Can the Bible itself become an idol?

98cwitr

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Some of us Baptists hold that the Bible is the written Truth of God revealed to man. Others say that the Bible is simply written history. Others may also so that those who hold to infallibility and inerrancy may be making the Bible into it's very own idol. While I think we can all agree there are truths outside of the Bible, do you think that holding the Bible in the light of inerrancy makes it become an idol? Does being a Bible-thumper make you an idolater?
 

twin1954

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Some of us Baptists hold that the Bible is the written Truth of God revealed to man. Others say that the Bible is simply written history. Others may also so that those who hold to infallibility and inerrancy may be making the Bible into it's very own idol. While I think we can all agree there are truths outside of the Bible, do you think that holding the Bible in the light of inerrancy makes it become an idol? Does being a Bible-thumper make you an idolater?
In truth anything can become an idol if you set it above all else. The Bible is the Word of God and is quick and sharp, it is the power of God unto salvation because it contains the Gospel of Christ, and it is the only revelation of God that we have given to us in order for us to believe. I posted a passage in another thread about God magnifying His word even above His name, Psa. 138:2, and also gave the passage from 2Pet. 1:19 in which he tells us that we have a more sure word of prophecy than what he heard and saw on the mount with the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Word of God is vital to faith and life in Christ but the pages of the book are just pages. I have known people who revere the very pages that the words are written on as though they were holy. They would never think of opening the book to read it for fear of damaging the pages.

You should see my study Bible. The binding is taped and pages are falling out all over. I have an exact replacement so that I can find passages easily but I use it as my pulpit Bible.

Actually people are naturally superstitious and fall into idolatry easily. I lay at the feet of preachers the ignorance of most people who call themselves Christians.
 
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Bluelion

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The Bible is the word of God. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. You are claiming God is his own idle. Saying the Bible contains no error is to say God has no error and this is the word of God.

I would say if a person thinks the word of God is an idle before God they don't understand God very well and don't understand His word.
 
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twin1954

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A lot of people say Jesus is the Word, not the Bible. What would you say to those people?
Who are you asking this question?

In answer, though, I would tell them that Jesus is the Word because the Scriptures clearly say that He is but that the Bible is the written Word and we can't know the Word that is the Lord Jesus Christ apart from the written Word in the Bible. Visions and dreams and such are not a revelation of the Word but a counterfeit. We must weigh everything according to the written Word.

The written Word is the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ in all of its pages and we are to find Him in the whole of the Book. Paul told Timothy in 2Tim. 4:2 to preach the word. We cannot preach the word unless we preach the Lord Jesus Christ from them. The written Word is the Gospel of the free and sovereign grace of God in Christ Jesus the Lord.
 
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Bluelion

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A lot of people say Jesus is the Word, not the Bible. What would you say to those people?

What do you think the Bible is if not the word of God? I would say to those people their salvation is a question mark. If you do not believe the Bible is the word of God then that person is not really saved are they? In fact the Bible says it is the word of God. If a person can not believe that or believe the Bible has no errors then nothing can be trust in it and it was written by men and not by divine inspiration of God, so really that person can trust nothing and Has no way to God. The Bible says it is by Hearing the word of God we can come to be saved. If we don't have God's word how will anyone be saved? Sorry but that person which says such things does not have Jesus in their heart as Jesus said they are still blind to God. It is funny never met a Buddhist or any one from any other religion which reject the major writings for there faith but claims that religion as their own. It just does not happen, yet it does in Christianity.
 
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mikedsjr

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Some of us Baptists hold that the Bible is the written Truth of God revealed to man. Others say that the Bible is simply written history. Others may also so that those who hold to infallibility and inerrancy may be making the Bible into it's very own idol. While I think we can all agree there are truths outside of the Bible, do you think that holding the Bible in the light of inerrancy makes it become an idol? Does being a Bible-thumper make you an idolater?
If a Christian is saying the bible isn't inerrant then I'm assuming they are a mystic. But I agree with twin that anything can become an idol. Even Jesus improperly viewed can become an idol. However, Scripture rightly taught can not be an idol at all. We should all be willing to admit we could be wrong. But not me. I'm always right......stop tsking me.
 
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Bluelion

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If a Christian is saying the bible isn't inerrant then I'm assuming they are a mystic. But I agree with twin that anything can become an idol. Even Jesus improperly viewed can become an idol. However, Scripture rightly taught can not be an idol at all. We should all be willing to admit we could be wrong. But not me. I'm always right......stop tsking me.
that is funny God can be a idle to Himself, how does that work out with Jesus being the word of God and God, so if you worship the word it is an idle but the word is God also, so you are worshiping God still ll :D
 
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NonTheologian

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Some of us Baptists hold that the Bible is the written Truth of God revealed to man. Others say that the Bible is simply written history. Others may also so that those who hold to infallibility and inerrancy may be making the Bible into it's very own idol. While I think we can all agree there are truths outside of the Bible, do you think that holding the Bible in the light of inerrancy makes it become an idol? Does being a Bible-thumper make you an idolater?

There is this somewhat bizarre exposition in the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy that seems to suggest that the Bible is a sort of fourth person of God:
By authenticating each other's authority, Christ and Scripture coalesce into a single fount of authority. The Biblically-interpreted Christ and the Christ-centered, Christ-proclaiming Bible are from this standpoint one.
 
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FaithfulPilgrim

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Like oter posters before me said, anything can be an idol.

The Bible is very important in that it is inerrant in truth and leads of to salvation, but the pages are just pages.

I admit being guilty of bibliolatry. I would never stack anything on top of the Bible except for another Bible and I once freaked out when I somehow got bloodstains on a page in Revelation.
 
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Righttruth

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A lot of people say Jesus is the Word, not the Bible. What would you say to those people?

Yes, Jesus was the Word, and He became flesh. His words were heard and recorded. There are bound to be errors in human recording and translation. The Holy Spirit reminds of His words.
 
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DeaconDean

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I have to agree with what the original Fundamentalists said in 1878:

"The verbal, plenary inspiration of the Scriptures in the original manuscripts."

14 points of the Niagara Creed of 1878

Source: https://truthisfundamental.wordpress.com/1878-nbcc/

God Bless

Till all are one.
 
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nonaeroterraqueous

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There are a couple of ways that the Bible can become an idol. The first and most obvious one is when it becomes a talisman, when the physical object, itself, is seen as having a sort of mystical value. The only value a Bible has is in the ideas contained within it. The physical object should not be treated as something magical.

Sometimes the words, themselves, are treated as having a magical property, even over and above their meaning. There are people who idolize the Bible by reading the text as a sort of magical incantation, apart from any actual understanding. This one is probably less of a problem, and it's probably the hardest to discern. I timidly posit that the crowd most likely to place undue emphasis on exact words over meaning is the King James Only group. Previously, it was the Latin Only group, also known as the Papacy.

that is funny God can be a idle to Himself, how does that work out with Jesus being the word of God and God, so if you worship the word it is an idle but the word is God also, so you are worshiping God still ll :D

There's a confusion of terms when we call Jesus the Word of God in the same way that we call the Bible the Word of God. It would imply that Jesus is the Bible, and if Jesus is God then the Bible is God. Please don't pray to your Bible, by the way. Calling Jesus the Word of God is scriptural, but calling the Bible the Word of God, if I am not mistaken, is merely a matter of tradition. Even if we accept both terms, we should not treat both uses of the term as having the same meaning.
 
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