Caulfield Evangelical Methodist Church
- Weekly Pastoral Message -

Weekly Pastoral Message prepared by Rev. Murray Adamthwaite
for Sunday 28th September 1997

From the Pastor: The Book and the books

It used to be said of the old Puritans (much and unfairly maligned) that "they were people of one Book, and that Book was the Bible". The great nineteenth century preacher, Spurgeon, said of one of them, "Prick him anywhere and his blood is Bibline. He cannot speak without quoting a text." It goes without saying that this outlook is not in fashion today. The accepted wisdom is that we must be abreast of the latest trends of thinking in science, psychology, education, moral issues, to name a few, and the modern ways of dealing with these issues. The Bible, we are told, has its voice but not a decisive one. It is just one voice among many. Such is the all too familiar pattern. Even among evangelical Christians I detect a confusion. Are we really people of one Book? What do we say of all the commentaries, the theological texts, Bible dictionaries, Bible helps, not to mention devotional writings and Christian biographies? Here is where the confusion arises: how much time do we spend with these rather than the Word itself? When the so-called "bottom line" is reached, what really has the decisive say? A text of Scripture, or the point of a theological system, or what a commentator says? Before we answer the latter question, what do we say of the JW who comes to our door? They quote Scripture too! But alas, they quote only what suits them, and "distort the Scriptures to their own destruction", 2 Peter 3:16. We must remember that we build on the legacy of our forefathers in our understanding of the Scriptures. With all that legacy, with all the helps around, let us use them wisely so that in the final analysis we too are "people of one Book".