Can the Bible become an Idol and if so what does that look like?

[Patrick Lauser]

Their extra biblical rules were just more stringent than what the word said.

I have almost had to argue against the opposite idea on this site: that the only problem with the Pharisees was that they took away from the Law sometimes. But really they did both: adding to, and taking away.

"Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;
And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition." - Matthew 15:3-4

"Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!
Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?
...
And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein." - Matthew 23:18-17,21

"Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law?" - John 7:19

"But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?" - John 5:47

And also when they added to Scripture, or were too strict in their idea of it, Christ again responds to this as a disrespect to Scripture:
"Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?
...But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless." - Matthew 12:5,7

He is fine with you following rules if you never know the father.

I agree, if by "following rules" you mean following some rules but not the most important ones, as in obeying "read the Bible" but not obeying "honor the Bible", which includes "obey the Bible".
"He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me:" - John 14:21

If you're not comfortable saying that that person has "idolized" the bible (okay, maybe that's a little hyperbolic, but you know what he meant), then what would you call it?

I would call it rejection of the Bible. If someone studies the Bible and has no desire to obey it, they have the same interest in the Bible that an atheist would have (or perhaps a demon). They have rejected the Scriptures far more than someone who has no knowledge of them. The more you know God's Word, the greater responsibility you have to follow it. In any case I would not say that someone has any respect for Scripture unless they show some fruit of it in their actions. You have to be a "doer", not a "hearer".

 

[Asforme&myhouse]

If you're not comfortable saying that that person has "idolized" the bible (okay, maybe that's a little hyperbolic, but you know what he meant), then what would you call it? What is going on when a person heavily emphasizes scripture study and their acquisition of factoid knowledge and shows no real concern for the love or the Spirit that is supposed to characterize and indwell true disciples of Christ? How would you refer to that situation?

I would say that person is puffed up, lacking love and probably isn’t a believer. They would be taking away from or adding to Scripture and not following Scripture, so it’s a rejection of Scripture not an idolization of it. My concern is that using the terminology of Scripture being an idol has the effect undermining the importance of Scripture to the minds of young believers or those who are new to the faith. Using that type of hyperbolic terminology has the tendency to push young believers toward some form of Montanism and believing that their experiences supersede the written word.

 

[rockfox]

whether a leather-bound KJV could morph into a golden book that people would then be expected to bow down to and worship

Well as I stated before, I have run into an individual or two who basically attributes to the KJV magical powers. Reminds me of the snake on the staff of Moses.

There is no other standard we can trust, there is no other measure by which we must check the vagaries of the doctrines of men. The Bible is all we have to stand on.

And yet men looking at the Bible keep coming to different conclusions. Human reasoning is not infallible.

But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.

How can you act like I’m being absurd to insinuate that you are referring to Protestants as a whole and then make statements like this?

Behaviors of Protestants can be AN example of making the Bible an idol. But just because Protestants by and large don't do such and such, doesn't mean that people don't or that it isn't an example of how one might make the Bible an idol.

@rockfox , the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, self control etc. Protestants don’t exhibit any of these fruits? Is that what you are asserting?

In my experience? By and large no.

 

[andrew]

If you're not comfortable saying that that person has "idolized" the bible (okay, maybe that's a little hyperbolic, but you know what he meant), then what would you call it? What is going on when a person heavily emphasizes scripture study and their acquisition of factoid knowledge and shows no real concern for the love or the Spirit that is supposed to characterize and indwell true disciples of Christ? How would you refer to that situation?

I would call it rejection of the Bible. If someone studies the Bible and has no desire to obey it, they have the same interest in the Bible that an atheist would have (or perhaps a demon). They have rejected the Scriptures far more than someone who has no knowledge of them. The more you know God's Word, the greater responsibility you have to follow it. In any case I would not say that someone has any respect for Scripture unless they show some fruit of it in their actions. You have to be a "doer", not a "hearer".

I would say that person is puffed up, lacking love and probably isn’t a believer. They would be taking away from or adding to Scripture and not following Scripture, so it’s a rejection of Scripture not an idolization of it. My concern is that using the terminology of Scripture being an idol has the effect undermining the importance of Scripture to the minds of young believers or those who are new to the faith. Using that type of hyperbolic terminology has the tendency to push young believers toward some form of Montanism and believing that their experiences supersede the written word.

Yeah, that's what I kinda figured, so I'm going to try to bow back out now. As said above, I get how the use of the term "idol' could get under y'all's skin, especially when used in the phrase "can the bible become an idol?". But the idea that you can have too much of a good thing, no matter how good the thing, is so trivial that the fact that y'all are also resisting that terminology means something else is going on.

Psychologically speaking, anything that gives us a dopamine shot when we pull the lever can become addictive. And it's possible to become addicted to good things (see, e.g., "workaholic"), sometimes for bad reasons, sometimes for misguided 'good' reasons (or maybe 'good intentions' is more accurate). A person can think they're on the right track because they're addicted to being at the office instead of hitting the crack pipe, but it's still an addiction, and often is a manifestation of some underlying issue(s) driving the compulsion that aren't so healthy or 'good'. Again, this is trivial stuff to the point of being basically self-evident. Not sure why it's so hard to accept here and don't want to speculate, so I'm out.

@Soldier's Psalm, I encourage y0u to keep working out your thoughts on this subject, whether in this forum or just in your head. Your observation is spot on, you just might want to tweak the language you use to communicate with people who for whatever reason are going to take issue with your conclusions.

 

[yoderfamily]

idol
noun
\ ˈī-dᵊl \
Definition of idol


1: an object of extreme devotion movie idol also : IDEAL sense 2
2: a representation or symbol of an object of worship broadly : a false god
3a: a likeness of something
obsolete : PRETENDER, IMPOSTOR
4: a false conception : FALLACY
5: a form or appearance visible but without substance
Definition 1 from the Merriam Webster seems to fit this discussion.

 

[Soldier's Psalm]

@Soldier's Psalm, I encourage y0u to keep working out your thoughts on this subject, whether in this forum or just in your head. Your observation is spot on, you just might want to tweak the language you use to communicate with people who for whatever reason are going to take issue with your conclusions.

You are right. I need to reword the question behind the thought to keep people from being so defensive. That was just the heart of the thought and I wanted to jump right at it without all the fanfare. @yoderfamily that is exactly the definition I am thinking. Even number one fits. An object of extreme devotion. It is easy to get at the KJV folks being wrong when we are not one. Its a little harder when we are Bible scholars lacking love for one another. Are we any different than the world at that point? I don't think so. We are the world.... We just have rules.

 

[The Revolting Man]

Its a little harder when we are Bible scholars lacking love for one another. Are we any different than the world at that point? I don't think so. We are the world.... We just have rules.

That's not even possible. The whole point of Torah and the Prophets and obviously then the New Testament is "Lover thy neighbor as thy self." An unloving Bible scholar is an oxymoron.