Your letter

Dear Christis

I am grateful to you for continuing to provide a forum for discussion and debate on issues of contemporary Christianity. I felt that issue 57 had some interesting articles which were worth some comment — no, not just my own!

One such article was that furnished by Dave Berry on the subject of The Bible: God's Word. His article was thought-provoking, but I feel that it raised a few questions and ambiguities. He states: The Bible is timeless. It contains principles that apply across eternity. I would agree that it is, indeed, a collection of books, whose relevance exists for all time. However, to ignore its rooting in time is dangerous. It was written in a specific time and space, and its content and style of writing reflect that. To forget this aspect of Scripture is to lose much of its meaning.

I am concerned that Dave seems happy to read the Bible with an empty head, and to blindly follow every letter as it appears in black and white. In reading the Bible, we have to use the reason God has given us as thinking human beings, and as Christians we must use the gift of discernment given by His Spirit. The Apostles did not blindly follow the Scriptures. For example they contradicted the commandment in Scripture to be circumcised, and to abstain from pig flesh. Jesus preached forgiveness, rathe than demanding an eye for an eye as the Scribes did.

The fact that Dave uses the phrase ‘The Bible says …’, and not ‘Jesus’, or ‘the Spirit says …’, is disappointing. It reduces the Bible to being a rule book. Remember the Pharisees who idolised the Law instead of following the Spirit of the Law.

Dave says: ‘The Bible claims to be the truth’. It certainly contains truth, but is not exhaustive. Truth can come from other sources, and as far as I am aware, the Bible, as an inanimate object, is not capable of making such a claim. Truth comes from Jesus, and we must interpret the Bible, which is indeed God's Word, in the light of his teaching and gifts.

Finally, I would like to comment on Dave's final paragraph. I find his definition of Evangelical Christians as ‘those who believe that the Bible is the Word of God’, to be a rather confusing one. It implies that non- Evangelical Christians do not believe the Bible to be the Word of God. However, most Christians — Anglicans, Methodists, Catholics, Presbyterians, Orthodox, Copts, Lutherans — believe the Bible to be the Word of God. They accept, like Paul, that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching” (2 Tim. 3:16). By the way some would claim the there are more than the 66 books in the Bible which Dave points out! However, they must all be careful to follow Jesus, and not just worship the book which contains his name.

I look forward to the continued success of your publications.

With all best wishes I remain, Yours sincerely,

Johan Bergström-Allen