What's of Man & What's of God...?

Just had this following conversation elsewhere ... I frequently share the truth-tid-bits that I find here, there, everywhere, in my daily readings ... sending them to a few discussion lists that I frequent. Some receive them joyously, hungrily ... others object, as they don't all have an overtly "Christian" flavor.

I thought I'd share this conversation, in case it helps anyone else to understand where I'm coming from (today, right now ... can't promise what I'll see tomorrow, LOL!):


She: I guess I am not understanding you, Dena. When I read the articles you post, it is usually written by man.

Me: I'll try to help you understand me, XXXXXX. I see that while we're here on earth, in limited-human form, the ONLY way we can encounter God is through the human-filter ... whether it's what another person has written (including the Bible), or what someone speaks, or what God says in my own heart ... it's coming through a *human*.

I see that God showed us that He could communicate directly, without human intervention, when He wrote the commandments on stone tablets. BUT - for reasons of His own, He has chosen to communicate through human beings ... despite (or perhaps because?) knowing that we are fallible (for He knows how we're made, having made us). He chooses to use fallible humans to communicate -- including in the Bible. Why? I believe it's so we would see the obvious -- that the Bible is not infallible/inerrant -- that we're not to worship it, that we're not to rely upon it, but that we're to use it, and the many accounts of personal encounters folks had with God IN it, to have our *own* personal encounters with the Living God.

Reading about them, in the Bible, whets my appetite for having that very thing myself. I am not content to just read about them. I don't want a second-hand relationship with God -- I want a first-hand experience with God. I won't settle for less. I can't.

The things I share are written by folks who are experiencing God ... in unique ways. I love looking for the congruent message ... so often they share the same message, even though I doubt that any of them knows the others! It's like finding God's clues, all over the place ... for He is everywhere.

I see/hear/sense God in everything around me. He is Omnipresence. He is All in All. In Him we live and move and have our being. There is nowhere I can go where He is not. He is the very Space within and between every atom, ... He is the very Source of all that is -- the very Energy that holds all things together. He is All-Truth, He is All-Life, He is All-Wisdom. He speaks through anything and everything ... He is always speaking. The question is, are we tuning in, or limiting our reception?

I cannot any longer limit my reception/experience of Him in just the scriptures ... nor do I believe that the scriptures were intended to be our only source of His truth. His truth permeates the planet, permeates all peoples. all cultures, all religions, all sciences, all realities. I THRILL to find the same truth He's shown me in my heart, in SO many vastly unique reSources...!

Once upon a time, I was afraid to venture outside of the Bible. I wouldn't read anything but. And then Christ started showing up in all the places where I thought He wasn't "supposed" to be. He IS Truth, no matter what particular manifestation it happens to be. I do not want to limit myself to what *I* think He should speak through. I want to hear Him, all of Him, in any way He chooses to speak.

The Bible is written by men. Humans. Fallible people, like you, like me. That's the only kind of people God has available to work with. By His choice. By His design. Did He inspire the scriptures? Sure! He inspired you, too ... and me. And all of us. We're all God-breathed. God-inspired. But we're not infallible ... and neither are the scriptures ... and neither did God inspire anyone to write that the scriptures are infallible, in the scriptures.

"Infallible and inerrant" are terms that man has given to scripture ... that's meant to be obvious to us -- so that we would *use* the scriptures (for they are "useful"), and *follow* the Spirit, who alone leads us into all truth.

The Bible itself (in the book of John) tells us that Jesus said/did more things than could be recorded in all the books of the world -- which includes the Bible.


She: I guess what it comes down to is God's Word is more important to me than mans.

Me: Yes, of course! But God's word is not the Bible. God's word (logos/dabhar) is that which He speaks to you, through the Spirit. Man's word would actually include much of the scriptures -- and much (most?) of the interpretation of the scriptures.

I encourage you to follow God's word ... but perhaps we can let HIM define what His word actually is ...

Shalom, Dena