Addendum to “The Wrong Question”

Ever since I wrote The Wrong Question , I have thought that it might warrant further clarification.  In putting forth the thoughts that I did, I had no intention of dismissing or casting aside the Bible.  However, the fact that I should feel compelled to make a statement of faith in the Bible is a problem.  Much of my personal spiritual history was one where the Trinity, functionally, was Father, Son, and Holy Bible, rather than Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  What did people do before literacy was widespread and before we had this neat sixty-six book compilation, how did you have a personal relationship with God or attain some level of spiritual maturity?  Is the Bible the messiah of modern Christianity?  First there was Moses, then the prophets, then Jesus, then the Holy Spirit, and then this book?  That question should make you uncomfortable on multiple levels.  I’m not talking about what people profess, but what they function in.

So, ‘The Wrong Question’ was an outcry for context; for the context to illuminate the patterns and precedents that appear in the Bible.  Recently, I was thinking about how God identified Himself to Moses when He appeared to Moses in the burning bush.  God would not be identified with a name, but only would be known as “I am”, but then immediately followed that by identifying Himself as the God of Moses’ forefathers, and He did not just say “forefathers”, but mentioned each by name.  What I see is that if you are going to identify Him with anything other than reality that He is, was, and always will be (which is what ‘I am’ means), then He wishes to be identified with the people He loves.