Week 1—Wednesday John 1:16-18
John 1:16-18
CAN GOD BE REVEALED PERFECTLY
THROUGH A BOOK?
We paused yesterday to ask whether God could be revealed perfectly through a book, however sacred it may be. The Sikhs of India treat the Granth Sahib, their sacred book, as though it were a person. They fan it in hot weather, offer it food, and put it to sleep under mosquito curtains. To them, it is a person. But however they may attempt to make the book personal, it is still impersonal. The Vedas of the Hindus are supposedly eternal, but we know that ofttimes there are historical references in them. They are of time and are impersonal. The Koran is supposedly dictated by God, but if it were, it would still be impersonal; hence the Word become word. There are those in my day who put out books with such titles as God Speaking, which were supposedly dictated to the listening scribes. From the contents, it would seem that they are, at their best, the highest thoughts of the writers translated as the voice of God, for nothing beyond high human thinking has been revealed—and some of it is not even high—it is very, very ordinary. But if it were dictated by God, it would still be the Word become word.
Then there are those who in religious circles sit in séances waiting for some word from God through a medium, who in turn is supposed to get some word from a person in the next life. Apparently, what has “come through” has added little or nothing to our knowledge of God, and little or nothing to our knowledge of the hereafter—nothing except what the human mind would project into the future and call revelation. In any case, if it were real it would be inadequate, for it would be the Word become word and, a very secondhand or thirdhand word at that. But there are those who go into contortions and trances and speak supposedly as God. “Who is he?” I inquired of a disciple when people at every railway station fell at the feet of a “holy man.” “He is God. He can tell you anything.” But I could see he was a spastic and his contortions of speech were supposed to be the result of divine possession.
O God, we project ourselves and our thoughts into the heavens and call it your voice and your revelation. We are sick, nigh unto death, at the echoes of our own voices. We want some authentic Word from you—the Word for which we have been waiting. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: Regarding God, I shall be not a second-hander but a first-hander.