I understand this is a hot topic, but one that I really don't think we often preach correctly.
Jesus Christ is alive. He thinks, acts, and we can get to know Him. He said His sheep hear His voice, and so I have conversations with Him. When I talk to Him I can tell He is alive and active. The first words He ever spoke to me were, "Read Your Bible".
Now I read my bible and continue to study it. Indeed, He now often tells me to read this chapter and that verse, but never has the Bible had a conversation with me.
I see a problem in Christianity, and that is that some seem to rarely hear from the small voice of the Lord. Of course there is also the problem of discerning the spirits, but if you can not hear to begin with, you can't discern whether who you are hearing from is an evil spirit or the Spirit of God. So the first problem is to get people to turn the Lord and listen, and that mean preaching Jesus Christ as the Word of God.
It seems to me that if we tell others the Bible is the living Word of God (and please note, I do not have a problem calling the Bible the Word of God because it is words that were inspired to be written by Go), then we give people the idea that reading the Bible saves them. If the Bible is the living, powerful, Word of God, then the Bible can decide to save them and act on that decision, and that is not according to the Scriptures.
What I would really like is for someone to show me how or why they think it is the Bible that is referred to as the living Word of God and not the Scriptures. What proof do you have that shows the writings are alive as opposed to One that talks to us via the small voice?
Jesus Christ is alive. He thinks, acts, and we can get to know Him. He said His sheep hear His voice, and so I have conversations with Him. When I talk to Him I can tell He is alive and active. The first words He ever spoke to me were, "Read Your Bible".
Now I read my bible and continue to study it. Indeed, He now often tells me to read this chapter and that verse, but never has the Bible had a conversation with me.
I see a problem in Christianity, and that is that some seem to rarely hear from the small voice of the Lord. Of course there is also the problem of discerning the spirits, but if you can not hear to begin with, you can't discern whether who you are hearing from is an evil spirit or the Spirit of God. So the first problem is to get people to turn the Lord and listen, and that mean preaching Jesus Christ as the Word of God.
It seems to me that if we tell others the Bible is the living Word of God (and please note, I do not have a problem calling the Bible the Word of God because it is words that were inspired to be written by Go), then we give people the idea that reading the Bible saves them. If the Bible is the living, powerful, Word of God, then the Bible can decide to save them and act on that decision, and that is not according to the Scriptures.
What I would really like is for someone to show me how or why they think it is the Bible that is referred to as the living Word of God and not the Scriptures. What proof do you have that shows the writings are alive as opposed to One that talks to us via the small voice?