Thread by @JoLuehmann

Ok 5th installment of the “we don’t let anybody weaponize the Bible against us” is here:

Saying that Jesus called the Bible the Word of God shows how very little understanding of the history of the Bible one has. It’s actually deeply concerning for anyone teaching about the Bible to make such a claim.
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The Bible wasn’t finalized and canonized, put together as a collection of books until 367ad. After several different councils, and even today not all denominations agree on the canon.
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So it is an absolute impossibility for Jesus or anybody in any of the books of the Bible to have called the Bible the word of God. The Bible didn’t even exist yet!

Now since we’ve made that clear, let’s look at what Mark 7:13 actually says.
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Here Jesus is talking to religious leaders who were asking him why he doesn’t ask his disciples to wash his hands before they eat as was tradition. He tells them that they are committed to the law to look right, but not to do what’s right.
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He says they neglect the commandments of God to hold onto the traditions of men.

He quotes Isaiah 29:13 in that context:

This people honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
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And it is then that he says they make the word of God of no effect. So what is the word of God in this context? Clearly the law, not the Bible.

And Jesus had a lot to say about the law. He says he came to fulfill the law, he says the law hangs all in two commandments:
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‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ And ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

So now if you want to say that the word of God is those two commandments then sure, I agree.
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Moreover, the word used in the vs is Mark is λόγος (logos). Which is not the only word for ‘Word’.

λόγος means something, a topic of discourse, an account, communication.

The other word we’d be interested in would be ῥῆμα (rhēma): an utterance, saying, a command. (8)

A verse that has ῥῆμα (rhēma) is:

Romans 10:17 - So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Clearly here it says faith comes by an utterance from God. Which is not the same as the law. But I digress.
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Back to my statement “the Bible doesn’t say it is the word of God anywhere so I don’t believe it is.” I’ve explained at length why it is a logical fallacy to believe the Bible is the word of God on Instagram.com/joluehmann here:
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Now, the Bible does say Christ is the word of God, and I think that aligns perfectly w/ ‘love God, love neighbor as yourself’ because at the end of the day Christ is exactly that: loving God and loving neighbor as yourself.
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So if you want to say Christ is the word of God (which extends beyond Jesus!) then yeah I agree.

Now, the Bible is a wonderful, ancient book of wisdom, history, poetry, folklore, law, personal letters... and I read it accordingly.
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The same way I read the Popol Vuh, or the Vedas, or the Quran. I use critical thinking skills, some of it is very insightful and it changes me, it speaks to me. Some of it simply doesn’t. And if more people were honest they’d admit they read it in the exact same way,
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otherwise I want to see women covering their heads for church, and men not cutting the hair on their temples (and a whole bunch of other things that nobody lives by).

More on that here: instagram.com/p/CAk4lCtFZFV/…
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Let’s mention for a minute something being inspired by God (per 2 Timothy 3:16) because it doesn’t mean it is the word of God.

Isn’t art, and music, and a lot of literature, and… inspired by God?
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Because I’ve seen, read, listened to, and.. some things that I can’t deny are inspired by God. So yeah no doubt the ppl writing the books that make the Bible (and even those that didn’t make the canon), were inspired by God (have you read the gospel of Thomas yet? Loved it).
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Remember that was written way before the Bible was put together!

The issue with saying the Bible is the word of God, even though there is seriously no evidence for that, is that if you believe the Bible is the word of God, then you can go in there to find things...
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to justify truly awful behavior. Much like what happened during the crusades, witch hunts, colonization, the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, Slavery in the Americas, Jim Crow, and all through history for the last 1700 years give or take.
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Because you can truly justify anything by using the Bible as a weapon and asserting that God says in there, therefore God told you to do it.
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It is also truly ableist and elitist to say you need the Bible to be a Christian. Not only has the Bible not been widely available for much of its history, most of the worlds’ population for the last 1700 yrs hasn’t been able to read it due to low literacy rates. (19)

And if you are unable to read or hear for whatever reason, you can’t have a relationship w/God or be a Christian then? 🙄 If your cognitive skills don’t allow you to engage w/the Bible is then God not available to you? What kind of an all-powerful God is that?
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So I am a Christian and I don’t believe the Bible is the word of God because I’ve read too much and have met too many people to believe that just because some people have taken a verse out of context for far too long.
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FYI not all denominations believe the Bible is the word of God. So this isn’t even something new 🤷🏽‍♀️.

And old post on why it is irresponsible to read the Bible literally: instagram.com/p/Bxgnfj7nJGm/…

And here part 4 that connects to the others parts too.

https://twitter.com/joluehmann/status/1277037034356436992