I just purchased a new drill/driver because the batteries for my old one are dead and outdated. The new one is the same brand and design, so I didn't spend a lot of time looking at the manual before I used it, although being the "rule follower" that I am, I did glance through the pages to make sure I wasn't missing anything.
Some people believe the Bible is the "owner's manual for life." I will admit I have been among those who think that way, but is that really what God wants?
We have the Bible because the enemy was infiltrating the Body of Christ with many false teachings during the first couple of centuries after The Resurrection. At that time, there had been a number of letters and writings floating around among believers, and the Church leaders attempted to filter out the bad ones and keep the good ones by creating the Bible. Intentions were good, but the results were mixed, in my opinion.
Surely, it is good to have a record of what happened in the past, and the Bible serves that purpose well. It tells us about Creation, the Fall, the Flood and the Patriarchs, and the source documents for those things are some of the only records we have available. The Bible also tells us about Jesus, those who predicted his coming, and what people did after they experienced Jesus when he walked around on earth. All of this is important stuff, and vital knowledge about God.
But the early New Covenant believers did not have the Bible. The Old Covenant was in the synagogues, but the New Covenant was only available through the Holy Spirit. The Gospels, Book of Acts and various letters had not been written, but God's Word spread like wildfire around the world by the power of the Holy Spirit. It was only later, after people were experiencing the Holy Spirit, that anything was written about what was going on. To put it another way, Jesus did not ascend to the Father and ask Him to send us the Bible. He asked Him to send the Holy Spirit.
Please do not stone me, and please do not accuse me of being a heretic. I absolutely love the Bible, and reading it has been the primary way I have learned about God and what He wants for me, but I don't really think it is the "owner's manual" we should be using. It is great for getting us started, but it is not adequate.
The Holy Spirit of God should be our "owner's manual." It is what Jesus had when he walked among us two thousand years ago, and it is the gift believers received when he ascended to the Father. A book is finite, and can only contain a certain number of words. God, on the other hand, is infinite, and he can, and will, give us far more, if we listen to him directly and follow where he leads us by His Spirit. But, we must go beyond the paper manual and plug into His "online help."
Actually, I think the Bible can get us into trouble. First, it is prone to interference by sinful men and deceiving spirits. We only have fragments of copies of the Bible's original source documents, and most people do not understand the original languages1. On top of that, the original documents were written by fallible human beings. Those who interpret the words and translate them into the plethora of versions we have today are fallible, too. Yes, God oversees all of this and has influenced what ultimately is in the various documents we call "The Bible," but the "god of this world" also has influence, and our Creator will test us to see who we really follow.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, I think the Bible often serves as a substitute Holy Spirit for those who do not actually have Him, or who are not hearing Him. People can, and do, read the Bible and get things out of it without actually having a spiritual connection with God, our Creator. Deceiving spirits will use the legitimacy of the Bible to lead people into thinking they are hearing from God when they are not. The Bible gets misused all of the time. How often have you heard someone claim something is good or true just because it is in the Bible?
Ezekiel 4:9
Bread. And Better!™
Ezekiel 4:9 products are crafted in the likeness of the Holy Scripture verse Ezekiel 4:9 to ensure unrivaled honest nutrition and pure, delicious flavors.
"Take also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils and millet, and spelt and put them in one vessel…" Ezekiel 4:9
It’s this special, unique combination of 6 grains and legumes that harvests benefits beyond what we normally expect from our breads, pastas, cereals, and other foods.
But, what is the actual context of Ezekiel 4:9? Is this really a "good thing?" Please take a few moments to read Ezekiel 4, in its entirety, and then decide if this kind of bread is really what God thinks is best for us.
The Food for Life folks also claim we should be eating what God told Adam to eat in Genesis 1:29, which would be fine, if that was the last word God gave us about the subject, but it is not. For example, when Noah came out of the ark, God told him to eat animals, as well as green plants (Genesis 9:3), but I don't see that verse quoted here. That's probably because the Food for Life people promote Veganism, but that's a different topic for a different day.
The point is, the Bible can be misused, misinterpreted and used by the darkness to deceive. We need the Holy Spirit to truly understand it and use it properly, and if we have a healthy relationship with Him, we can move beyond the Bible, to understand far more and do far more than we can if we remain with our noses stuck in a book. Holy Spirit will tell us where to go, what to do, who to befriend, and who to move away from. He will tell us things a two-thousand-year-old book cannot tell us -- how to live our lives minute by minute. He will guide us like he did the first disciples.
Again, please do not stone me, and please do not accuse me of being a heretic. If you find what I have said disturbing, or in error, please take it to your prayer closet and discuss these things with God. You should always do that. We need to always test the spirits, those of others as well as our own. Satan is crafty. He lies, cheats, steals, kills and destroys. Jesus has come to give life, and give it abundantly. To have life, we must be with the Lifegiver, and He has not been chased into a book.
Come, Lord Jesus and give us true understanding, so that we may follow you, and you alone, in order to glorify your Name!
All glory to God!!!
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UPDATE, February 14, 2022...
1 I was recently led to look up the Aramaic language on the Internet, and I found the "Jesus Spoke in Aramaic" website. It turns out Aramaic was spoken by the common people in Jesus' time, and it is very likely He spoke Aramaic. The case can also be made that Aramaic was the original language of the New Testament writings, and they were translated into Greek to reach a wider audience. This website looks fascinating, and I may spend some time examining it.
UPDATE, August 20, 2022...
Here is a good example of someone using the Bible to justify their opinions.... in my opinion, of course! 😉
You can read the article at the website, but in case it disappears from the Internet, I am quoting it here in its entirety so I can critique it, below...
July 5, 2016
Why Pastors, Elders, & Husbands Are Not Your “Spiritual Covering”
by Jory Micah
When I first began blogging and doing ministry online, I wrote something controversial on Facebook (imagine that). What I wrote offended one of my friends, and she asked me who my “spiritual covering” was.
In some recent movements in the Christian world, a “spiritual covering” is a person who supposedly has more spiritual authority than other Christians – normally a pastor, elder, or priest of some sort. I was taken aback by the question and at that point I did not know the biblical answer, so I wrote back and said,
“My dad is my spiritual covering. He has been a pastor and mentor my whole life.”
My answer makes me cringe now, because it’s not true.
The truth is that the Bible never mentions the need for any sort of “spiritual covering” to do ministry or to make life decisions. The idea of Christians needing a “spiritual covering” originated in the 1970s, out of the charismatic movement.
Many pastors, elders, and husbands have used the idea to manipulate, control, and spiritually abuse less knowledgeable and more vulnerable Christians.
Often, 1 Peter 5 is used to support the need for Christians to submit to their pastors, elders, and husbands as their “spiritual covering.” In the text, Peter is encouraging church leaders to care for their congregation, but there is no indication that leaders have more “spiritual authority” than other Christians.
Rather, there is indication that church leaders have been given a sort of “earthly authority” to do their job and Peter clearly writes, “Do not lord it over those in your charge, but be examples to the flock (1 Peter 5:3).” A godly leader leads by example and never seeks to control others.
“Spiritual authority” comes from the Holy Spirit who lives within every Christian (1 Corinthians 3:16). The Holy Spirit that lives inside of one’s pastor or elder is the same Holy Spirit that lives inside of all Christians.
Therefore, every Christian has an equal amount of “spiritual authority” to minister to the world and to make their own life decisions, with the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
Jesus commissioned and empowered all of us when He said,
“Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed (Mark 16:15-18).”
God calls and equips certain Christians to be pastors, elders, evangelists, prophets, apostles, teachers, deacons, etc., but these are earthly roles, and the type of authority these leaders hold are no different than the authority a political leader holds or a manager at McDonald’s holds.
God certainly calls Christians to respect earthly authorities (Romans 13:1) and to seek out their godly guidance and wisdom (Proverbs 11:14; Proverbs 5:11-14); but ultimately, we are accountable to God alone (Romans 3:19), and we need only God’s approval to move forward in whatever we sense God calling us to do (2 Timothy 2:15).
Jesus Himself speaks against over-the-top earthly authority in Matthew 20:25-28. The Scriptures always point believers towards mutual submission and to Jesus alone as our “spiritual authority.”
In the Old Testament, only priests were permitted to enter God’s presence, which was called the “Holy of Holies.” The “Holy of Holies” was the core chamber of the inside of the sanctuary of the Jewish Temple. This small room was separated from the outer chamber by a heavy and thick curtain.
Only those who were considered “high priests” could enter the “Holy of Holies” on the Day of Atonement. These high priests went through a rigorous purification process before they entered, continuously sacrificing animals for their sin and being sure to obey the Torah (Old Testament Law) to the letter. If a high priest went behind the curtain, without being completely pure before God, it was thought he would die.
This tells us that God cannot stand to be in the presence of sin. Yet, it is evident throughout the Bible that God desires to have a relationship with humans.
This presented a problem, since all humans are sinful to some degree. So, as we know, God became flesh (John 1:14), so God Himself could die for all of humanity’s transgressions. Jesus became the perfect sacrifice for our sins, and made it so anyone (John 3:16-18) who accepts Him as their Savior, is seen as pure in the eyes of God.
In other words, when God looks at Christians, He does not see sin anymore. No, friends, we are covered with the blood of Christ from head to toe, and we have been made spotless and blameless as children of God (1 John 3:5; Romans 8:1).
You see, something extraordinary happened the moment Jesus took His last breath on the Cross – the curtain that stood between humans and God was ripped down the middle.
“At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart (Matthew 27:51).”
Now, this was no ordinary curtain. It is likely that this curtain was about 60 feet in height and about 30 feet in width, and four inches thick. So, it is obvious that no human ripped the curtain in half. God ripped the curtain in half, and exposed the “Holy of Holies.” We no longer need a “high priest” to enter God’s presence for us.
The author of Hebrews says,
“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most (4:16).”
We don’t have to be afraid any more. We can enter God’s presence boldly, with all of our dirty sin, and the grace of Jesus Christ will cover us and show us mercy. We need no “spiritual covering” to enter God’s presence, to teach the Bible, to minister to others, or to make life decisions.
In fact, the Bible calls all Christians “a priesthood of believers.”
“And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God (1 Peter 2:5).”
Therefore, no priest, pastor, elder, deacon, or any minister has any more “spiritual authority” than lay Christians. We all have equal and direct access to God and the only “spiritual covering” we need is Jesus Christ.
Her use of the term "spiritual covering" is a straw-man argument; it is a fallacy; it is not logical. It is misrepresenting the position she is arguing against to make it easy to 'knock down.'
Jesus walked the earth as a man. He referred to his Father and he called the Holy Spirit a "he." All thirteen of the apostles he chose were men. Going back further... Adam was a man and the LORD God put him in charge. Noah was a man and he found favor in the eyes of the LORD. Abraham was a man; Isaac was a man, Jacob (Israel) was a man; Moses and Aaron were men; Joshua was a man; David was a man; Isaiah was a man; Jeremiah was a man... I think I've made my point.
Discernment is being able to tell the difference between what is right and what is almost right.
I see the website is still available but the last blog post was made in May of 2020. Doing a search for the author's name seems to produce interesting results.
Just because someone quotes the Bible does not make them right.