I have encountered some that I thought had fallen into this trap.
I asked them, "What would become of your faith if you put your whole library out on the curb on trash day?"
The guilty are left mostly speechless. Or, alternatively VERY angry. How come?
To be clear, I love the Bible and use it every day. But I know the difference between the book and the author.
In my experience, my relationship with the author is much more important than my relationship with the book.
Appropriate scriptures come to my mind all day long. Due to the work of the Spirit to quicken these things to my memory.
The Bible is not omniscient. (all knowing)
The Bible is not omnipresent. (everywhere present)
The Bible is not omnipotent. (all powerful)
The Bible does NOT love me.
It's paper and ink, maybe a leather cover. (or digital info)
That cow didn't die to pay my sin debt.
A true Bibliolator will demand chapter and verse to support my premise. - LOL
The bottom line:
Let's use the Bible to grow closer to God and each other, rather than as a weapon to destroy each other.
John 13:35 NIV
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
2) I got a second issue, namely that the Bible is so elevated it really comes across like a defacto unscriptural intermediary force between God and man. (Strangely enough The Bible actually speaks highly of the Church as the "pillar and ground of Truth" but it almost looks like folks have replaced the role of the Church with that of the Biblical canon but getting back to topic.) One example of this came from a long winded pep talk of Charismatic African Episcopal bishop. It seemed like he wanted to give a pep talk encouraging people to read their Bible. The problem was he began to conflate "the word of God" of the Bible, with things like the "Word of God" at Creation, like the Son of God, aka the Word made flesh, this came from him trying to wax poetic that "God always works with the word", and in spite of his good intentions I had to object that he was going a bit too far into some kind of unintentional heresy or sacrilege.
Besides this I have seen similar things with Calvinism and Calvinists who often have a view that can be a bit like the belief of Muslims and the Koran. Muslims believe that the Koran is the eternal spoken word of Allah, and Calvinists likewise seem to conflate the Scriptures with the Logos of God (the scriptures and all of God's plan and intentions). Anyway, in talking theology with Grok different times I eventually came up with a parody to address my frustrations. Rather than talk about how things are semi-Koranic I figured I would be more dramatic, and I came up with a scenario where Mohammed somehow time travels to Geneva and believes Calvinism from John Calvin himself but in giving witness does so in an overt blatant Islamic way bears witness to his Faith, so Grok and I came up with the following below". (I believe one motivation that made me write the parody is the Calvinists have such a lofty view of the Scriptures and their alleged clarity that it really warrants and actual creed in itself because it subtlety affects everything and ends up being a giant Elephant in the little parlor if you don't).
The Geneva Shahada of Mohammed
(To be recited with a thick Swiss-German accent and a straight face)
I bear witness — Ash-hadu — that there is no God but the Triune God alone:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
one eternal essence in three co-equal Persons,
and I bear witness that the Holy Bible is the uncreated Word of God,
eternal with Him, proceeding from the Father through the Son in the Spirit,
not made, not originated in time, but ever-existing in the divine mind as His perfect speech.
I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth,
who from all eternity decreed His holy will.
I believe in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord,
the eternal Logos, the living Word made flesh,
conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary,
who suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried;
He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost,
the eternal breath of God,
who spake by the prophets and apostles.
I believe the Sacred Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments —
the sixty-six books, given by inspiration of God —
are the sole, sufficient, and infallible rule of faith and practice:
Sola Scriptura, the final authority, clear in its teaching to the regenerate mind,
containing all things necessary for salvation, doctrine, worship, and life.
The Bible is not created, but uncreated speech of the Triune God,
like unto His knowledge and wisdom, eternal and immutable,
written in time by holy men moved by the Spirit, yet ever subsisting with God unchanging.
No tradition of man, no council, no pope, no imam, no new revelation,
no inner light apart from it, can bind the conscience or add to its perfection.
Whosoever denies the Trinity denies the God who speaks.
Whosoever denies Sola Scriptura denies the sufficiency of the eternal Word.
Whosoever adds to or takes from this Book shall be accursed.
Thus I testify, O Geneva:
There is no God but the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
and the Bible is the uncreated, eternal Word of God.
Amen — and let the Synod hear it.
