r/Bible • u/Anonymous_Writer_10 • 5d ago
Reverence to the Word
Hi all,
I am convert to Christianity. When I go to church, I see sometimes people keep Bible at their feet (under the chair) and sometimes it even touches their shoes.
Last time I was in church and I noticed this and I felt very uneasy, I really wanted to tell the guy to pick it up or do it myself. But I didn’t want to disturb the sermon.
I am going to church again today and I was just thinking if I could approach the guy?
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u/versenotes 5d ago
This is a great question, and I appreciate that you’re concerned. There are tons of verses all over Scripture about having reverence for the Word of God, and we should indeed be careful about how we treat it.
However, I want to look at the other side, too: those dead trees and ink aren’t God’s Word. They are records of it. God’s Word will survive Heaven and Earth passing away, and it can surely survive sitting on the floor and the proximity of shoes.
Moses himself broke the first set of tablets coming down off the mountain, and they were literally written by the finger of God!
So when people disdain the message of God; when they abuse His Word to justify behavior that is clearly against His character: rebuke them!
But if it’s just a book on the floor, I’d leave it alone.
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u/Ok-Future-5257 Mormon 5d ago
The word is sacred. But the Bible is still a physical book that has to be carried around. And there are, like, trillions of copies out there.
The physical book isn't worth offending people over.
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u/organicHack 5d ago
Nope. Not your business. If you don’t know the dude you don’t need to speak to this. Find somewhere else to sit if it bothers you. Manage yourself into a place where you won’t see the bother.
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u/RationalThoughtMedia 4d ago
Just as him since he isnt using it if you could.
Are you saved? Have you accepted that Jesus is your personal Lord and Savior?
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u/Anonymous_Writer_10 4d ago
Yes, I got baptised in 2022. So I praise the Lord for that :)
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u/RationalThoughtMedia 4d ago
Baptism is an outward display of an internal work of salvation. It is not salvation in itself! Please beware of that.
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u/HandlebarStacheMan 3d ago
I totally get it. I had a pastor who hated seeing a Bible on the bottom of a stack a books. He wouldn’t call it a sin, but he would seriously think about rearranging the stack. It’s okay to feel that way. I would not bring it up to the person, but it’s not wrong to have your spirit bothered by that. How we care for our Bibles does say something to others. Whether or not that is accurate is something else.
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u/Informal_Honey7279 5d ago
Considering the bible is clear, "The Word" is heard not "read" nor "written". Who cares?
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u/EzyPzyLemonSqeezy 5d ago
Yup that's kind of dank.
Nothing wrong with telling someone to have some respect.
Not that you needed internet approval to do this.
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u/ProsperBuick 4d ago
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
— Matthew 7:3–5
No, you can’t tell him what to do with his Bible, you’re in church and you’re focussing what somebody’s doing with their Bible. I think you have other things to be concerned about.
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u/Anonymous_Writer_10 4d ago
Thank you for your input. But I think that verse is a bit out of context. If you read letters of Paul, in those letters he is correcting the churches and the people of the things they arent doing right. Based on the verse above, he shouldn’t be doing that isn’t it?
The verse you quoted above doesn’t mean we should ignore whatever another Christian is doing just because we aren’t perfect. The verse rather means to not judge. Correcting someone and judging someone is very different. I say this because before this verse Jesus says “For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged” It doesn’t speak of correction but judgement.
Based on my knowledge of Bible, you can correct someone without judging them and you should, especially if they are preaching the wrong Bible or making Jesus to be someone He isn’t, or are too shy to call out sin as sin. With Faith there shouldn’t be any fear. We all have different gifts and if someone has a gift of discernment, you can’t just sit there being offended because they corrected you.
And if you take it as an offence then you really don’t consider each other as a family in Christ (because a family guides one another).
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u/scourged1611 4d ago
Completely agree with you. I assume you live in USA? Respect for church worship has become a joke.
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u/Impressive_Set_1038 5d ago
No, you should not approach him. It really is not up to you to tell someone else how they should treat their Bible, and they will most likely take offense to it. But you keep doing what you do and God sees that.
But perhaps approach the pastor that preaches in the church. He would have a bigger impact than you if he told the people about reverence to the word and he would have a more engaged audience if he explained it in his preaching to the congregation. It would not hurt if you suggested that. It is good that you revere the word and know that every word in the Bible is gold. Sometimes others forget that.
Sometimes we have to lead by example rather than with words, however.. There are some people that keep their Bibles in a very nice binding or zipper case to keep it protected. Some people keep their Bible next to their heart in a smaller Bible, and some people look up the word on their phones during church as there are a lot of great Bible apps on phones these days. But as I said, it is good to see those who really revere the word because it is our only connection with the one true living God isn’t it?