Should Scripture Dictate Your Mind?
The Danger of Scripture
I fathom your concerns. You believe that these writings cannot mislead your faith; I understand the premise of your faith. But why does a book have to be your foundation for faith? Don’t you realize that there are other ways to prove God to yourself apart from a book? History, philosophy, and experience are the means of knowing God exists for sure. There are many Christians today that do not have, or are unable to read a Bible due to inaccessible native language or illiteracy. There was a period of time when the Bible wasn’t publicly accessible, or even existent. In fact, the Bible has undergone changes, whether by verse or by book. The early church debated the amount of books for the canon, and still do this till this day. Protestants having the smallest canon to Orthodox having the biggest canon; meanwhile, others have larger canons due to preference.
The Bible seems useful and trustworthy, and this is where we must disagree. Many claim the Bible cannot mislead your faith, except there are various groups with differing insights of the Bible. The Bible has led some to confusion and even fallacious assumptions. Some have undergone the fallacy of Calvinism (God blames and imposes some to sin and be destroyed in hell), because they took a literal approach to scripture without relying on God’s Sophia. Some have undergone the fallacy of eternal torment, because of a mistranslation and firsthand assumption. Some have undergone the fallacy of only men leadership, because they take the Bible too personally. These views are far from the gospel that Jesus and the Apostles preached. Some have undergone the fallacy of obeying the law, because they mistake God’s will for ritual. Without having God’s Sophia, you can be misled by the Bible and even justify slavery or polygamy (I have seen people do this).
“Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:15, 16).
God’s Sophia and Apokalypsis
This is not a post slandering the usefulness of the Bible, but this is a honest reflection of the church’s discernment. Just because Paul wrote his letters with wisdom, doesn’t mean you gain his manifested wisdom. You gain knowledge of wisdom, but you do not gain his manifested wisdom. Because wisdom is an empowerment while knowledge isn’t. You can know to do something, but not do it, even without the right mentality. Knowledge doesn’t give you the right mentality, but it just shows you the path. Wisdom is God’s very essence.
God promised us His Spirit to bestow to us the mind of Christ. God’s heart is to inspire us according to divine wisdom and direct revelations. God’s Sophia and apokalypsis will guide you in all truth and virtue. The mind of Christ is sapient and revelatory by nature, so do not forsake the use of it. It is written, “Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). God is capable of teaching spiritual truths apart from the Bible, so do not doubt the divine Teacher (John 6:45). Because the church was never meant to be stuck or overly dependent on a book for answers. The spiritual man of God is mature enough to discern matters by the Spirit. This person has the full wisdom and revelations of God to bless his path (1 Corinthians 2:13–16). When reading the Bible by the Mind, God gives you the wisdom and insight to make right perceptions of it. Because a total literal reading or mistaken belief of the Bible leads to bondage and nonsense. Guys, do not ignore the mind of Christ! If you have trouble discerning your revelations, judge it by the rule of ethics, by the rule of the gospel (not the Bible), and/or by the rule of witness. Because God always confirms His words or revelations by two or three witnesses. If one rule is confirmed, then that’s good enough unless you require more validation (1 John 4:1–3). The same logic applies to both false prophets and evil spirits, because false prophets/teachers gain their doctrine from demons. This statement from the book of Wisdom reflects pre-Christian theology:
“All we can do is make guesses about things on earth; we must struggle to learn about things that are close to us. Who, then, can ever hope to understand heavenly things? No one has ever learned your will, unless you first gave him Wisdom, and sent your holy spirit down to him” (Wisdom 9:16, 17).
Patristic History + Conclusion
The study of the early fathers is a good way to realize that Christian theology had various views but still affirmed the essentials of Christ. Some had different views of the atonement, inspiration, incarnation, but solidly affirmed the risen Christ and did have common agreements on particular subjects. Although, the English translations do not accurately reflect some Fathers but work with what you have. Dig deeper than the translations and discover what they meant. God bless. The sacred council is before you! Hahaha!
