There are
Protestants who tell us:
"The
Holy Bible is the 'Word of God' in written form."
And in harmony with
this statement of theirs, they add:
"How
can the Orthodox Church claim to have the parenthood of the Holy
Word of God (=the Holy Bible) as if it is Her own child, when
the Word (Logos) of God already has a Father?"
"And
how can you Orthodox claim that the Holy Bible (which is
divinely-inspired) is deficient as the complete Word of God?
What can we say
about such statements? Can they be accepted by a Christian?
Let's
start from the end, in order to prove the magnitude of this
Protestant delusion, which relates God the Logos ("Word"), our
Lord Jesus Christ, to the Holy Bible:
The
Holy Bible is SUFFICIENT, for the purpose that it was
compiled by the Church, in the Holy Spirit. And
that purpose was so that we could have a SEMINAL, SUCCINCT
picture of the faith - a "philosopher's stone" against which we
can compare our experiences in order to see if we are on the
correct path.
However, it is indeed
deficient... but only for the purposes that Protestantism has
weighed it down with. The Holy Bible was not written
as a charter of faith, nor as an encyclopedia. It is quite
obvious that - just as it is not suited to be a Physics or
Biology handbook, it is likewise not suited to be a charter of
the faith.
Thus, it is precisely
because Protestantism uses the Bible as the ONLY source of the
faith, that it is insufficient. It is insufficient, on
account of its INAPPROPRIATE use by Protestantism.
This is the reason that Protestantism has splintered into
thousands of inter-conflicting groups : because Protestantism
has turned the Bible into a literal "charter of the faith" and
"word of God" - something like a Christian type of Koran.
But the Holy Bible was
not written for that purpose, because that would mean God had
failed in His plan to give one, distinct and clear-cut
charter, inasmuch as each and every person is able to
misinterpret it so easily.
The Holy Bible is absolutely sufficient for its proper use
within the Church - for which and by which it was composed.
Given
therefore that the Bible was written by members of the Church,
obviously the Church can rightfully claim parenthood of the
writings.
Additionally, NOWHERE does it say in the Bible that the book
itself is per se "the word of God", given that the word of God
is INEFFABLE and is not expressed in human languages.
The
Holy Bible is the divinely-inspired human word regarding the
word of God. The Gospel - which can be preached either
verbally or in writing - is comprised of words REGARDING the
ineffable word of God as well as God the Logos (the Son).
We invite Protestants to
show us where in the Bible it (supposedly) states that it is
"the word of God". If they can not show it, it will mean
that what they are insisting on is THEIR OWN, HUMAN TRADITION.
To
claim that the Holy Bible is supposedly "the Logos of God in
written form" constitutes IDOLATRY and BLASPHEMY, inasmuch as it
equates God with a man-made idol (a book).
God is INDESCRIBABLE
and INEFFABLE, as are the meanings that pertain to Him, inasmuch
as it is not possible to describe God or the meanings pertaining
to Him in any human tongue. Only certain things can be written
about Him - as approximations to the best of human ability -
either in the Holy Bible or elsewhere, and even then, they are
"words pertaining to the Ineffable word of God, and to God the
Logos".
The
argument that Protestantism (albeit splintered into tens of
thousands of conflicting groups) preaches the Gospel to Missions
and elsewhere, is far from valid. The only thing that
Protestantism introduced is splintering, heresies, and
confusion. Missionary works existed in the Church, long
before Protestantism, which appeared much later, in the 16th
century.
The Church is not a
"fenceless vineyard", where anyone can teach anything that pops
into their head. The Church has clear-cut dogmas and a clear-cut
therapeutic method for human nature.
Protestantism resembles
a charlatan who poses as a doctor but is totally ignorant of the
therapeutic methods of acknowledged medicinal practice and as
such, is dangerous to the patient.
Merely preaching
"something" - whatever that may be - and calling it "the Gospel"
is not what counts; the Gospel is ONE AND UNIQUE AND
UNALTERABLE. Whoever preaches something different is ANATHEMA,
accursed, according to the Holy Bible itself (NKJV Galatians
1:7-9):
[...] but
there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the
gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven,
preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to
you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I
say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than
what you have received, let him be accursed.
Only the Orthodox Church
has preserved that One, Unique Gospel unaltered; consequently,
all the others:
"He who is not
with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me
scatters abroad."
(Matthew 12: 30).
There is no Mission
outside the Orthodox Church. All other self-styled "missions"
are "gates to Hades" and "causes of confusion".
The
Orthodox do not "look down their noses" when claiming these
things about Protestantism; they speak out of a sense of
responsibility - just as it is impossible for the Doctors' Union
to accept as genuine medical practitioners those who are
charlatans that can lead people to death.
The
idolatrous confusion alone that arises from within these
Protestant assertions regarding the Logos of God and a
divinely-inspired book is reason enough to condemn this
viewpoint as "anti-Gospel" and "anathema".
For the Orthodox Church, Jesus Christ is the
central person and theme of the Christian faith. For the
Protestants in question it is apparently... a book.
They have replaced Jesus Christ with the book that speaks
about Him, to such an extent that they actually identify the
book with God the Logos Himself, and thus commit blasphemy
and transform the book into an idol.
If the Holy Bible is identified with God the
Logos, then the Bible itself MUST BE WORSHIPPED, given that
:
"...to
Him was given the dominion and
the honor and the kingship, and all peoples, tribes,
languages shall be subject him. His
authority is an everlasting authority, which will not pass
away, and His kingship will not
be destroyed."
(Daniel 7:14).
So
we ask: Does Protestantism worship... a book ?
The
answer is that even though Protestantism outwardly denies it,
the manner that it confronts the issue shows that it has in fact
rendered the Bible a god in the place of God.
As mentioned earlier, the Holy Bible is by no means deficient,
with regard to the purpose for which it was compiled.
However it obviously pains the Protestants, inasmuch as it does
NOT respond to the purpose that THEY have ascribed to it - in
contravention to God's purpose and the commandments of the Holy
Spirit, i.e.: the prophetic word
of the Holy Bible does not serve the purpose of a "charter", nor
does it clearly allude to Christ; on the contrary, we read the
following clarification in the Bible, which Protestants seem to
have intentionally ignored in order to persist in their
misconception:
"And so we have the prophetic word
confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a
dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in
your hearts; knowing this first, that no
prophecy of Scripture is of any private
interpretation, for prophecy never
came by the will of man, but holy men of
God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
(2 Peter 1:19-21)
The
Holy Spirit is grieved by the idolatry of those Protestants who
identify God the Logos (perceived by them as the word
-literally- of God) with a book - even if that book happens to
be divinely inspired!
******************
OODE Note: The Holy Bible was compiled by
the Church, from within a centuries-long process. It did not
drop into our laps from Heaven. The Holy Bible didn't exist
during the first centuries; the Church however DID exist.
It took many years to decide which Books should belong in the
Holy Bible and which shouldn't (albeit other books were also
being read at the time, which nowadays aren't considered as
belonging in the Holy Bible). Given the above, therefore, the
Bible definitely did NOT appear out of the blue.
There are specialized
articles in OODE, which provide details on the process that was
followed:
Classification of the books of the Holy Bible
and
The meaning of Divine Inspiration of the Holy Bible and the
sources that confirm its canonicity.
