[vc_row el_class=”olive-branch-bg-r”][vc_column][vc_column_text]When my family moved to a new area about five years ago, we started looking for churches to attend. Besides visiting a church, the best way to gain a feel for a church is to visit their website. Specifically, their About Us page.<\/p>\n

Since examining church websites, I\u2019ve noticed some pretty strange beliefs out there. Many churches have a list of beliefs that are important to them. What is the first belief on many church websites?[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_section el_class=”post-quote”][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1566306295282{background-image: url(https:\/\/ravenfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/0c0caab3a0b06f49d1f4e4069f7acecc-e1562958862845.jpg?id=19638) !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text css_animation=”none” el_class=”quote”]… when we elevate the Bible above God, it blocks us from our only access to eternal life.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]The Bible.<\/p>\n

One church begins its list of beliefs like this:<\/p>\n

\n
1. The Authority of Scripture<\/li>\n
2. The Nature of God<\/li>\n
3. Jesus, God\u2019s Son<\/li>\n
4. The Holy Spirit<\/li>\n
5. Salvation<\/li>\n
6. Nature of Man (Sorry, women. You apparently don\u2019t have nature \u2026 but if you read the description, you might decide that\u2019s a good thing.)<\/li>\n
7. The Role of the Church<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

   Now, those are all important aspects of Christianity, and I don\u2019t mean to pick on fellow Christians, but the order tells us what\u2019s wrong with American Christianity.<\/p>\n

   We have elevated the Bible above God. It\u2019s time we stop that form of idolatry. Bibliolatry has no place in Christianity. But, unfortunately, the Bible has become another god, above the Trinity, above Jesus, above the Holy Spirit[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_empty_space height=”24px”][vc_single_image image=”20530″ img_size=”large” alignment=”right”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_section][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1566393555121{background-color: #f6ebdf !important;}” el_class=”optin”][vc_column][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”][\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”20528″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]I appreciate the passion that many \u201cBible believing\u201d churches have. That passion is a good thing, but it\u2019s misdirected. Christians shouldn\u2019t \u201cbelieve\u201d in the Bible. We are not Biblians<\/em>. We are Christians<\/em>.<\/p>\n

   Don\u2019t get me wrong. I love the Bible. It\u2019s an important book. But it\u2019s not a member of the Trinity. It deserves to be respected, but it shouldn\u2019t be elevated above God.<\/p>\n

   \u201cBible believing churches\u201d tend to think that<\/a> \u201cthe Bible is the very Word of God \u2013 supernaturally inspired in every word and absolutely free from error in the original documents. God\u2019s word is the final authority in all that it says. Therefore, it must be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises.\u201d<\/p>\n

   But the Bible doesn\u2019t work that way. It contains within itself many disagreements about the nature of God and even about how events unfolded. For example, did Noah take two of every animal on board his ship, as Genesis 6<\/a> claims, or did he take seven of every animal, as Genesis 7<\/a> claims? Does God require sacrifice, as Leviticus<\/a> suggests, or does God require mercy and not<\/em> sacrifice, as the prophet Hosea<\/a> claims?[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_column_text]Does God punish children for their parents\u2019 mistakes, as Exodus<\/a> claims, or is each generation responsible for itself, as the prophets Ezekiel<\/a> and Jeremiah<\/a> state? Did Jesus overturn the tables in the Temple at the end of his ministry, as the synoptic Gospels claim<\/a>, or did he do it at the beginning of his ministry, as the Gospel of John<\/a> claims?<\/p>\n

   Those who believe in the Bible\u2019s inerrancy will do all kinds of interpretive gymnastics to put the round peg of the Bible into the square hole of inerrancy, but it just doesn\u2019t fit. That\u2019s because it\u2019s not meant to fit.<\/p>\n

   The Bible is a document written by human beings who tried to recognize what God was doing in their lives. But it\u2019s not inerrant. Interestingly, if the Bible were inerrant you would think it would tell us. It simply doesn\u2019t use those terms. The Bible never says, \u201cHi! I\u2019m the Bible. I\u2019m the inerrant Word of God. Believe in me!\u201d<\/p>\n

   There are disagreements that run throughout the Bible. Those disagreements are one of the things that I love about the Bible! The Bible models for us how to wrestle with God and ask questions about faith.<\/p>\n

   The Bible contains human testimony<\/em> about how God works in the world, but it is not God\u2019s inerrant Word. The Bible points beyond itself to God, and in the New Testament, to the God revealed in Jesus. The Bible even claims that Jesus is the Word of God, not the Bible itself.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row el_class=”olive-branch-bg-l”][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_column_text]Jesus warned people\u00a0<\/a>about elevating the Bible above himself. \u201cYou search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life.\u201d<\/p>\n

   Jesus claimed that the scriptures are limited. You cannot have eternal life by believing in the Bible. In fact, when we elevate the Bible above God, it blocks us from our only access to eternal life.<\/p>\n

   The Bible is important, but we are not Biblians. We are Christians, called to follow Jesus.<\/p>\n

   That\u2019s why you should run from \u201cBible believing churches.\u201d Churches aren\u2019t meant to believe in the Bible. They are meant to believe in the God revealed through Jesus.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

   Pastor Adam Ericksen exposes a common misconception about the Bible’s authority and defines what it truly means to be a Christian.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20529,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4328,14],"tags":[404,73,329,51],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n