Originally posted by Mike
The American flag code has us treat the flag with reverence. This is because the flag has nothing real to offer, so we add value through showing reverence to the object. With Scripture, it has something real to offer, so we should show reverence to the content.
Exactly. Bill, I'm pretty sure I understand where you're coming from, but as Mike expressed, the reason I think my initial post here fully applies to the flag analogy is that the reveren burning of the flag is rooted in a reverence to it as a
symbol, and purely that. The flag is no more than a symbol of the real life and liberties it represents being lived out in our country. But I do not think of the Word as having any such
symbolic worth whatsoever, as it is simply an actual means of grace that truly plays part in the real life and liberties being lived out in the Church.
For clarification, I realize that just because the Word's chief and prime value is in its content, it does not
automatically follow from that it has
no symbolic value at all. The reason I prefer not to think of it as having any is that, given that it certainly does not biblically
need to be assigned symbolic value as such, the only thing that treating it with some such value can potentially do is distract from what
does biblically
need to be gained from it, namely its content.
I would also add that this is certainly far from a cut-and-dry, definite yes-or-no question biblically, and in fact is one of Christian liberty. If you prefer to burn it, burn away. It is just like I would say to someone that if they prefer not to eat or drink the elements of baptism and communion after their use, they are certainly at liberty to dispose of them in a more simple manner, or even to save them for the next sacramental administration. But in both cases (the physical Bible and the sacramental elements), I would strongly caution anyone to check his heart and discern how he understands his decision and what his motives are for doing it, so as to ensure a wrong view of the Word or sacraments is not at heart, and that even if it is not so in him, to consider the possibility that his actions may give a wrong impression of that nature to others observing who are either weaker in the faith or prone to certain stumbling blocks.
