The Bible
By Darrel Baergen

A pastor once said, “Worship God and use the Bible; or, worship the Bible and use God.” In II Corinthians 4:2 Paul warned about “handling the word of God... deceitfully.”

Our denomination has been in the grip of argument over the inerrancy of Scripture. The Bible has become the battleground. Is this what God intended when He gave us his Word? Is the Bible to be worshipped? Or is it to be studied, applied and used in everyday living?

When Scripture is relevant, God’s Word is active. When Scripture is worshipped, God’s Word becomes inactive. It becomes an icon of the church. Touch the Bible when we pray. Open the pages blindly and read extrapolated portions. Seek interpretations that meet personal definitions. Discuss passages without appreciation of history or heritage.

To place the Bible on a pedestal is to take the Word of God away from the people of God. To worship the Bible is to remove it from practice. Leave the Bible on the altar table or the dining table or the pulpit. Fold it in the hand, raise it in a gesture, praise it in reverential verbiage and the Bible becomes the center of worship.

Yet the Scripture says this kind of behavior is tantamount to idolatry. Scripture teaches us to worship God as it defines his presence in his Son, Jesus. It is God, whom the Bible defines, that is to be the center of worship. “Praise God from whom all blessings flow,” the poet has said. We are called to worship God and use the Bible — not the other way around.

The Bible is to be studied, taught and used. We are to learn and examine Scripture to make us more useful. We are to come together to worship God, hear the Scripture amplified, and then go out into our world taking God’s Word with us to be effective witnesses. In short, we are to use the Bible.

It is easy for us to criticize some religious practices that venerate symbols. The cross becomes an adornment for an altar or a necklace and loses its central meaning. The mother of our Lord stands in marble silence as an immobile statue to be worshipped as equal with her Son. Apostles are painted with haloes and upraised eyes reflecting little of the intense activity to which they were devoted.

Do we not allow the Bible to become a symbol as well? Ornate covers, special bindings, engraved names of ownership, fashionable colors, and pages with gold edges—the beauty is in the book. We place it in conspicuous places to show it off.

Worship the Bible and one has no need to worship God. Worship the Bible and one has no need to follow its precepts. Worship the Bible and forget the Christ of the Bible and His messages of hope, challenge, conviction and salvation.

“Worship God and use the Bible, or, worship the Bible and use God.” The choice is ours. The results define our ministry and define our relationships—to God and to each other.

Darrel Baergen, retired head of the Communication Department at Hardin-Simmons University, lives in Abilene, Texas

June 2004