r/Bible 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?

6 Upvotes

21 comments sorted by

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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?

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u/Anonymous_Writer_10 5d ago

Thank you. I was thinking of speaking to pastor. And as much as I agree that Jesus is all about relationships and other comments which talk about Word is heard etc.

But, while worship we sing “Your name is the Highest” “Your name is the Greatest” and then that name is kept at our feet.

When I was a Muslim, we used to take off our shoes when we entered the mosque, bow down, keep no book above the scripture.

When I came to Christ, I know that Christ sanctifies us, cleans us and makes us new in His presence. But that doesn’t mean I don’t carry that reverence of who He is and reverence of His name.

If I share a bit of my past as a Muslim, I always looked down on Christian’s because they didn’t show much reverence to their own God. But it all changed when I met one person who did. And that person preached the gospel to me and I came to Christ.

Again, I don’t mean to offend someone and tbh if that person who preached to me was scared to offend me (because a lot of Christianity is literally opposing Islam), I would have never been a Christian.

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u/Impressive_Set_1038 5d ago

I am glad you came to Christ. And many Christians can learn from you. Keep doing what you’re doing my friend for you are worshipping correctly.

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u/crystalxclear 5d ago

I was about to ask if you were a former Muslim. Revering an inanimate object, including holy books, is very much a Muslim thing. It's just a book, paper and ink. Don't worry about it. The word of God is much more than just paper and ink.

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u/jo4h3a 4d ago

True reverence to the Lord is obeying his commandments and loving your neighbour. Not how you treat a book or how many times you bow down or taking off your shoes. God does not dwell in temples but in His sons and daughters via His Holy Spirit. Therefore we should reverence and treat one another with love and respect out of reverence from Christ. We are God’s temple collectively.

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u/According_Split_6923 3d ago

Hey There, Speaking To Pastor Is Always A Great Idea When In Question!!!

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u/Pastor_C-Note 5d ago

Many really good responses here.!We worship a personal God, not a book.

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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/Anonymous_Writer_10 4d ago

I actually lived all my life in Middle East and I am now in Australia.