I need to be clear that my comments about stapling sermons to the back was just a euphemism to demonstrate through absurdity. I really don’t think that should happen.
But I completely agree with the rest of your post. That is pretty much exactly how I see the whole thing.
I moved from Seattle to the bible belt and, because I’m in a southern gospel band that visits a LOT of small churches around here, I see a lot of different perspectives and sometimes some recurring themes that kind of bother me. One is a huge emphasis on eternal firey hell for the lost (which I don’t believe in) and the other is an almost worship of the bible.
But like you said, It is really about our relationship with Him in prayer, lifestyle meditation, AND his word which has value as pointed out in the OP.
You can be a Christian without ever seeing or holding a bible. It is not necessary, though it is very useful.
But the other point is that often we read the bible as though it was written today, though it was not. It means that when the verse in the OP is used, people subconsciously infer that “scripture” means “the bible”. But that is not what he was talking about. It didn’t exist yet.
Yes, I agree. I’m sure you’ve now seen my attempt at a more accurate reply. I think we’re on the same page.
The number of pages was my attempt at humor, and yet when typed you can’t see the wry grin on my face.
For many years I was active in outreach ministries. Like you said of yours, that took me into many very different churches. One of the best summations of the goodness of having all denominations was from a friend who worked in a sheriff’s office. She talked of the ministries to inmates in their jail and pointed out that some denominations provided for a lot of financial needs for inmates but were afraid of visiting inmates, some churches sent people in to minister to inmates but had no money to give, others ministered to families of inmates and some denominations provided literature for the spiritual teaching of inmates. All were needed but no one church provided all. It’s a simplistic example but at the time helped me to be more patient and accepting of the churches that weren’t “mine.” And that pertains to your original question because in relationship, we don’t each have to do ALL the work, we do what God directs us to do.