meditatio at the water's edge

experience = biblical truth

Don't quote me on that title; I simply wanted to be provocative. My experience does not really equal the stories of the Scripture, but they are similar. They share the same story.

Adam and Eve learned to walk with God after the fall; Abraham was faithful. God walked with his people. Fast forward. Mary and Joseph were faithful. Twelve disciples became seventy who became thousands, and the were faithful; and the story of God with his people continued.

Fast forward. I have a Bible from my grandmother's great grandpa. I am the fifth generation to have that Bible. The story of God with his people runs deep in my family. It runs very deep.

So, I am reading D.A. Carson's book on the emerging church, and he's critical of those who suggest experience is of great value and perhaps even trumps the Bible.

Pause.

I'm about ready to pull my fricken hair out of my head. Why does this disturb me so much?

IS not the Bible a collection of stories of God with his people that have endured generations? Were these events as recorded in the Bible not experiences of Adam, Eve, Abraham, Deborah, Ruth, Mary, Jesus, Peter, Paul, and John?

Did not God reveal himself through his creation, through the life of his Son, and through the writers of every page of the Bible? Yes, yes, yes.

These are stories. These are truths. These are the experiences of God with his people. Do we not believe that the Spirit of the living God continues to guide his people?

To suggest that experience and the truth of the Scriptures are different things is to tell God that he no longer reveals himself to his people. I wonder how generations learned of God when they could not read? I wonder what I would believe if it were not for the life of four incredible grandparents who lived the kingdom of God before my very eyes.

I lived into the story of God with his people as it was revealed to Andrew & Gert and Rhine & Gert by their parents and grandparents and generations before. I was born into the story of God.

So, to suggest that experience is something that is held above biblical truth is absurd. Biblical truth always enlightens experience as we move forward. Likewise, the living Spirit of God enlightens our lives when the Bible doesn't have clear answers.

To suggest that our experience is of little value questions the ability of the Spirit to direct God's people. It questions the very sovereignty of God, and it suggests that my story is worthless unless it adheres to the text in exactly the same manner as the biblical theologian who foregoes the experience of the Spirit with his people.

So, at the end of the day, who is more faithful? Perhaps this is a confusing and frustrating argument for you, and that is half of my point. At the end of the day, does God embrace us or not?

At the end of the day, people such as Carson can beat us up, but it's really only God's faithfulness that he's calling into question. Really.

(Don, I wish you would have returned some phone calls before you wrote that book.)