Preamble: I also wrote this post around a year-and-a-half ago, around the same time as two of the posts from the recent blog series on Biblical sexuality. With so-called "pride" month upon us, it is imperative to be using the Bible to speak truth to people who desperately need it, which I will in fact delve into further in this post. So, here we go:
One question I am anticipating is the question of why I sometimes harp on the Bible as much as I do in my posts. Here are my responses:
1. Being Christian -- a Bible-believing, God-loving, Jesus-following individual who does often fail but continues to try again and has to rely on God's grace to help me -- is a key part of my identity. Therefore, the Bible is also a key part of my identity.
2. At one point, I was myself resistant to the Bible. I often looked at Christians (or "Christians") and thought: "they're just hiding behind the Bible."
3. Short of a plumb line or a universal standard that is outside and above ourselves, everything that happens in our world is subjective. A common phrase I've heard along this idea: "that may be your truth, but it's not my truth!" And so on.
Most of these ought to be self-explanatory. For more on bullet point #1, go to this post here. For more on bullet point #3, go to this post here.
As for bullet point #2, I wish to write more. I find myself these days using the Bible for a lot of my arguments. I use it to defend certain points, and I use it to argue other points. As such, for one who does not know the Bible, it may appear as if I'm hiding behind it or using it as a weapon.
First thing you should know: I don't consider myself an expert on it; there are many things in Scripture I don't know! Oftentimes when I am making a case for the Bible, Jesus, or the Christian faith, I still have to look things up, to find answers that I know somewhat about (because I have heard it) but don't know where to look to have it for sure.
As for using the Bible as a weapon, I think it is critical to clarify why it is a weapon, and what it is a weapon against. (To give you the full context, please refer to Ephesians 6:10-18.) First, according to Ephesians 6:17, the Bible (aka the word of God) is also the sword of the Holy Spirit. So it is definitely meant to be a weapon. Along with the rest of the armor, the sword of the Holy Spirit (aka the Bible) is used to stand against our enemy. So who is our enemy? This leads to the second point: what the Bible is a weapon against. In Ephesians 6:12, the Bible explains that our enemy is not flesh and blood (aka other human beings), but rather the spirits and powers that are rampant all around the world, including inside some human beings, and of course, the one who is behind that, is Satan. We hate him because he hates our God. (And before you go off on how all hatred is bad and wrong, please know that even God hates. It's just that what God hates, is evil. Don't believe me? Please refer to Proverbs 6:16-19, and then stop and think about it.)
Another point of clarification is that Jesus, who many (namely unsaved church-goers) seem to like, used the Bible as a weapon against our enemy, Satan. On three occasions in the Bible is this recorded: in Matthew 4:1-11, in Mark 1:12-13, and in Luke 4:1-13. It's important to note that Jesus just went to the wilderness to fast before He was to begin ministering to people. He didn't go with the express purpose of trying to lure Satan out there; Satan chose to visit Him!
As for my other point: I do not hide behind the Bible. I position my mind, heart, and soul so as to stand where I know I will have backup. If I obey God, then one promise I have in Him (among many) is that when I do speak, if I speak what He wants, He will back me up. Similarly, when I made the choice to adjust my philosophy and worldview, one of the perks was that I knew I would have backup, even if others disagreed with me. Having backup goes a long way toward giving someone boldness to speak!
When I was working on writing the two four posts I recently posted on sexuality, I spent a lot of time editing them. The primary reason for doing so was that I wanted to be sure that it lined up with what I felt God wanted. There were a few key points I had to change, because my first draft, as a stream-of-consciousness draft, there were times where I was shooting words out my butt and it didn't line up with Scripture! So as I went back and compared my points with what the Bible says, I had to edit a few things. Yes, I wanted to please God while making my points, but also because by pleasing Him I knew I would have backup even if and when pushback came!
I believe, therefore, that when I harp on the Bible, I don't hide behind it, but rather that I stand in front of it, and then it backs me up. Back to the passage from Ephesians 6:10-18, however, to explain one other key thing: I must put on the armor of God. (It's spiritual armor, mind you.) It includes a helmet, a belt, a breastplate, shoes, a sword (which we've already covered), and yes, a shield! Not just any shield, but the shield of faith! Being behind a shield probably gives a non-believer the idea that I'm hiding behind something, when I put on that shield of faith. But truly, I only "hide" behind the shield of faith in the same way that a soldier back before guns were used in battle "hid" behind his very real metal shield! If we wanted to be really extreme with this idea of Christians hiding behind the Bible, we might as well say that even Jesus "hid" behind the Bible when Satan was tempting Him!
(Of course, almost no one will say that! Because it's preposterous! And because it is also utterly untrue.)
I harp on the Bible as much as I do because Truth must be spoken. Nine months Two-and-a-half years after my post about the dire need for a Truth revival, it is even more needed now than it was even then. Under national (and state) leadership that is hell-bent on leading us to all kinds of destruction, and even more so with what seems to be the majority either vehemently supporting it or at the very least going along with it, I must respond as well.
I harp on the Bible, and I'm not going to stop. People need to know the Truth, both that there is a God who made them and loves them (so much so that He sacrificed His son Jesus as a blood sacrifice for them), but also that not knowing the Truth, and not receiving Jesus as their Lord and Savior means death, destruction, and hell for them. Hosea 4:6 states this truth explicitly: lack of knowledge means lack of backup, and lack of backup means destruction. But receiving God's offer of salvation (and a ticket to heaven once a person dies) by receiving Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, and by receiving a relationship with Him as Savior and as Lord, means a person gets to bypass that destruction. Life here on earth is for a short while; eternity is forever. It is much better to spend eternity with God in heaven.
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