Plaques, memes and magnets versus the Inspired word of God....
"Every word of God is flawless;
He is a shield to those who
take refuge in Him.
Do not add to his words,
or he will rebuke you and
prove you a liar."
~ Proverbs 30: 5,6 ~
There is an interesting phenomenon in Christian circles (at least here in the US) that has been gaining momentum in my lifetime. I first noticed it as pseudo-biblical quotes on wall art, plaques and bookmarks; often these were interspersed with real (abbreviated or out of context) biblical quotes.
I have always been torn about artwork like this. Is it a way of applying God's command from Deuteronomy 6, to surround ourselves with and talk about His word always? Is this the modern form of "write them on the doorframes of your house.."? Or was it just "scriptural snacking" -- little bites of scripture or not-quite-scripture that left one feeling a little bit of spiritual satisfaction, yet was not as nourishing as simply reading God's word. I know I was vaguely tortured by items like this as a young wife and mother; my budget didn't quite fit "stuff" like this, and yet there seemed pressure to buy it as if somehow it were a badge of faith. American commercialism at its finest, expressing my citizenship in Heaven through Christian artwork and my citizenship in the US of A through supporting capitalism. But in terms of meditating on what is right and pure, probably a reasonable strategy.
Of course, there have always been the good ol' American proverbs like "God helps those who help themselves" which is quoted like it's biblical when it is not. Or the "Footprints" poem that, when thought about with a clear mind, acknowledges God's saving presence only some of the time.... Or the dreadful meditation benches which threaten to snatch loved ones back from the perfect rest of Abraham's bosom. Like a catchy hymn with bad theology, these just keep hanging around.
Now, this category includes memes on Facebook and other social media with pseudo-scriptural quotes. Many of them don't even try to quote the bible; no reference, just a fluffy and generic statement that sounds Christian-y. Or maybe just "spiritual."
For all of these and more, there are certainly biblical references or stories to which they could be said to refer. Yes, Jesus did walk on water. Jesus did say that with faith, mountains could be moved. And He did calm the winds and waves. But these are only strangely edited abstracts, pulling one aspect of the full narrative to the forefront; the entire story--stories, if one reads multiple accounts in the gospels--are more complete and detailed. When the gospel text is distilled down to a blurb like these, the layers of meaning disappear and the story becomes one-dimensional, shallow and stale. The gospels are remarkably short, but they provide sufficient detail to be worth meditating on and re-reading. Memes like these are meant to be scrolled past quickly; they take no chewing and swallowing but rather melt on the intellectual tongue and simply slide down effortlessly, joining all the rest in creating an amorphous blob of feel good deology. The memes above also pull out a very self-centered motif, one focused on what YOU will accomplish--this mountain YOU will move, YOUR lifeguard, YOUR ship. The focus of these and so many more is introspective navel-gazing; it is not about marveling in and praising the creative and saving power of the God of the Universe, but rather about how that same God will be doing our will.
When the gospel text is distilled down to a blurb like these, the layers
of meaning disappear and the story becomes one-dimensional, shallow and
stale.
But I think the most concerning ones are like these:
The actual verse from John 14: 8 is Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Not exactly the same. The paraphrase seems to imply "But if you have more than God, that's even better." The second example blatantly and insolently puts words into God's mouth. I have no idea what this supposed quote is even referring to, possibly the woman who washed Jesus' feet with her tears or the woman caught in adultery? The implication seems to be--"Don't judge me. Don't hold me accountable. Let me walk my own path. You don't know what I'm juggling so your standards don't apply." More than that, these words and sentiments are attributed to God, which is telling: the author not only wants no objective standard applied, but in fact believes that words attributed to God are simply someone else's truth imposed arbitrarily on others. "We can create our own truth, my truth is as valid as your truth" these memes seem to say. "Inspired Word of God? I'll give you "inspired word of god"....".
The net result of signs, posters, magnets, bumper stickers, memes and memorial benches is to pull our attention away from God's word, to dilute it, clutter and contaminate it, to replace it with meaningless words or even with heresy. We may be left with a warm feeling of spiritual fulfillment, but we have not listened to the Words of God Almighty, only heard some echoes in a dark cave.
God warns us not to add to His word. In Deuteronomy 4, He is speaking to His people the Children of Israel and commanding that they obey His holy laws. He says "Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you."
Proverbs 30: 6 says "Do not add to His words, or He will rebuke you and prove you a liar." Revelation 22: 18, 19 warns "...if anyone adds anything to them [words of prophecy], God will add to him the plagues described in this book....if anyone takes away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life....".
These words should impress on us how seriously we should take God's words. God's word is how He has chosen to reveal Himself to us--the inspired word He gives in scripture, as well as the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ. Does this mean every Bible study must be a long, drawn-out thesis?
....side note, literally as I was typing the first sentence in the paragraph above, a lady stopped to chat at the coffee shop. She picked up a book I have stacked next to me and commented how much she likes short bible studies; she said that at one point she had 3 kids in 12 months "and all I needed was something quick to keep me on track."
So no, I don't believe that every Bible study or devotional time must be hours long and focused on long passages of scripture. It doesn't have to be complicated, but it does have to be truth. If we are looking to grow in faith and faithfulness, to be strengthened for our journey on earth and given wisdom for our challenges, we should go to the source as often as possible--read the Bible, not fridge magnets.
It doesn't have to be complicated, but it does have to be truth.
We must also be diligent in screening what we do read and study. Satan has asked from the beginning "did God really say...?" and it was in forgetting or neglecting what God had said that Adam and Eve fell. When Jesus was tempted in the desert, He resisted Satan by quoting God's words and He countered Satan's abuse and misquoting of God's words by quoting truth in context. We need to be prepared to do the same. As Paul tells the church in Thessalonica, "Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil." As the Berean Christians were praised for doing, we need to search scripture to discern truth from untruth, sound doctrine from false, worthy from unworthy. Our tendency as sinful human beings is to have itching ears, ears which long for platitudes and easy answers. The solution to those itching ears is the same as the source of Godly strength and wisdom: God's word, given to us in scripture, words which are "...useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness...". Plaques, memes and magnets are not enough.
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