To paraphrase the Rev. Dr. John Polkinghorne, Scripture is an invaluable laboratory notebook, in which are recorded a multitude of data about God and man.
We can even make the judgment that everything we need for salvation has been recorded in that notebook.
But just as the map is not the territory, the lab notebook does not completely define the reality.
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Putting it more simply: Scripture is not God. Elevating Scripture as a supreme authority, trumping all others under all circumstances, might be said to constitute several different kinds of sin, such as:
- idolatry;
- blasphemy, for presuming to limit God's power to supplement or even amend his revelation to us. For all we know, God chooses to reveal his Logos to us gradually -- and is still doing so -- as we collectively grow in our ability to grasp it (see this posting for more on that subject);
- pride, for presuming that we understand the mind of God well enough to interpret Scripture with finality.
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--D. C.
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