Bible Myth #14: The Bible is Alive!

There’s an interesting tendency among non-Catholic Christians to take every biblical reference to the “word of God” as a reference to the Bible. For example, Hebrews 4:12 says:

“Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.”

I saw a Protestant commentary that said “the Bible is alive! Alleluia!”

See how “word of God” was replaced by “Bible”? I assume this is an attempt to prove the Bible’s authority from the Bible. For example, if a Catholic says “How can every individual correctly interpret the Bible without an infallible Magisterium?” a Protestant can reply “Hebrews 4:12 says the Bible is alive.” See how that works?

But there’s a problem with this; if “word of God” in Heb 4:12 means “Bible” then we have some real consistency issues. Sure, it’s one thing to say the Bible is alive in some vague, spiritual sense but clearly Bibles aren’t alive in a literal sense, right?

If so, why does Heb 4:12 say it can “discern” reflections and thoughts of the heart? How can the Bible discern?

The next verse says: “No creature is concealed from him, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account”

So the Bible is male (him) and everything is exposed to the Bible’s eyes? This is getting a little weird.

Verse 14 says: “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession”

Isn’t it odd to bring up Jesus right now since we were just talking about the Bible?

Clearly, reading this passage in context shows that “word of God” has nothing to do with scripture or the Bible and everything to do with Jesus, the one who discerns, separates sheep from goats (Mt 25:32), separates wheat and chaff (Mt 3?12), and now separates soul and spirit, joint and marrow (Heb 4:12).

Instead of the Bible, the “word of God” generally means the “spirit of God”. Sometimes the reference is to the incarnate word of God and others to God the father or the Holy Spirit (as God communicates to his prophets in the Old Testament). Rest assured, these references are to God himself.

Also “word of God” sometimes refers to the teaching and preaching of Jesus and the apostles. Even still this can’t refer to the Bible because this word of God is shared by writing and word of mouth (2 Thess 2:15).

In the end, make sure to read the context and apply it appropriately. But then, that’s nothing new, right?

Shining example of the right thing to do!

Jeanne Pernia shares her story in the video below. She began an abortion business back in the ‘70s and is now the director of Heartbeat of Miami Pregnancy Health Center, a clinic devoted to helping pregnant women find life-affirming solutions to challenging pregnancies.

What a story of conversion and grace!



Thanks to Live Action for sharing this story.

150 Reasons to be Catholic

This is quite an interesting list.

Fetuses can’t have human rights because of under-developed nervous system?

A new report justifying the ethics of abortion asserts that it’s morally acceptable to abort fetuses because their nervous system is under-developed. The report is succinctly titled “An ethically justified practical approach to offering, recommending, performing, and referring for induced abortion and feticide" was published in the September 2009 online issue of American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

The report states: "Because of the immaturity of the fetal central nervous system, the fetus lacks the capacity to generate a perspective on its interests," write the doctors. "The ethical principle of respect for autonomy and the concept of autonomy-based rights therefore do not apply to the fetus."

In other words, the fetus has no capacity to have a will to live and therefore has no right to live.

The report openly admits the purpose for such definitions is to prevent the “ethical analysis of induced abortion and feticide in medical ethics from being paralyzed by divisive debates about a fetal right to life”.

In other words, they’re saying a fetus has no right to life not because it’s medically or logically true but because it undercuts abortion opponent’s position. That sounds much more political than medical to me.

The report goes on to state that fetuses that are diagnosed with sever disabilities should be mandatorily terminated.

Christmas is only two days away. What a relief that Mary didn’t decide to abort Jesus instead of carrying him to term. After all, the God of the Universe’s central nervous system wasn’t developed to a point where he, the Incarnate Word of God, had the ability to desire to live and make autonomous decisions. Clearly, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior was, at the moment of his conception, just a lump of tissues.

During this Advent season and octave of Christmas, let’s remember that all of us were known by God before we were conceived and that HE wills us to live. That’s enough for each and every one of us to have a right to life!


More on this report can be found at LifeSiteNews.com

Great Video on When Life Begins

Here's Stephanie Gray articulating very well why "life" should begin at conception instead of some other arbitrary time: