The negative response to the Supreme Court’s recent rulings on religious liberty and abortion is heartbreaking. An increasing number of Americans are opposed to authority. They are against any limits that might be put on their personal choices, even if that choice involves ending the life of an unborn child. They are offended by the free exercise of religion in the public square. In the end, they reject the idea that a document written hundreds of year ago could have any authority over their lives as citizens of the United States of America.
The Bible was written thousands of year ago, but it has some similar challenges in today’s culture. It is automatically dismissed by some as a collection of myths and fairy tales. It is rejected by others as a handbook for religous zealots. Even those who say they believe in the authority of Scripture seemly increasingly open to reinterpreting and renegotiating doctrines that have been establishes in the church for ages.
The church were I serve as senior pastor just affirmed Teaching the Bible as one of our Core Values. This means that we believe in the inspiration, inerrance, and authority of God’s Word. We will do our best to opperate our shared ministry according to Biblical principles. Our decision making will push us towards ways that we can teach the Bible and share the gospel with as many people as possible. We will encourage our church family to follow God’s Word in their everyday lives. Teaching the Bible means that we affirm the authority of a text written years ago.
I am grateful for the people in our society who are willing to submit their lives to the authority of a higher power. If we throw off all others sources of authorty in our lives, we make ourselves out to be the ultimate authority which never ends well. Senece, the Roman statesman and philosopher said, “If we are our own authority we enslave ourselves to ourselves, which is the worst bondage of all.”
