right to do. We have to stop putting him in box. Perhaps the writen word of the Bible speaks best to us in western society, but as stated, what about people that cannot read? Perhaps we favour the writen Word because we fear that when a man speaks he could be in err.

Anyways, I think when it comes down to it, God will speak thru what He needs to so that we listen, whether that be thru the Word, a movie, a speaker on Sunday morning, or leaflet attached to our windshield…the only issue we need to consider is which will be more distracting from the message. While reading, I often get carried away with my imagination, movies destract me with flashy special effects and cg images, speakers can move me to tears with the right story (Biblical or not), and leaflets are just annoying most of the time. We just have to train ourselves to listen for that little voice in whatever form it might come, be aware of our short comings, but not sell God short of what He can do.

By: Clayton

Clayton — Tue, 26 Jul 2005 19:34:37 +0000