Logos & Rhema

We have fallen prey to so much dualism that even when we’re in the forest we can’t locate any trees. Various religions, and their adherents, are so in love with their God (the one they have created in their imaginations) that they’ll kill anyone else who doesn’t agree with their God. This is nothign new; however, fundamentalism in the last one hundred years has forced a new duality on Christianity.

Slightly less than a hundred years in the making, Christian fundamentalists have been diviving the Christian community over the broader concept of logos & rhema: the written word versus the spoken or heard word. In it’s more popular dress, it’s labelled inerrancy and or infallibility.

The lines of argument are many and varied but three of the more popular are-

>God has spoken (Bible) and He no longer is speaking (radical theism).
>Revelation 22:18,19 warns us to not add anything more to the 66 books.
>If one thinks they have “heard” a spoken work from God, it must be validated and verified by the written word.

Of course the Bible is sacred but there is absolutely NO WAY that a person can claim textual or historical infallibility (and use logic and common sense), and since NOT ONE of ther original manuscripts is available, one is going beyond faith to assert infallibility- way beyond. That most of the Bible is inspired and “inspiring” few can argue against. But when we get to KNOW GOD (more than just intellectually) and learn to have conversations with Him, then the logos or written word becomes far more alive.

One need not worry about the rhema word gone wild. Whether logos or rhema based applications, you can ays tell if it’s God or not by the FRUIT that it produces. And looking at some of the intolerance and hatred that comes from logos-based only Christians, you know there’s a problem. When we have mroe than 30,000 “Christian denominations” you know we’re living in a dualistic environment, epecially when each of those denominations think they’re right and all others are wrong.

God is love. What kind of fruit is on your life?