Eat It!

Thought I would share two quotes relating to scripture. The first from Louis Berkhof speaks of the 'proximate aim' or the human-bound goal of God giving us revelation in the form of His word. The second is from Eugene Peterson and is from a simply excellent book called Eat this Book which is a must read if one wants to come to grips for the Spiritual aspect of bible reading and the power it has to transform the soul.

Anyway, here goes:

“The proximate aim of of revelation (however), is found in the complete renewal of sinners, in order that they may mirror the virtues and perfections of God... It seeks to deliver from the power of sin, of the devil, and of death, the entire man, body and soul, with all his talents and powers, and to renew him spiritually, morally, and ultimately also physically to the glory of God; and not only the individual man, but mankind as an organic whole...”

"Holy Scripture is the source document, the authoritative font, the work of the Spirit that is definitive in all true Spirituality.
What I mean to insist upon is that spiritual writing-- Spirit-sourced writing-- requires spiritual reading, a reading that honors words as holy, words as a basic means of forming an intricate web of relationships between God and the human, between all things visible and invisible.

"There is only one way of reading that is congruent with our Holy Scriptures, writing that trusts in the power of words to penetrate our lives and create truth and beauty and goodness, writing that requires a reader who, in the words of Rainer Maria Rilke, 'does not always remain bent over his pages; he often leans back and closes his eyes over a line he has been reading again, and its meaning spreads through his blood.' This is the kind of reading names by our ancestors as LECTIO DIVINA, often translated 'spiritual reading,' reading that enters our souls as food enters our stomachs, spreads through our blood, and becomes holiness and love and wisdom."

Eat it!

Simon