What is a Biblical Purist?

My prayer as I begin to write today echoes the popular song by Aaron Shust. Give me words to speak, don't let my spirit sleep, 'cause I can't think of anything worth saying.

Psalm 119: 1o5: Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

As I was walking around my neighborhood this morning, my thoughts turned in this direction. What is the Bible? Why is so important that we define our relationship with the Word of God as Christians?

I don't know if the term "Biblical Purist" has been used before. I apologize to anyone who might have said it before I did. As far as I know it is my own. What do I mean by it? Let me explain.

I have held the belief for most of my life that all Christians were Biblical Purists. I'm saying that I thought all those who associated themselves with Christ believed the Bible, in its entirety, to be true and applicable to our lives. That they held no position below or above what God had said.

As I became an adult, and learned more of what the Bible does say, I started to question things. One example happened when I went to my in laws for the first time for Christmas and was offered champagne. I was at first repulsed by the idea. I had been taught to believe that alcohol is sinful. But after I gave it some thought and prayer and searched through Scripture, I couldn't find any reason to make it an issue. God created it. Up until recently, it was used to kill the diseases that lived in drinking water. Jesus drank it. Jesus' first miracle was the creation of wine from water at a wedding! What the Bible condemned as sinful over and over again was the abuse of alcohol, as harmful as the abuse of food, of money, or any number of things that are not inherently sinful.

The next time it was served, I accepted a glass.

These are some of the other statements that I have heard over the years: "The King James version of the Bible is the only inspired Word of God," "Drumbeats in music are sexual," or "Using 'lighter' forms of the misuse of God's name is okay as long as you don't say the really bad ones." I use these examples because they are so blatantly man-made. You only need to have a basic knowledge of history to know that the King James version was banned originally for its questionable sources. More specifically, we would have to believe that before 1611 there was no inspired Word of God if we claimed this as truth. Drumbeats in music only reveal the rhythm, and many things in life utilize rhythm. The Psalms are explicit in ordaining the use of instruments to emphasize rhythm. And when we look at the Bible, it's clear that God wishes our "yes" to be "yes" and our "no" to be "no," and even softer versions of curses such as "Gosh", "darn", "golly", "gee", etc, mean the same and are still a misuse of the holiness of God's name. Use of them must be labeled (if you are going to be a Biblical Purist) a breaking of the third commandment. (Exodus 20:7)

So am I trying to be a downer this beautiful Saturday afternoon? Absolutely not. In fact, as I prayed over this blog entry, I asked that God would show me how to say what He had put on my heart in a way that revealed His love, not my personal vendetta against false teaching. So how do I accomplish that in an entry many may have already stopped reading because of its controversial and negative material?

I'm not sure. But I do know that while taking away from or adding to the Bible is sin, and is contrary to the Bible itself, (Revelation warns against it for starters) its also something we all fall victim too. Perhaps this is a tool of the forces of evil to trip us up, as keeping us from Biblical Purism clouds our way significantly. And when man made rules are added to the Bible, walking with God suddenly or gradually becomes a drudgery, or finds us in despair as we realize we can never hope to follow all of them.

The good news from the Lord today is that you don't have to follow man made rules. Jesus said it over and over again as the Pharisees spouted off their additions to God's commands. God's way isn't burdensome. It's freeing. And more than that, those that have been covered in the blood of Christ are completely free! It's what we do with that freedom that is important. A true believer will willingly offer his freedom back to God and seek through His Word to find out what goes against the nature of God and refrain, and what moves in harmony with Him and embrace it.

So if you've held some convictions you are starting to question, you have a Savior who would love to show you His Way. He made it clear through the book He inspired His own brother James to write - "If anyone lacks wisdom, he should ask of God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him."

I'm thanking God today for His beautiful, infallible Word, and asking Him to keep me from the temptation to remove any part or make any addition to it's perfect arrangement.