gfs@uunet.uu.net (12/25/90)
Why Today, Believing the "Bible Alone", is Wrong
I am drawn to write this, as I see so clearly the good intentions of so many
good people falling into a subtle trap. The reason I cannot keep quiet
about it is the great Grace of understanding the Bible, the history of Man,
God's purpose and Love, and the Truth about Jesus, that is available to us
today.
For those who really love the Bible, who actually hold it in the absolute
highest respect in your life, praise you, bless you, you honor God. For you,
the title of this essay is a sharp barb in your heart, as if I touch your
eyeball; the title is chosen carefully to get your attention. Forgive
me, I mean no disrespect to the Bible. I assure you, I will be taking
nothing at all away from your love of the Bible. I will be adding to you
more of the same love. Bear with me.
To cut to the heart of the issue, the question is "Which do you hold higher,
the Bible or the Action of the Holy Spirit of God?"
No one who loves the Bible will deny that the actual book, the writing of the
written pages, is the result of the Action of the Holy Spirit of God. No one
will deny that the Bible is the Word of God. What a great treasure it is,
above all other treasures preserved though the centuries of time.
The crux of the question I ask you to put to your heart, is the Bible the ONLY
action of the Holy Spirit of God, written or otherwise. And I testify to
you it is not. This is point at which accepting the "Bible alone", separates
what different people believe.
To understand why this must be true, you have to honestly consider the history
of the Book of the Bible itself. For those who hold the Bible as the absolute
sole source of action of God in the world, it is often difficult for them to
think about the ancient councils of Trent, Nice and others, about Jerome, about
"that part of church history". Some, I suppose, might take the view that God
made the Bible wholly what it is by a miracle in spite of the men of those
councils. This is where honesty is needed and the great lesson can be learned,
that the Bible did not miraculously appear whole, but that it was the
EFFORT OF GOOD MEN TO OPEN THEMSELVES TO THE ACTION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD
TO LET THE HOLY SPIRIT WORK THROUGH THEM. The writing and canonizing was
not the effort of man. It was not a miracle in the sense of the Bible
materializing whole out of nothingness. It was the Holy Spirit working
THROUGH man.
The only effort man can make that is any good is the effort to
clear ourselves out, purge ourselves of our own initiative and ambitions and
motives and ego, AND LET OURSELVES BE USED BY GOD. (Romans chapters 6,7 and 8)
This is the end of the argument of faith vs works. Our own works amount to zero.
God works through us in many different ways, He can whisper words to write in
direct dictation, He can prompt our hearts, giving us feelings, to which we
write or speak about those feelings in our own words as best we can, He can
miraculously put words into our mouths, He can cause our dreams to have real
information, He can let the power of the Holy Spirit flow through our bodies in
many ways. These are all gifts of the Spirit. The first 18 verses of the
Gospel of John ("In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the
Word was God... etc" ) were dictated by God, word for word. There are other
parts that are dictation too, but not all of it. Other parts of the Bible are
humans writing down as best they could describe, visions they saw. Other parts,
like some of the Psalms, are meditations that good, holy men found spring up
inside them.
It is critical to understand this. It is crucial to understand the
procedure God uses to reach our world. We lay down our will, and choose
His Will instead. We work to rid ourselves of our own motivations, and simply
ask God with our whole mind, heart, soul and strength that whatever God wants
to use us for, whatever God wants to make happen through us, whatever
information, action or message God wants to make known by using our brains,
hands, feet, or mouths, that is what we want. We can think of nothing better,
we don't want to try to do better, and we totally accept all that God may
want us to do for Him in the world.
This is the True Conversion. This is what it means to be a Son
of God. This is what it means to be truly 'born of the Spirit', this is
being Born Again. We are Born of God's Spirit and belong to Him as his
adopted Spirit children. This is how we truly call Jesus our Master.
Think about it in terms of slavery as we know it in human terms. We become
true slaves of God.
Test your heart against this. When some people realize that this is what
we are really asked to be, a slave of God, they will recoil and say "No.
I am free. I will not be anyone's slave, not even God's. Give me liberty
or give me death." This is the ultimate sin if we really say it to God.
If you really have trouble with the concept of 'slave' then think of
total cooperation with God instead.
Have consolation, Jesus said "My yoke is kindly and my load is light." There
is a yoke, but we will find it surely preferable to the yoke of sin,
that which we have today. Do we not realize we are slaves of sin? For those
of us not independently wealthy (most of us), don't you realize you really are
a modern day slave of the economic system. It is not hard to think of capitalism
and organized communism as forms of something like depersonalized slave
ownership. Think back to the last time you felt a pang of pain doing something
you really did not want to do, when you had to make a hard decision that left
someone crying or hurt someone you loved, or crushed your own heart and left you
despondent and crying. This is what it means to be a slave to sin. We are
in the grip of forces out of our control that bring pain and hurt into our
lives, those we love, and if we care about our fellow humans around the world,
the intense suffering in impoverished countries.
Compare these painful yokes of slavery and know that Jesus' yoke really
is kindly and light of load, giving you real happiness, love, a purpose to
live, a real job to do, an adventure to live, wonders to behold, precious
moments to treasure forever. The fullness of life.
All of this comes from simply saying "Yes" to God. There is nothing else
we CAN do. May God's grace move your hearts who read this to say "Yes" to God
in new ways. You do not have to know a lot about Him. Faith comes before
Knowledge. Put all of your knowledge down for a rest for a moment. Take it
that you know absolutely nothing about God, except that He exists and you are
not a cosmic accident.
Say "Yes" to God. This is a True Prayer. The rest will be added to you.
Now, back to the Bible. You must understand that the Bible does not stand
on its own apart from the Holy Spirit of God. If you believe and love the
Bible alone, you believe in and love the Holy Spirit of God, but you just
do not realize that the same Holy Spirit that brought the Bible to you is
the real message of the Bible. The Bible is not the end in itself. The
Bible points you to God, calls you to God. After reading the Bible, you should
be prepared to say "Yes" to God with the True conversion, becoming a slave of
God, taking Jesus yoke willingly on yourself. This is whole purpose of the
Bible, to win children of God over to Him.
It makes absolutely no sense that the Holy Spirit worked "a long time ago, far,
far away", to put the message together about Itself, and then have that same
Spirit and the same potential for action not present today, NOW.
All right, my main point is close at hand. Many people cling to the Bible alone
out of fear that all other writings, all other inspirations, all other
"feelings", all other manifestations, are the work of the Devil to deceive us.
How are we to know the difference? The Bible says not to trust "the reasoning
of men.". How can we trust anything inside ourselves? Out of this fear, they
cling to the Bible alone and reject all else. It is a Holy fear. It is
not a selfish fear. But the answer to fear is faith. The answer to Holy
fear is Holy faith. The answer to Godly fear is Godly faith.
God has given us the capacity to tell the light from the darkness with the
Holy Spirit the Consoler, the Comforter. IN EXACTLY THE SAME WAY OUR
FOREFATHERS COULD RELY ON GOD TO HELP THEM MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICES IN WRITING
AND CANONIZING THE BIBLE, WE CAN RELY ON GOD TO HELP US MAKE THE RIGHT
CHOICES IN WHAT WE BELIEVE AND WHAT WE KNOW, THE LIGHT FROM THE DARK.
This is Godly Faith, the gift of Faith. Faith is a gift, we cannot possess
it through knowledge. We need the faith that God will help us shape, clean,
edit, and comment our gaining of knowledge.
God and the action of the Holy Spirit are greater than the Bible. To only
forever believe the Bible alone, without stepping out in faith to ask for,
explore and discover what God might want us to know NOW, is limiting God
in us. This lack of faith limits the ability of God to work through us,
and is wrong. It is not what God intends for you and me today.
We have some safety mechanisms we can rely on. One of them is the fact
that the Bible is indeed part of God's Truth. Just because it was written
thousands of years ago, does not mean the truth about God changes and He
needs to rewrite some things. Every new revelation and truth must fit in
with the Bible and must not contradict it, or else the new revelations and
truths are false. God does not change course in mid stream. Consistency
with the past is a test of utmost importance. Modern revelations should
fill in the gaps, not rewrite the core.
This brings us to the challenge, the difficult puzzle. If we have been holding
erroneous interpretations of some things in the Bible, then of course these
may be contradicted by newer revelations. Our human tendency is to cling to
tradition, that which is old, maintain the status quo. But we must realize
that there is good tradition (correct interpretations) and tradition in error.
We have to force ourselves against our human tendency to cling, to consider the
uprooting of some of our interpretations in light of new information.
This is very scary. Be honest, it is. It is one of the most important and
most telling tests of our faith of our whole lives. Its tests whether our
faith is in God Himself or whether our faith is in our knowledge of God.
If we really have faith that God is real, that He exists, that He cares about
each and every one of us, then we should be able to trust that God will lead
us to clearer knowledge of Him. Actual, Living, Supernatural action in
our lives. (By the way, "Actual, Living, Supernatural action in our lives"
is a definition of Grace. God's Grace is "Gods Action", "God does something
for us". It took me while to learn what the definition of grace is. By God's
Grace.) We need to have strong Faith in God's Grace.
On the other hand, if our faith is in the knowledge itself we have of God,
if we feel like when some fact we think we know about God is challenged, that
this is a challenge to God Himself and our salvation, then the flow of new
knowledge challenges the faith itself, and this produces the fear.
Once we begin walking with God, the danger of sin becomes more severe. It is
the constant and ever present wrong human tendency to believe ourselves a
little to much. We have to constantly lean on God. By stepping out in
faith, exploring new knowledge, WE ARE NOT AND CAN NOT TRUST OURSELVES.
The fear that used to keep you from even considering new knowledge must
become an even deeper fear of doing or saying anything that God does
not tell us to. There will the constant temptation to "do our own thing",
which is wrong. This is talked about in the new testament as "abusing the
freedom God gives us". As we are given the freedom to have God inside of
us and become channels of His actions (Grace) for others, we must always
remain God-centered. This is not an easy way out of church rules.
It is taking on more responsibility. If you are looking for an easy way out,
you will not find it here.
Take the first step. Place yourself firmly in God's hand. Sit down in front
of God. Have the faith and trust God to not lead you astray (the Lord's
prayer: "Lead us not into temptation"). He got you to the Bible in the first
place through your parents, friends, or a stranger. Don't be afraid to
continue following His lead. One way to never get into trouble is
to never move. Leading us means there is somewhere He wants us to go,
something He wants us each to do.
Do not be satisfied to sit tight. God does not sit still. God's Books
are not all dusty.... some are very recently printed. Reach out, live
in your faith based in God. Pray for the Holy Spirit to always, always
be your guide. (Sorry, Jiminy Cricket, our conscience is not quite enough.
Walt Disney's heart was in the right place, Pinocchio wasn't supposed to be
a Theological dissertation. Imagine the little cricket singing: "And always
let the Holy Spirit be your Guide...." Wait a minute, I just had a thought.
That is precisely the song that real crickets do sing! It is part of finding
God in the creation. I'm sure St. Francis would agree with me.
And now the punchline (Every good story has a punchline, and I speak of
God's Story here):
I stand before you today to call your attention to Medjegorje, Yugoslavia.
(I have heard the pronunciation as MED - JUH - GOR - EE ).
I have no idea what each of you think about what is going on there, but
I tell you, on my faith in God, God is truly trying to reach to all of us
from that place. Real live words from heaven, miracles, warnings, and a call
for us to convert to God. Everything that is said supports the Bible,
there is no contradiction. It is a message of Hope and of Peace and of
Destiny for all of mankind.
Every person who cares about God at all should investigate this. If you
are drawn to go there, by all means do whatever you must do to go. I have
not been there myself, but I personally know many who have. I have found
the reality and power of this event through the books and video tapes
available.
If you have difficulty approaching this, like if your church tells you
explicitly it is false or wrong or a sin, and even if they punish you,
pray to God first to show you the truth, especially about Medjegorje.
Do not believe them that this prayer can hurt you. A prayer to God for help
is never a sin. Never.
For all who do not believe, for whatever reason. Make this your scientific
test case of prayer. Ask the One God in Heaven to shed some of His Grace
on you, that is, to perform a small miracle in your life, that you may
know whether what is going on in Medjegorje is real and God is real.
Really ask, try not to be cynical, don't let it just be words. Words do
not mean anything. Really caring to ask carries the meaning.
I cannot ask you enough to do this. If you ever, ever in your life wanted
to believe in something, anything, better, then just this once, risk the
disappointment.
And now, forgive me, my prayer for all of you....
May the Special Blessing of our Holy Mother Mary be on all of you who read
this message, for God's Grace to act in your lives, and may you be drawn
to love God through the Love of God and the love of Mary for you.
Sincerely, In Christ
Greg Shay
7508 McKinley St.
Mentor, Oh 44060
[I'm not sure anyone believes in the "Bible alone" in quite the sense
you take it. All Christians believe in the Holy Spirit, and I believe
almost all believe that Christians can be moved by the Holy Spirit to
learn new things. The problem is one of "control". The early
Gnostics show what happens when the church accepts any supposed
revelation of the Holy Spirit without having some way of providing a
cross check. So the debate is over what the ultimate standard should
be for checking our understanding. Those who believe in "sola
scriptura" are saying that the Bible is to be used as the only final
authority. This does not rule out the guidance of the Church, nor the
usefulness of creedal standards. But since the Church from time to
time needs renovation (something which I believe is admitted even by
Catholics), there needs to be some standard that does not change.
That is the role played by the Bible. One who believes in the
authority of the Bible need not necessarily reject miracles such as
Medjegorje in principle. However they would want to test what was
being revealed to make sure it is consistent with the Bible. --clh]lohr@wsqtb8.berkeley.edu (P. J. Lohr) (01/03/91)
Greg Shay writes... > I stand before you today to call your attention to Medjegorje, Yugoslavia. > (I have heard the pronunciation as MED - JUH - GOR - EE ). > I have no idea what each of you think about what is going on there, but > I tell you, on my faith in God, God is truly trying to reach to all of us > from that place. Real live words from heaven, miracles, warnings, and a call > for us to convert to God. Everything that is said supports the Bible, > there is no contradiction. It is a message of Hope and of Peace and of > Destiny for all of mankind. > Every person who cares about God at all should investigate this. If you > are drawn to go there, by all means do whatever you must do to go. I have > not been there myself, but I personally know many who have. I have found > the reality and power of this event through the books and video tapes > available. I agree with most everything Greg says, but I must add a word of caution - Satan will oppose any work of God and Medjegorje is no exception. To my dismay the following prayer card was handed out in my parish by a recent pilgrim to Medjegorje. Her life was truely changed, but the message she was spreading as a result seems far from the statement " Everything that is said supports the Bible, there is no contradiction". You be the judge.... PRAYER TO THE MOTHER OF GOODNESS, LOVE AND MERCY (Mary) O Mother mine, Mother of goodness, love and mercy, I love you infinitely and offer myself to You. By means of Your goodness, Your love and Your grace, save me. I desire to be Yours. I love you infinitely, and desire You to protect me. From the depth of my heart I pray You, Mother of goodness, give me Your goodness. Let me gain Heaven by means of it. I pray you by Your infinite love, to give me the grace, so that I may love every man, as You have loved Jesus Christ. I pray You to give me the grace to be merciful towards You. I offer myself to You completely and desire that You follow my every step. Because You are full of grace. And I desire that I will never forget this. And if by chance, I should lose grace I pray you to restore it to me once more. Amen. I find at least six separate errors or categories of error here (which I will publish upon request) often repeated several times each. The card has no indication of who was publishing or distributing them, but the woman said she received them (a whole stack) from an Franciscan priest (but who knows for sure). Phil
garyh@crash.cts.com (Gary Hipp) (01/07/91)
In article <Dec.24.18.13.05.1990.27521@athos.rutgers.edu> abvax!odin.ICD!gfs@uunet.uu.net writes: >This brings us to the challenge, the difficult puzzle. If we have been holding >erroneous interpretations of some things in the Bible, then of course these >may be contradicted by newer revelations. Our human tendency is to cling to >tradition, that which is old, maintain the status quo. But we must realize >that there is good tradition (correct interpretations) and tradition in error. >We have to force ourselves against our human tendency to cling, to consider the >uprooting of some of our interpretations in light of new information. Even being one of those Chuck refers to as being sola scriptura, I agree with your basic premise. However, I do know a lot of frustrated Christians trying very hard to hear God with all their hearts. One of those people told me God said I was supposed to marry her. God didn't tell me though. Enough said? What I want to add is that what you believe God has said specifically beyond what is said in the Bible pertains to you, not me. Your convictions are not my convictions and vice versa. Gary
meuer@uunet.uu.net (Mark V. Meuer) (01/07/91)
[To a message by Greg Shay commending the revelation at Medjegorje, P.J. Lohr added a note warning about corruption of the message by Satan. He gave an example of a prayer card that in support of Medjegorje that he believes contains a number of things contradicting Scripture. --clh] Thanks for pointing this out, Phil. As a Roman Catholic myself, I find practices that in any way substitute Mary for Christ to be completely abhorrent. Although it is one things to honor Mary and ask her to pray for us, she is NOT our salvation, the source of grace or our Savior. That prayer not only contradicts the Bible, but also the teaching of the Church on Mary. -mark -- Mark Meuer | Geometry Supercomputer Project | meuer@geom.umn.edu "Scientists have determined that the world's fastest animal, with a top speed of 120 ft/sec, is a cow that has been dropped from a helicopter." - Dave Barry
heather@arch3.att.com (Heather C Dee) (01/07/91)
In article <Jan.3.04.31.05.1991.14570@athos.rutgers.edu>, lohr@wsqtb8.berkeley.edu (P. J. Lohr) writes: > > > I find at least six separate errors or categories of error here (which I will > publish upon request) often repeated several times each. The card has no > indication of who was publishing or distributing them, but the woman said she > received them (a whole stack) from an Franciscan priest (but who knows for sure). > > Phil Some information I was given in 1986 by a friend who visited there includes this prayer as one of the "Revealed Prayers at Medjugorje." The introduction says, "Prayer of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary: On April 19, 1983, Jelena Vasilj asked Mary how to consecrate oneself to her Immaculate Heart. Jelena reported receiving the following prayer of consecration (obtained from St. James Parish, Medjugorje)." The information I have looks like photocopies of mostly typewritten pages, some typeset. They're not from a book, and I believe it is part of a package he received in preparation for the trip. I have heard alot about the events in Medjugorje. Phil's warning about the errors in this prayer is worth noting. And considering the alleged source of the prayer, everyone should look carefully at *all* the evidence before making conclusive statements about the events. (I say alleged because my info doesn't have an author, isn't published, so is basically untraceable.) What I have found interesting is that the many people I know who have gone to Medjugorje seem completely focused on the *place* rather than on God and his role in their lives here, today. Heather Dee heather@arch3.att.com
dlm@cci632.cci.com (Don Muench) (01/22/91)
In article <Jan.6.23.10.59.1991.23191@athos.rutgers.edu>, heather@arch3.att.com (Heather C Dee) writes: > I have heard alot about the events in Medjugorje. Phil's warning about > the errors in this prayer is worth noting. And considering the alleged > source of the prayer, everyone should look carefully at *all* the evidence > before making conclusive statements about the events. (I say alleged > because my info doesn't have an author, isn't published, so is basically > untraceable.) What I have found interesting is that the many people I > know who have gone to Medjugorje seem completely focused on the *place* > rather than on God and his role in their lives here, today. > > Heather Dee > heather@arch3.att.com Readers need to know that, according to a recent article in Newsday, the Vatican has forbidden official pilgrimages to Medjugorje and that the Bishop there considers it a "hoax". This means that all pilgrinages there are without official church permission. Apparently the Bishop there has written a lengthy article on the matter. I have no idea where to get this article. ********************************************************************** Don Muench Phone: (716) 385-8155 Dept. of Math. & Comp. Sci. E-mail: uunet!uupsi!cci632!sjfc!dlm St. John Fisher College or sjfc!dlm@cci.com Rochester, NY 14618-9987 Fax: (716) 385-8129 **********************************************************************
jhpb@granjon.garage.att.com (01/27/91)
Don Muench (another good German name like Buehler?) wrote:
Readers need to know that, according to a recent article in Newsday,
the Vatican has forbidden official pilgrimages to Medjugorje and
that the Bishop there considers it a "hoax". This means that all
pilgrinages there are without official church permission.
Apparently the Bishop there has written a lengthy article on the
matter. I have no idea where to get this article.
I have heard that there has been an official statement by the Vatican on
Medjugorje, but don't know its contents. I may have misinterpreted what
I heard, also.
I have an official statement by the bishop of a couple years back, that
may be what you're talking about. Perhaps the press just got a hold of
it.
I have a dossier in front of me on Medjugorje, prepared by a French
religious who is an expert on the Fatima apparitions. There has been a
lot of clerical politics involved. At the time of writing of my source,
it was essentially run by a group of charismatic Franciscans, who were
rebelling against their bishop. I have posted extensive material on
Medjugorje in the past.
The local bishop condemned the apparition, after an investigation.
The problems with the apparitions are so great that it doesn't take a
great theologian to see them.
The prayer that was posted is apparently the same one that was dictated
by "our Lady" herself on 19 April 1983 to Helena, one of the seers. I
don't have a copy of the prayer in front of me, just the extracts which
my source finds objectionable:
"I pray you that you may give me the grace to be merciful towards
you."
"And if by chance I lost your grace... I ask you to restore it to
me."
If those two phrases were really spoken by the apparition, Medjugorje is
certainly not genuine.
It was forbidden to publicize apparitions not approved by the Church
until Paul VI changed the law. This is why; many of them are not
genuine.
Joe Buehler