Ignorance of Scripture

"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ," Jerome (quoted by Kathleen Norris in The Cloister Walk).

It seems Christians can quote everything and everyone but the Bible, and when we do quote the Bible we often misquote it or quote it out of context and therefore strip it of its meaning and overlay our own meaning onto it. 

In a time of uncertainty we need to confess that only the Bible is certain and that everything outside the Bible is uncertain. It is the Christ of Scripture that is certain - the Christ of Folk Christianity, to use my friend's (Mike Daily) term, is not only uncertain but that false Christ changes with the news headlines and our whims. 

The uncritical thinking and actions of many professing Evangelicals in the current political arena is a result of not being grounded in the Bible - for the Bible is all about Jesus Christ and it recognizes and proclaims that in Christ alone is there hope and that the mandate of the Church is to proclaim Christ - not to descend into any other message, and certainly not to advocate that we gravitate toward the lesser of two evils. 

The lesser of two evils is still evil.

If we must stand alone proclaiming Christ better to stand alone - for we will never be alone - He is with us, even to the end of the age, even in the midst of chaos. 

If we are not proclaiming the Bible we are not proclaiming Christ.

What would Jerome say today?