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| Pseudo-Knowledge |
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My wife came home from church today (I didn't go) and told me that some visiting lay preacher mentioned that the Bible is not the sword of God, and only a "rhema word" is the sword, so we should fight our spiritual battles with our words and not the Bible. What utter rubbish! She is clever enough to ask herself if the guy is a Greek scholar and asked me to look it up for her in Bible Works. Of course the guy is not a Greek scholar, just some lay person who thinks he knows it all because he heard this nonsense from who knows where, and now is teaching it with "authority."
As far as I'm concerned, there is too much of this kind of idiotic pseudo-knowledge being preached by people who don't know what they heck they are talking about. All I have to do is hear the expression "rhema word" and instantly the red flags go up. I took 3 semesters of Greek and don't consider myself an expert by any means, but this one is rather simple. As far as I understand in Greek, there is very little difference between "rhema" and "logos" except in the timing. If God spoke, at that instant it was an utterance, a rhema. The instant it is written down it becomes a logos. When someone preaches the Bible or we read it, and a word becomes illuminated to us, by the action of the Holy Spirit, then that logos becomes a rhema all over again, and if we take Bible Study notes about it, it is again a logos. If we tell someone else about it, it becomes a rhema all over again, and if they write it down it again becomes a logos.
Some go even further than this guy did and claim that a so-called "rhema word" is alive and the so-called "logos word" of the Bible is dead, out of date. This is utter heresy and dangerous. There is a heap of this kind of pseudo-knowledge out there and gullible people are believing it. The greatest amount of it is being foisted upon us by poorly educated televangelists, who stand up with their non-authority (i.e. ignorance of Greek, Hebrew, exegesis and the hermeneutical process) and yet speak as if they really know what they are talking about. They do not!
Bottom line? Please ask yourself a few questions whenever especially a televangelist spouts off. Is this guy or gal a scholar or just someone with good marketing skills and the gift of the gab? Too often it's the latter.
4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
The Greek here for word is logos. |
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| To add a comment to "Pseudo-Knowledge" |
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| October 14, 2007 |
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| amen, Grant. I'm with ya on this man. I quit watchin them folks all together, cause It got to the point where I just didn't have time to go check behind these fellas, and I didn't want their ideas gettin in my head. Some of em are good, don't get me wrong. I really like John Haggie fella, Ron Phillips, and Jentzen Franklin. |
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| October 14, 2007 |
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A few examples to strengthen your point:
1 Thessalonians 2:13
Acts 8:14
And, of course, Romans 10:17
Thanks, Grant. There are too many out there with off the wall theories on scripture. |
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| October 14, 2007 |
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A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. We all fall into that category when compared to God's omniscience. The danger comes in when we present ourselves as knowing all. |
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| October 14, 2007 |
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Thanks for the education. The biggest red flag is when someone says the words in the Bible are dead. That's way past ignorance. It's quite a twist of the Greek to use those terms to say the written word of God is dead / old / outdated. So when do you trust the revealed word of God -- personal messages received through prayer or someone else's prayer? It's hard to trust someone who claims revelation from God, but I've experienced it myself. I suppose the first step is to cross-reference it with God's word and trusted friends who are spiritually mature. |
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| October 14, 2007 |
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Mullet, I like the way you said that. I don't like their half baked ideas getting in my head either.
Gene, 1 Thess 2:13 "you received the word (logos) of God that you heard from us" - excellent. Acts 8:14 "Samaria had received the word (logos) of God" - yes. Rom 10:17 "faith comes by hearing...the word (rhema) of God" - rhema & logos are used very similar to each other.
Kathy, always wise words. I'm sure you know that one thing about studying for an advanced Bible degree is that the more we know, the more we know that we don't know very much at all.
Jack, I agree, we all need to be teachable as babes, ready at any time to be shown that we are wrong about something. I think that we are all wrong about many things, and simply need to remain humble and teachable as babes in order to grow.
Todd, I agree that God does reveal knowledge today even outside of Scripture, and you are right. The first thing we should do is test the spirits or thoughts that we think are inspiration against the Bible. |
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| October 16, 2007 |
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| Tim, that is so true! I gues the itching ears phenomenon is alive and well. |
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| October 18, 2007 |
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| I need a visualization of "itching ears." What a cartoon THAT would be to have published in the church bulletin! |
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| October 18, 2007 |
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| October 18, 2007 |
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