We receive God's word through the witnesses of prophets, mortal men and women, whose testimonies survive despite their own human imperfections because the revelations were of God and not of mortal origin. We worship God only. We respect but do not worship prophets or their scriptures as idols. God spoke in ages past. God speaks today. God will yet speak in generations to come. We believe God chooses imperfect servants, broken vessels, for His own reasons that we often cannot understand.† It is our responsibility to study scriptural teachings while avoiding the mistake of leaning to our own understanding alone. We require the guidance of God's Spirit to receive His saving truths and to live our lives as He intends. What God has spoken plainly through these channels has been preserved for us; what He continues to speak, He confirms by His Spirit. God does not contradict Himself, but our imperfect knowledge tempts us to contend with one another. Each follower of Jesus Christ must prayerfully weigh beliefs, doubts, and personal conscience against the Scriptures God has given. Each faith tradition recognizes its own canon of scripture; we contend for none of these boundaries, but exhort all souls to search their scriptures diligently for what brings them to Christ.
What has brought you closest to Christ — scripture, experience, community, or something else entirely?
† See companion essay: Broken Vessels — Universal Fallibility and the Reach of Grace.
