TO DESPISE THE SCRIPTURES IS TO DESPISE GOD

Theistic evolutionists (“Christian evolutionists”) and others often charge us with “idolatry.” They claim that we idolize and worship the Bible instead of Jesus. Consequently, they more specifically charge us with “bibliolatry,” as one Facebook respondent had done:

·       Instead of worshipping Jesus, you worship the Bible. This is nothing less than idolatry, the worshipping of an idol. You think that God is pleased you’re your pagan bibliolatry.

Must we choose either Jesus or His teaching? Why should not the two go together, as Jesus taught:

·       Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them… Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.  Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. (John 14:21-24; also John 15:7-15)

If we love Jesus, we will keep His Word. If we don’t keep His Word, it means that we don’t love Him. We cannot love Jesus by baking for Him or sweeping His floors. The only way we love Him is by abiding in His Word. This abiding determines all else – faith, worship, obedience, and even loving Him.

What does it mean to love or worship Jesus apart from His Word? Without the revelation of the Word, we bound to worship Him according to our imaginations, something forbidden, a form of idolatry (John 4:23-24).

The Bible consistently reveals that loving God is a matter of loving His Word. Scripture says as much. God and His Word go together as does H₂O and water. They are inseparable:

·       I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name [God Himself] and your word. (Psalm 138:2)

Consequently, hating Him is hating His Word. The two are inseparable! God demonstrated this to King David, when He confronted him through the prophet about his adultery with Bathsheva:

·       Then Nathan [the Prophet] said to David, “… This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.  I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite [Bathsheva’s husband] with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ (2 Sam. 12:7-10)

Here, “despising the word of the Lord” is used interchangeably with “despised me.” These two concepts are inseparable. When we reject God’s Word, it is tantamount to rejecting Him.

·       "But anyone who sins defiantly…blasphemes the LORD, and that person must be cut off from his people. Because he has despised the LORD'S word and broken his commands, that person must surely be cut off; his guilt remains on him" (Numbers 15:30-31).

To blaspheme the Lord is to despise His Word. To honor Him is to honor His Word. Therefore, every trial that we experience is a matter of whether we will obey His Word or not. When we put our own reasoning above His Word, we despise the Word and have failed the test.

Why then are we charged with “bibliolatry?” Either our detractors do not know the Word or perhaps they even despise it. I pray that it is the less serious explanation – the first one – and that they might see the error of their charge.