Watch Steve McVey’s video, “Christian Lie #23: “You should live by the teachings of the Bible”" and my comments follow…
Steve, rightly, says in this video…
“We are not living by the teachings of the Bible… we are living by the life of Christ in us”
Or, you’ve probably heard the word “Bible” made into an acronym — Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth…
All LIES!
The Bible was never meant to be a rulebook, a list of “do this and don’t do that”, Christ came to set you free from that Pharisee-like living.
The scariest thing in Christianity today…
This absolutely SCARES the pants off some Christians. They think, “if we don’t have a guide, Christians will just start sinning like crazy!” But like Steve says, if we’re opening to the expression of the life of Christ in us, we will NEVER act in a way that’s contrary to scripture.
If this idea of living completely out of Christ, instead of using the Bible as your guide scares you, I want you to imagine yourself as the apostle Paul…
Remember, the apostle Paul didn’t even HAVE a Bible as we know it…
You’ve spent your whole life being a pharisee of the highest degree… you know the torah (old testament) backwards and forwards, you’ve done your best to follow ALL its “do this and don’t do that” laws, codes, and decrees. Then you realize Christ came and His being crucified suddenly set you free from the “law” you’ve lived your whole entire life by. And to make matters worse — there’s NO new testament to serve as an example of what this expression of Christ would look like.
Plus, the only teachings of Jesus you know are what you’ve heard second hand from a bunch of undeducated (at least religiously) guys who followed him around for a couple years.
You think you’re scared?
Imagine how Paul must have felt!
He had NO CHOICE but to listen to the Holy Spirit in his life… open to allowing Christ to express himself through him each and every day… and apparently he did a good enough job that some of his writings ended up the majority of the New Testament of the Bible.
When Paul was writing those letters he probably didn’t know they would later become scripture, he was simply doing his best to let the life of Christ be expressed through him–and trying to help new Christians and new churches learn how to do it too.
He CERTAINLY didn’t intend for those Christians (or all Christians from then on) to treat his writings like a new set of rules, regulations, or moral code…
So the idea that we should “live by the Bible” is a Lie — we’re alive to Christ and have his Holy Spirit for a reason! When you hear this lie, just think of Paul… put yourself in his shoes… and you’ll quickly remember the truth!
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5 Things I’m Grateful For Today:
- Supposed to be 60 somethin’ degrees today!
- Computer wasn’t working great yesterday, but it seems to be doing well today
- COFFEE!
- God is more powerful and has better plans than me…
- I ordered a new version the of the Bible “the message” should be here soon!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
kim farough 08.07.09 at 5:06 am
hi calebo,
i am just learning about grace in my life. i was always taught that you must do this or you must do that to get into Gods love and acceptance. learning about grace has set me free! now i WANT to instead of HAVE to live a life that is good. i never have to worry about not having Gods love again! wow what a concept! no matter what i do he will love me the same today and tomarrow. thank you for your words of encouragement. i love your sense of humor!
kim
calebo 09.08.09 at 3:15 pm
@ Kim: Heya! Thanks for the kind words