The Split off Thread - The Thread with no Name

[Ohio]

I have to disagree that "the Bible must be judged by that yardstick." Our compass within leads us to God, but cannot be used to evaluate His every dealing with man. Actually, it is our yardstick which needs calibration by the word of God.

Originally Posted by zeek

How better to read the Bible than with such inner light as we have from God? Without that light the biblical text is nothing but dead letters.

You are talking about two strikingly different scenes here.

One is using the wisdom of the world to discredit the word of God.

The other is having our heart enlightened by the scripture to hear God's speaking.

[zeek]

Originally Posted by Ohio

You are talking about two strikingly different scenes here.
One is using the wisdom of the world to discredit the word of God.
The other is having our heart enlightened by the scripture to hear God's speaking.

Your the one who talked about the wisdom of the world not me. Again you offer a false option. Paul says in Romans 2:13-15 "For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them."

That's what C.S. Lewis was talking aboput in the passage I quoted. That is a fact quite apart from the Bible, as Paul makes clear. By the way, when he was making it clear, he was doing so based on his vision of Jesus which was also quite apart from the Bible, in as much as his writing had not yet been canonized. He goes on to point out that God appeared to Abraham also independent of the giving of the law, i.e. the Hebrew Bible as it was extant at the time Paul wrote Romans.

So C.S Lewis and the Bible itself testify that the wisdom of the world or the Bible are not the only two option. And, as indicated before, without the light within, the inner compass, the Bible is worthless.

Among the fundamentalist are those who wish to practice a form of idolatry which we might call "Bible-olatry": worship of the Bible. To put anything in place of God is an abomination. No?

By the way, am I being "straightforward" and "candid" enough in my "communication", Ohio? Because, I want to be sure you know what I mean.