Spirituality and Scripture

Jared's discussion of scripture in relation to spirituality leads perfectly into the continual "story" of how scripture relates to us that we will be discussing tonight in Living Room. Please come and experience the love of our precious Lord surrounding you as we share our conversation together...

“Many of us have read the Bible as if it were merely a mosaic of little bits – theological bits, moral bits, historical-critical bits, sermon bits, devotional bits. But when we read the Bible in such a fragmented way, we ignore its divine author’s intention to shape our lives through its story.”
– Bartholomew & Green in The Drama of Scripture

How does and/or can a story shape our lives?
Why do we believe the Bible does this better than other books?

“One does not consider closely enough how barbarous the concepts are by which we Europeans still live. That men have been capable of believing that “salvation of the soul” depended on a book! – And they tell me this is still believed today. What is the point of scientific education, criticism and hermeneutics if such a lunatic exposition of the Bible as is still cultivated by the church has not yet turned the blush of shame into a permanent skin color?”
– Nietzsche in The Will to Power

“So, since we were too weak to discover truth by pure reason and therefore needed the authority of [Scripture], I now began to believe that you could not possibly have given such supreme authority to these Scripture all over the world, unless it had been your wish that by means of them men should both believe in you and seek after you.”
– St. Augustine in his Confessions.

Discuss the differences between these two views of Scripture and Spirituality

“In Reformed theology, the law of God is seen to play an important role in sanctification.
Its three functions or uses are well known: to convict of sin, to restrain evildoers and to
instruct believers.”
– Sinclair Ferguson in Christian Spirituality: 5 Views of Sanctification

How does morality play a role in spirituality?
Is it important?
Where does the Bible fit into this?

“What must you to do to look honestly in the mirror of the Word? The first requirement is that you must not look at the mirror but look in the mirror and see yourself. God’s Word is indeed the mirror. But oh how enormously complicated we make it. How much belongs to God’s Word? Which books are authentic? Are they really written by apostles, and are the apostles really trustworthy? As for ways of reading, there are thirty thousand different ways. And then there is this crowd or rush of scholars and opinions, and learned opinions and unlearned opinions about how the particular passage is to be understood. Is it not true that all this seems to be rather complicated? God’s Word is the mirror — in reading it or hearing it, I am supposed to see myself in the mirror.”
– Soren Kierkegaard in Provocations