The Bible vs. Expressions of Biblical Principles

I just wanted to offer a brief PSA.

In case you were unaware, the cultural norms with which you (and maybe your parents and your parents' parents) were raised are not the Bible.

The Bible doesn't tell the women to do all the cookin' and the cleanin' or that they can't wear pants. The Bible doesn't even say that a woman has to take her husband's last name.

The Bible never prescribes a form of government, nor does it tell us to say the Pledge of Allegiance at school every morning.

The Bible doesn't tell you to vote Republican or even that you have to vote at all.

The Bible never mentions wearing your Sunday Best to church on Sunday morning or even worshipping on Sunday morning, at all!

Now, perhaps these cultural and familial norms were based on Biblical principles at one point in the distant past, and maybe your family and church actively observe such practices in an intentional effort to apply Biblical principles, but we must never make our customs, even those based on Biblical principles, tantamount to the voice of God. We must be ever wary of equating our individual expressions of Biblical principles with the Scriptures themselves.

Conversely...

In case you were unaware, your modern sensibilities are not the Bible, either.

The Bible never tells us that Christianity is going to make us warm and fuzzy all over or that we're going to get along with everybody.

The Bible never tells us that we have to emphasize diversity or inclusion.

The Bible doesn't tell us to follow our hearts, do what makes us happy, or seek self-fulfillment.

The Bible certainly doesn't tell you to vote Democrat!

The Bible actually does tell us things that are offensive to our modern ears, like that women shouldn't be clergy and that homosexuality is a sin.

Again, I will grant that some of these beliefs may be expressions of Biblical principles. However, just as conservatives tend to confuse their cultural and familial norms with the Bible, so, too, do modernists mistake their so-called evolved ethical standards for those of the Bible, or, when the Bible itself has been rejected (which is quite often among theological liberals), those of God Himself. These historical iconoclasts get so caught up rejecting their parents' abuses of the Bible that they eisegete their own worldview into the Bible as badly as any past generation ever did.

Complicating this matter greatly are discussions about how we view the Scriptures, the role Tradition serves in the life of the Church, etc., but even amongst those who claim to base their beliefs and practices on the Bible, we find this impulse to equate our interpretations and applications of the Bible with the words of the Bible itself. I think members of all traditions--Roman Catholic or Protestant; Liberal or Conservative; Episcopalian, Presbyterian, or Congregationalist--suffer from this nagging tendency. We would all do well to evaluate how many of our firmly held beliefs fall into this category of expressions of Biblical principles, and we should strive to interact graciously with brethren of other valid Christian traditions.

In other words, before you say Thus saith the Lord, make sure it was the Lord, and not just your grandpa or Pastor Bob, who actually said it.

PSA complete.

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Always Reforming

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