RE: [TruthTalk] The TEXT will never be uniformily apprehended!!!

[ShieldsFamily]

Bill,   I don’t recall being “set off” by John saying anything recently, so please specify what you mean.  I only voiced my opinion about the Bible. God inhabits the praises of His people, and He certainly inhabits His own Truth.  He IS Truth, and one way He reveals His Truth is through the Bible. You cannot see that? Otherwise many have been martyred so that we can possess this treasure for no reason. The Bible is not God, obviously—it is a paper and ink form of communication from Him to us! If God sent me a personal postcard you can be sure I would reverence it dearly! But in my Bible I find much more communication from God than that, and it is just as dear to me as a personal letter from Him to me personally.  When I smell the pages of my Bible I smell history, I smell holiness, and I smell the blood of many martyrs who gave everything so that I could roam through its life-giving pages in the comfort of my livingroom. I am so undeserving of such a gift!   But what does that have to do with worshipping the Bible?  How does one do that; do they light candles and bow down before it and pray to it? Or do you confuse gratitude for God’s Word as such? I think we do not all agree that we should consider His Word as a light unto our path and a lamp unto our feet, as important to the feeding of our souls as bread is to our bodies, as living and active and sharper than a two-edged sword, as the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, and the power of God to those who are being saved.  I only wish we did.   Iz   Hi Iz,   I presume that when you wrote the following (that about which Judy responds, "what Izzy says stands ..."), you were asking a rhetorical question -- the answer being, Of course not: "Can you separate God and His ... written Word?" I would like to challenge you to reconsider. If there is no difference, i.e., no separation, between God and his written word, then go ahead and pray to your Bible, for they are one in the same. You (not you personally, but your cohorts) criticized John for suggesting that the Bible contains the Word of God, demanding proof texts; yet you yourself write that it is "the Truth contained within" the Bible which is holy, and that Jesus' word speaks to you from those pages, if you have ears to hear. Would you mind explaining to me how this is different from that which set you (pl) off concerning John's statement?   Christians know better than to think it's okay to pray to their Bibles, yet with their own words, they sometimes exalt the Bible to a status due only to God. The two are not the same: that is what Lance is saying, and that is what John is saying, and, if I correctly apprehend your latest comment, that is what you are saying -- Judy's kudos noted. I think we all agree. Praise the Lord!   Bill