A Danger to God Himself

A blog about living a great life without God—because, really, isn’t that where we all find ourselves? What does it even mean to “have” God in your life?

  • Home
  • About Me
  • My Book
  • Who should read this blog?
  • Contact Me

Does God speak through scripture? Yes and no

December 10, 2015 By John Draper 3 Comments

scripture

All religions have scripture, the word of God funneled through specific men. Which, when you think about it, it’s an admission that God doesn’t speak to the mass of us. That is, we yearn and yearn to hear what God wants from us—but He’s silent and invisible. He says nothing. So, desperate, we cast about for someone human to give us revelation—an Oracle.

Consider the early Christians. They had no scripture, as such, just stories passed around the campfire about Jesus, which was fine. Really, there was no need for parsing theological niceties. The world was about to end. Just make sure you’re wearing clean underwear.

But, as it turns out, the world didn’t end. Jesus didn’t return—which was an embarrassment, frankly. Once they explained this all away, the early Christians set about looking for scripture. They needed the silent God to speak.

What they had were letters Paul had written to various churches, letters that are full of contradictions and half-formed theology. So they called them scripture eventually. And then the gospels were written, all influenced by the theology of Paul and each composed by and for a different Jesus community. The most popular of these gospels became scripture. Survival of the Fittest.

Ergo scripture.

But we’re no better off than we were without scripture. It’s not like scripture really solves the whole problem of Knowing God’s Will. The Bible’s often vague and confusing. Want to start a fight? Go to your local bar, expound loudly about your assuredness of What Scripture Says and watch the fur fly.

But what makes us think that the God Who Hides would suddenly open Himself up to the various authors of scripture? If He could do that, why not just reveal revelation to everyone? Why the intermediary of scripture? Just talk to us. But He doesn’t. He hides.

Ergo scripture.

And it’s all about how to please God—not really stuff we need. If God can reveal Himself to men and women, why not reveal the cure for cancer? Lord, just reveal it to one scientist! Doesn’t haven’t to be everyone. Just one guy, like when you told Paul the secrets of the Godhead. Is it really that crucial that we have correct doctrine—that we have a correct understanding of God? Is God even understandable?

Why is that so important?

We just accept the fact that God has given us doctors and scientists to ferret out the mysteries of life and death, but correct doctrine, correct doctrine is so important that He’s going to circumvent all this and speak specifically to select men and women—mostly men—who will write down what they hear and hand it off to the rest of us hapless boobs. But, ironically, scripture doesn’t solve anything, as I’ve already said. People piss and fight over correct doctrine endlessly, each citing verses, often the very same verses.

So what’s my point? Go ahead and read your scripture. But pick and choose what you’ll attend to. Use your brain. Focus more on reason than revelation. All holy books are full of gems. But you’re just as likely to encounter profound truth over a beer with a buddy—or by reading The Brothers Karamazov. Or having really good sex. Or getting high—it will be legal everywhere pretty soon. (I recommend edibles) Truth is everywhere waiting to be discovered.

 

Photo: Syrian refugees, one of them holding copy of the Koran, shout Islamic slogans against Assad at Boynuyogun refugee camp in Hatay province in Turkey. Syrian border March 16, 2012 by Freedom House CC BY 2.0

*****

If you liked this blog post, why not subscribe to my blog? It’s free and in return I’ll send you the first two chapters of my novel, A Danger to God Himself, for free. Click here to subscribe. Meanwhile, feel free to use the little share buttons below to share this post with your friends

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)

Related

About John Draper

John Draper is the author of the novel A Danger to God Himself

Comments

  1. Reiki Awakening says

    December 11, 2015 at 2:12 pm

    Keep up the searching. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  2. matthagen says

    December 13, 2015 at 7:20 pm

    If more people really read scripture, especially with an open mind, there would probably be a lot more agnostics out there.

    Thanks for taking us on the journey!

    Reply
    • John says

      December 21, 2015 at 3:13 pm

      Yeah, people bring all sorts of preconceived ideas to the table when they read scripture. It’s really hard to, say, read the gospels without interpreting the words through the lens of everything our culture has told us about Jesus Christ

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

FREE!

My novel,

A Danger

to God Himself

Subscribe to my blog and I'll send you an e-book copy--for free! No kidding! It's a dark comedy about a Mormon missionary who goes insane on his mission.
We respect your privacy.

Places John can be found

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Find John on Goodreads

Find John on Goodreads

Archives

Categories

  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2019 · Site created & Maintained by Bakerview Consulting

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkRead more