Have We Allowed The Bible Too Much Authority In Our Lives?

This question almost seems like heresy when I write it down and I am pretty sure I’ve never heard the question asked by a man of God. I think this thought has been trying to break out in my mind for many years and I know I have come close to making this claim when I have written to encourage men of our faith heritage in the work they do for God. Not common in my writing, you don’t have to read any further for my answer, though I hope you will read on for my explanation. I fully believe the Bible has had way too much influence or authority over the lives of Christians.

Since I have answered the question, I hope you have realized, after the possible shock, how I did not use the phrase commonly associated with the Bible, “the Word of God.” In fact, I would hope most Christians would agree with me when I say we have not allowed the Word of God to have enough influence or authority in our lives. My early understanding of how things worked with God could be summed up with God creating everything, intervening in our past with prophets to direct us toward His offering of Jesus as a sacrifice. Following the resurrection of Jesus, God left us with a few empowered apostles to set His plan for our salvation into action and then after the last of the apostles died, all miracles and interaction between man and God ceased to exist as He would sit back and wait for us to “accept or deny” the gospel of Christ. It was all left up to us! The few capable of hearing, believing, confessing, repenting and being baptized would be saved and all of the masses, possibly not fortunate enough to be born in a Christian nation, would be condemned.

While I held this “indoctrination” for a long time, I can’t help but classify it now as simply ridiculous. In my reasoning, it comes down to whether we actually believe what we are told by the inspired writers of our past. No, I didn’t say Bible! Was Jesus going to send the Holy Spirit to guide and instruct us or not? Possibly, some might believe this promise was being made only to the apostles but, if so, I have to consider the promise of the Holy Spirit coming into my life when I am fully His baptized/announced believer in the plan of God, having joined with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. Do I believe the Holy Spirit is nothing more than a lapel pin worn in the name “Christian” without any Godly interaction?

The Holy Spirit is possibly a greater mystery to us than the people of the first century because we are not willing to accept being controlled by God. We make fun of the phrase, “the devil made me do it, and yet, I fully believe this is what Paul is referring to when he claims the trouble he has with resisting those things he does not want to do. When considering the sinful nature and the new man, are we not being told how we need to respond to the Holy Spirit, living and guiding within us? When doing this, are we not speaking and writing words of encouragement given to others to live according to the guidance of the Holy Spirit as men inspired of God? What causes the thoughts I am writing to run around my head giving me a headache and no rest until I sit down and express them in writing? Am I claiming to be inspired by God as I write these thoughts down? No, these are my words though it is funny to me that the apostle said much the same thing in his letter. No, you the reader are challenged to use the Spirit of God and test all things so you are not led in the wrong direction.

Thinking back to my initial comment and question concerning the Bible, I would suggest the writers felt a need to write those things written and many years later, men got together when they felt a need to share all that had been written and compiled a list of writings we have come to know as the Bible. I would even suggest these men did us a great service in preserving the history of our relationship with God. I would suggest they, also, did us a great disservice because this Bible soon became the authority to rule our relationship with God and effectively pushed the power of our gift, the Holy Spirit, from our lives. With the Holy Spirit eliminated from our reasoning, our thoughts are simply our thoughts. They are not the guidance of the sinful nature or the guidance of God through the Spirit, but simply OUR thoughts.

There is a great sadness in this if it is actually true in our lives and the reality is how it consumes any joy we might have knowing we are guided by the Holy Spirit. I fully believe we have all known people whose very presence is the embodiment of Christ and yet in their old age when they can no longer be as active and powerful a force for Christ, they feel unworthy and even sinful in their life instead of being able to say, “I’ve finished the race, and I’ve fought the good fight.” Rather than live in the joy of our promise, we only see our thoughts and path as ours instead of God’s.

While I could ramble on, my purpose in writing these thoughts is two-fold. First, I don’t think the Bible was finished and published for us with God sitting back with no interaction anymore than I believe the first scenario put forth. I believe the inspired Word of God is still coming to us today through many writers and we should read and consider their thoughts on par with those we have from the “ancient ones.” We need to give the Spirit of God rule in our lives and test what we read and hear through this spirit. Second, I want to encourage men and women I consider to be my mentors even if they would not want their name associated, in anyway with my thoughts. I think we have had thousands of inspired teachers and writers since the creation of the world and for the ones I have known in my life, I pray they will know the joy of having run the race and being inspired by God. If we were compiling the Bible today, I think we would have several books named after them. I can’t help but believe God has already acknowledged them as being after His own heart, much like David.