The word inspiration has been so maligned by theological grandstanding on both sides of the aisle, that its pristine meaning has now been banished into the linguistic equivalent of Hell. Sadly, when the word inspiration is now used, the completely separate terms of inerrancy and infallibility automatically surround, assault and smother its true meaning. These three terms now form a three-headed Cerberus of fundamentalist propaganda which stands ready to wrathfully devour anybody who comes near seeking to use it. The term inspiration, in short, has been kidnapped, mutilated and imprisoned by theologians who want to stretch and torture its meaning into places it wasnt meant to go. Its time we rescue it and restore it to its proper and pristine usage. I have long felt that we should read the Bible as we would read poetry-- our hearts and minds brimming with the positive energies of discerning delight, artistic awe, and interpretive wonder. Scripture is to be regarded as a meta-narrative comprised of allegories, metaphors, types, oxymorons, shadows, mysteries, dialogues, spirit-dynamics and subtextual meanings that only a poetic heart and an abductive mind could effectively glean. Its purpose is to deconstruct our natural thinking in favor of supernatural thinking. This is described as the two wisdoms in James 3:15-17. Every poet needs a muse, a source of inspiration to write. The muse doesnt dictate the writing style or even the narrative accuracy of story. The muse merely gives the core idea which topically ignites the poet, who then allows his own energies and abilities to take it from there. No matter how far the writer might stray from or add to the muses original idea, the writing is still said to be inspired by the muse on some visceral level. So, for the Bible to be inspired BY God is just to say its writers and gatherers were providentially mused upon to compile what they did. Simply put, God was their muse. So lets redefine inspiration. Lets not get too elaborate. If Gods Spirit has ANY organic input into ANY idea or expression of that idea, then that idea or expression of that idea can fairly said to be inspired by God. Its really not brain surgery. My lover may inspire me to write a love poem or story, but that lover is not thereafter responsible for my writing style, misspellings, or misstatements of fact. Nonetheless, my love writing would still be inspired. It would touch all hearts on some level because of its sincerity, even if rife with surface flaws. I have seven children. As they proceeded through school, they would often come to me for ideas they could write about in their class essay assignments. I would shoot them a kernel, but they would the ones to pop-it-up to fulness using their own abilities and perceptions to carry that idea out to full expression. I certainly would not have written the same idea the way they they ultimately did, but they followed their developmental abilities and made the idea their own. Now, lets consider the alternative. If we say the Bible has NO ORGANIC INPUT from Gods Spirit at all -- zip, nada, nothing --, so that it is completely UNinspired by God in other words, then what what are we left with? Well, if you say God has no organic input WHATSOEVER into: 1) the writing of Bible; 2) the preservation and formation of the Bible; 3) your understanding of the Bible; 4) how you relate to God personally and corporately; 5) what you believe about God, your theology in other words; 6) your prayer life; 7) your devotional walk; 8) your daily life decisions; ... then you are left with a sad and Spiritless DEISM. Simply put, if you believe that God DIRECTLY INSPIRES NOTHING in any of our lives, then you have lapsed into DEISM, which simply says God is not involved in our lives at all. DEISM says that there are no supernatural revelations or miracles, no intimate relational connections between creator and creation, and no ongoing rhema dialogue organically transpiring between men and God. DEISMS God is a distant, aloof and unconcerned deity off in the Heavens somewhere, while we are left here on our own to ENDLESSLY opine and intellectually legislate our personal philosophies--- with no witness OF the Spirit, no help FROM the Spirit, and no communion WITH the Spirit. Yet, many assert that if we dare claim to be directly inspired by God to do anything, that we are somehow practicing gnosticism. This despite the fact that: --Paul said that the sons of God are those who are led by the Spirit of God (Romans 8:14); --Jesus said we were to live by EVERY rhema word which continues to proceed OUT of the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4); --Jesus said He Himself was totally and continually inspired by the Father to say EVERY thing He said, and to do EVERY thing He did (John 5:19, 30). Frankly, I would rather be falsely accused of Gnosticism than rightly accused of functional Deism. Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 confirmed the Apostolic approval of all the Spiritual gifts of revelation: Prophecy, the Word of Knowledge, the Word of Wisdom, Tongues, and Interpretation-- all which described various supernatural rhema communications between the mouth of God, i.e. the Holy Spirit, and believers, both individually and corporately. Pauls admonition of the Corinthians was not that they were using their revelational gifts at all, but rather that they were using them without love. His whole letter was about prioritizing love, the better way, in the use of all their gifts. Paul exhorted us to seek and covet these inspired (in-spirited) gifts. He never came close to saying these gifts were gnostic, epignostic perhaps, which was one of Pauls favorite words to express true spiritual and relational knowledge, but never gnostic. If we dont have the inspiration (the organic input) of God underlying Scriptures and underpinning our faith, then we have nothing but human efforts left to live by. Dont be ashamed to live by the inspiration of God!
Posted on: Mon, 17 Feb 2014 21:28:06 +0000
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