Secondly, I need to be especially aware of the times when I have so mixed my inner desires and experience with what I claim is God’s word, that God’s word is merely a ventriloquist’s dummy for my own thoughts—making doctrines out of my desires, as Hilary puts it. Perhaps I need to ask myself more carefully whether I want something I claim God says to be true. Perhaps I need to ask when God last said something in my reading that I did not like or that the world did not already say.Thirdly, I need to return to the spiritual emphases of Athanasius, Hilary, Aquinas, as well as the numerous evangelical leaders who have stressed that reading the Bible is a spiritual exercise. I should read with prayer and with humility, but also, in view of the way that violent readings of God’s word still strike a chord within me, I should read repentantly—repenting of my ongoing desire to lay hands on God. Themelios, vol. 39, issue 1, p. 7.
Posted on: Sat, 03 May 2014 03:55:22 +0000
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