Former Protestants: Do some Protestants worship the Bible as an Idol?

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jmcrae said:
I also saw a documentary on Discovery TV where the commentator said something to the effect that when the Bible was put into English, “the word became flesh, and dwelt among us,” meaning that the Bible came to be with the English-speaking people, and implying rather strongly that this caused the English-speaking peoples to become the chosen of God. :rolleyes:
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I have also heard a few protestant Christians say that the King James translation was itself inspired (implying there is no need for further Greek exogesis). If you want to judge all protestants by a few kooks, I guess that is your perogative to do so.
 
rr1213 said:
I would imagine that the point that this person was trying to make is that most of the New Testament was inspired by God to be written in Greek. Thus, the inspired meaning is to be taken from the Greek words, not the Aramaic words, except in those few instances where the Aramaic itself was preserved in the Greek translation. Nothing strange there.
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The words of the Bible are only a recording of things that really happened. It’s the things that really happened that are God-inspired; the Bible is only God-inspired in that it faithfully and unerringly records these real events.

The words of the Bible cannot change reality, and they can’t create a new reality.
 
Grace_Seeker said:
I have also heard a few protestant Christians say that the King James translation was itself inspired (implying there is no need for further Greek exogesis).
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Yes, I’ve met them, too. I know someone who thinks that the “James” is the Apostle James, and that he was following Jesus around with a pen and paper, writing everything down in English. And hey, if it was good enough for the Apostles … 😛
If you want to judge all protestants by a few kooks, I guess that is your perogative to do so.
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When did I say I was judging all Protestants by these few? :confused:

I’ve already said that I’m fully aware that Protestants don’t officially teach anything like this. 🤷
 
Grace_Seeker said:
I have also heard a few protestant Christians say that the King James translation was itself inspired (implying there is no need for further Greek exogesis). If you want to judge all protestants by a few kooks, I guess that is your perogative to do so.
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You mean all protestants don’t believe this?:eek:

Just kidding.

My protestant dad and his kids believe “If it ain’t the KJV, it ain’t the Bible”

They are so lost in stupidity, that it is unreal.

“My name is Earl” gives me flashbacks about my family…:eek:
 
jmcrae said:
The words of the Bible are only a recording of things that really happened. It’s the things that really happened that are God-inspired; the Bible is only God-inspired in that it faithfully and unerringly records these real events.

The words of the Bible cannot change reality, and they can’t create a new reality.
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You mean like: “It behoveth therefore a bishop to be blameless, the husband of one wife,” (1 Timothy 3:2a)

One wonders why bishops don’t have the unerringly suggested one wife today? 😛
 
b_justb said:
I think Catholics see Evangelical Christians as “worshipping” their bibles the way Evangelicals see Catholics as “worshipping” Mary.

Tear a bible in half and the Evangelical winces in pain, because he places admiration and respect upon the Written Word of God.

Break a statue of Mary and a Catholic winces in pain, because he places admiration and respect upon the Mother of God.

If we as Catholics do not appreciate being mislabeled by Evangelical’s in our devotions and the respecting the holy Saints of The Church, then we as Catholics should be the first to stand up and recognize the profound respect that our Evangelical brothers have for the Written Word and praise them for it, not falsely accuse them of idolizing Sacred Scripture.
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I have noticed that the posters on this thread have COMPLETELY ignored this post but I just wanted to say… :extrahappy: :hug3: :amen: :blessyou:

This was the exact thought I had when I read the OP. Once again I see that a poster here (the OP) is trying to rile up the protestants as I have seen this person do so many times and then claims that they are SO tired of non-catholics. Go figure!😉

But thank you for this post. You are RIGHT on the mark with this. If catholics don’t like to be accused of worshipping Mary then don’t go trying to say that the appreciation that we have of the Word of God is actually worship… You just open a HUGE can of worms with this…
 
Grace_Seeker said:
You mean like: “It behoveth therefore a bishop to be blameless, the husband of one wife,” (1 Timothy 3:2a)

One wonders why bishops don’t have the unerringly suggested one wife today? 😛
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They don’t have “more than” one wife. Zero is not “more than” one. 😉

Obviously, St. Paul himself did not take these words literally to mean that all Bishops must be married, since he himself remained single all of his life.
 
jmcrae said:
They don’t have “more than” one wife. Zero is not “more than” one. 😉

Obviously, St. Paul himself did not take these words literally to mean that all Bishops must be married, since he himself remained single all of his life.
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Paul wasn’t a bishop.

It doesn’t say, don’t have more than one wife. It says, be the husband of one wife. Now, before you take me so seriously as to respond again, note the little smiley face I put in there the first time.

If you stop and think about it, I’m actually agreeing with your point from the prior post. We shouldn’t try to take every circumstance from the New Testament and apply it to today’s experience of the faith. The context that one must read the New Testament in is not only the context of each sentence within the context of the paragraph and each paragraph within the context of the book. But also the ideas themselves within the context of the real life situation to which they were initially written. As that changes over time, so might our interpretation of a given passage. And doing so does not violate scripture, but actually respects it for the living breathing document of the Holy Spirit which it is, not a static document recorded in stone like the law was.
 
Grace_Seeker said:
Paul wasn’t a bishop.
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He was, actually, and he ordained bishops further. Every Apostle was a bishop.
It doesn’t say, don’t have more than one wife. It says, be the husband of one wife. Now, before you take me so seriously as to respond again, note the little smiley face I put in there the first time.
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“Be the husband of one wife,” means be not a polygamist or remarried divorcee. The emphasis is on “one”, not on “be”, in the meaning of the sentence.
 
Mannyfit75 said:
For Ex-Protestants, have any of you encounter Protestant worship the Bible as if it were an icon worthy of Worship? 🤷
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Veneration of​

  • the Holy Mother of God
  • the Holy Bible
  • the Holy icons
    are justified by analogous reasoning in all three cases, & all are created means of grace. If one is idolatrous, all three are. The question is a Catholic equivalent of “Why do Catholics treat Mary as a goddess ?”; if we are able to venerate what is less than God without committing idolatry, so are they able to.
The Bible is a sort of icon - it represents & mediates God’s grace in a particular manner, & in a non-figural manner. As for worship of the Bible - what is the Psalmist doing in Psalm 119 ? Expressing his love for the Torah - passionately, in great detail, as though he could not love & praise it enough. If he were to say today what he says there, & were a Protestant, it’s a million to one that his words would be quoted as proof of Protestant idolatry of the Bible. In fact, it’s an absolute certainty they would.

And no, I haven’t - I have come across a lot of love, veneration, thanksgiving, appreciation, & joy as results of it; many Protestants love the Bible very greatly. As is entirely right. Devotion to the Bible is no more idolatry than devotion to the BVM - that she is is a person & it is not, is irrelevant (in case this is thought to be a crucial difference between them): both are created, & neither is self-sufficient.

Maybe Catholics don’t love the Bible enough - that’s at least as possible as the position that Protestants love it too well
 
chevalier said:
He was, actually, and he ordained bishops further. Every Apostle was a bishop.

“Be the husband of one wife,” means be not a polygamist or remarried divorcee. The emphasis is on “one”, not on “be”, in the meaning of the sentence.
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LOL. Even after I said to notice the smiley face, people are taking me seriously on this. Look, I know that Paul didn’t mean that bishops had to be married. Please develop a sense of humor.

Now, as to Paul being a bishop and every apostle being a bishop, on what basis do you make this statement? I don’t find that declaration in scripture. Is it something that is stated in the other writings of first century Christians, or is this a conclusion reached at a later date and now is ascribed to them?
 
b_justb said:
I think Catholics see Evangelical Christians as “worshipping” their bibles the way Evangelicals see Catholics as “worshipping” Mary.

Tear a bible in half and the Evangelical winces in pain, because he places admiration and respect upon the Written Word of God.

Break a statue of Mary and a Catholic winces in pain, because he places admiration and respect upon the Mother of God.

If we as Catholics do not appreciate being mislabeled by Evangelical’s in our devotions and the respecting the holy Saints of The Church, then we as Catholics should be the first to stand up and recognize the profound respect that our Evangelical brothers have for the Written Word and praise them for it, not falsely accuse them of idolizing Sacred Scripture.
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👍 👍 👍 👍 👍
 
I see some people, both Protestant and Catholic treat their bibles in all sorts of ways.

Some highlight, some do not (both sides)

Some have all sorts of odd specialty versions “for fathers” “For mothers” “for teenagers” “childeren’s bibles” ect and so on. I am just waiting for bibles “for pets” to come out.

Some bibles are very well used and worn from using them over and over again.

Others look like bookself warmers.

I bought one at a thrift shop once only because I thought it was so sad to be there. It was a large old bible and had all the family’s baptism dates and wedding dates and personal notes in the back., I could not leave it there like that.

So maybe I am guilty? I dont know. I never will throw it out.
 
Contarini said:
Do you mean “worship the Bible in a manner Catholics should consider idolatrous” or “worship the Bible in a manner that they consider idolatrous when Catholics engage in it WRT other things”?

They definitely do the latter. My first reaction was that they do not do the former. But conceivably they do. I suppose that many fundamentalists basically hold to the same view of the Bible that traditional Muslims have of the Qur’an–that it is an uncreated expression of God. Would you consider that idolatrous by Catholic standards? I’m not 100% sure where I stand on that myself, but I’m inclined to think that even if it’s excessive, it is not idolatrous.
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Perhaps it can be thought of like the Tabernacle - Moses was shown a “copy” of the T. in heaven, which was what served him as a model for the fashioning of that which he was directed to have made for earthly worship.​

If Exodus (& the letter to the Hebrews) can adopt that kind of notion for the T. - even though the earthly T. was to have an end - perhaps the same applies to the Bible. If it exists eternally in God as a sort of dynamic “form”, that might be a hint as to how it is able to have a heavenly prototype; yet also be temporary, & subject to alteration on earth. ##
If you are talking about the Bible as a physical object, then obviously there is nothing wrong with venerating it–Catholics do that!

Edwin
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Especially at Mass 🙂 ##
 
Mannyfit75 said:
For Ex-Protestants, have any of you encounter Protestant worship the Bible as if it were an icon worthy of Worship? 🤷
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Yup…our deceit has been exposed. Instead of worshiping Christ we really worship the Bible.

:rolleyes: :bigyikes: :banghead: :confused: :eek: 🤷
 
From my own personal encounters with Protestants none of them worship the Bible as idols.

I have seen a Pastor in the TV that used the Bible made a profession of faith of the Bible. Though I did not consider type of worship. To me that seen more like making oaths to the Bible. I can’t remember the statement he made, he asked the congregation.

“I believe this Bible is the Word of God. It speaks all Truths, etc.” I can’t exactly say the exact wording… but it was something like that.
 
cestusdei said:
They certainly do. Fundamentalists often fall into bibliolatry. They worship the book more then the do Jesus.
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Question? If Charles Manson; Marylin Manson; Ozzy Osborne…
started reading the Bible ( THE WORD ) out loud would you shun them.
 
Do some Protestants worship the Bible as an Idol?

A resounding yes.

Just ask a typical Fundamentalist or Evangelical to stop taking his Bible to Church every Sunday.
 
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