Blog

Business development and communications for growing businesses.

The Term Biblical

Posted Oct 3 2009 by Jonathan Brink in , , with 6 Comments

bible

Recently I was watching a video on a church related topic and one of the people in the video kept saying, “These things must take place to be Biblical.” And something inside of me kept poking me in the side when he said that.  So I sat with it for about six point two seconds and then it hit me.

I think I’ve finally gotten my head around why the word, “Biblical” really bugs me.  When someone creates a distinction of what is Biblical, it creates a framework for that person says the Bible says is acceptable.  It’s a judgment or interpretation the person is making, or in other words, what me must do be considered, “acceptable.”

That’s religion.

And it flies in the face of grace because the Good News is, “We begin acceptable.”  We can’t earn it.  We can only enjoy it and embrace it into our lives.  But once we create a distinction of what is “acceptable” we’ve removed ourselves from that grace.  We’ve gone back to the old way which is to earn it.  And our practices become something to earn God’s love as opposed to something that enhances our enjoyment of the living God.

Tags:  Categories: , ,

About the Author

Jonathan BrinkI am an business development and communications consultant. I am also the senior editor and publisher for Civitas Press. I recently published, Discovering The God Imagination: Reconstructing A Whole, New Christianity. (Civitas, 2011)View all posts by Jonathan Brink →

  • http://jmcq.blogspot.com/ Jeff McQ

    I can't speak to the context in which the guy on television was speaking, but to be honest, the word “Biblical” has been one of my favorite words. To me, it simply refers to something found in the Bible, and when I'm talking about spiritual matters, it carries more weight with me as opposed to religious tradition or accepted doctrine. Of course my interpretation is all over such statements; and so it is with all of us. We can't apply the Bible to our lives in any way without making some sort of inference as to what we think it means. But that doesn't necessarily mean there has to be a judgment rendered against others by saying something is “Biblical.” I can relate to what you're saying, however, if we add a level of context to it. People *do* often use the word Bibilical abusively, to suggest their interpretation is right, and others are wrong. (I think that was my primary beef with the book “Pagan Christianity”, although I liked the information in it.) But I wonder if it's too much of a blanket statement to say the word “Biblical” is bad in general, and do away with it. If you really feel that, could you give an example of some other phrase we could use that felt less judgmental? Sorry for rambling… :)

  • http://jmcq.blogspot.com/ Jeff McQ

    I can't speak to the context in which the guy on television was speaking, but to be honest, the word “Biblical” has been one of my favorite words. To me, it simply refers to something found in the Bible, and when I'm talking about spiritual matters, it carries more weight with me as opposed to religious tradition or accepted doctrine. Of course my interpretation is all over such statements; and so it is with all of us. We can't apply the Bible to our lives in any way without making some sort of inference as to what we think it means. But that doesn't necessarily mean there has to be a judgment rendered against others by saying something is “Biblical.” I can relate to what you're saying, however, if we add a level of context to it. People *do* often use the word Bibilical abusively, to suggest their interpretation is right, and others are wrong. (I think that was my primary beef with the book “Pagan Christianity”, although I liked the information in it.) But I wonder if it's too much of a blanket statement to say the word “Biblical” is bad in general, and do away with it. If you really feel that, could you give an example of some other phrase we could use that felt less judgmental? Sorry for rambling… :)

  • http://jonathanbrink.com Jonathan Brink

    I do understand your appreciation for the word. When we use it for ourselves I can see how it provides a good sense of the word. We draw meaning and value from the Bible.

    My concern is when the person using it is defining what is acceptable for other people it becomes a problem for me, because at that moment it becomes an interpretation that has a specific meaning. And we take great risk when we do that.

    And to make matters worse, we're not dealing with the original person's interpretation of that meaning but what they second persons hears and interprets it to mean. That chain creates a terrible problem that goes on and on.

  • http://jonathanbrink.com Jonathan Brink

    I do understand your appreciation for the word. When we use it for ourselves I can see how it provides a good sense of the word. We draw meaning and value from the Bible.

    My concern is when the person using it is defining what is acceptable for other people it becomes a problem for me, because at that moment it becomes an interpretation that has a specific meaning. And we take great risk when we do that.

    And to make matters worse, we're not dealing with the original person's interpretation of that meaning but what they second persons hears and interprets it to mean. That chain creates a terrible problem that goes on and on.

  • http://www.purechristianity.blogs.com/ Johnny Brooks

    Great thoughts. I shared it on facebook, hope you don't mind.

  • http://www.purechristianity.blogs.com/ Johnny Brooks

    Great thoughts. I shared it on facebook, hope you don't mind.

Business development and communications for growing businesses.