teknomom

Charis,

I think you may have misunderstood what I meant in my blog about discipline and balance. The idea is not that we can get too much of the Word, but that we should have that kind of attitude towards it that we crave the Word like we crave other things. I really don’t believe or teach that it is possible to study the Word too much. Sorry for the confusion.

Also, to compare being immersed in the Word with a legalistic, controlling congregation is inaccurate at best. I’m talking about self-control and self-discipline. Being a student of the Word is not about controlling other people but about spending every possible minute reading the “love letter from God”. The Spirit who indwells us is the same Spirit that inspired the Word; it’s all from God. But the written Word is not changeable like our emotions, or potentially misleading like our experiences.

What knowing the Bible will do is keep you from being fooled. Measure everything else by what it says, not the other way around as you seem to be doing now. That’s what I’m trying to say. The evidence of the Resurrection is the foundation. Then comes the understanding of who Jesus is and what he did, and then acceptance. The relationship follows from there, and grows as you learn more about God through his Word.

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”… Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. (Rom. 10:14-17)

Charis, if the relationship you have is not coming from the Bible but from others who have contradicted it, I have to seriously question the nature of that relationship. “What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?” (2 Cor. 6:15) The writings of people who contradict the Bible are not the place to find truths about God. The fault is not with the Bible, but with those who have improperly taught it or failed to practice it. Please don’t blame the written World for the way it has been misused.

When you put other writings above God’s Word, does it not grieve him? Does it not put up a wall between you and him? Also, why is it that you pay more attention to the written words of people than those of God? Why are their written words better? Please ask yourself why God’s written words are not as good as people’s written words.

It would be sinful for me to stand silently and watch anyone skip happily toward the edge of a cliff. I had to warn you, because I care and because I live to honor God. I won’t bother you about it any more, but please think about it.