Tissue for a gunshot wound...

An excerpt from "The Authority of the Bible" by Jacob Smith in Modern Reformation (v 19.1.Jan/Feb 2010)

By focusing on application and didacticism, the church has actually helped lessen the authority of the Bible in the eyes of people. The Bible does speak to finances (and it does have a lot to say about sex, often times even too scandalous for your local evangelical megachuch). Yet, when churches focus on "fixing" a part of life, they misuse the Bible to address only our symptoms as opposed to our disease. The idea that scripture is in any way self-help is a flawed premise; rather, the biblical diagnosis of humanity is that we are beyond help. Our mismanagement of money, our flawed relationships, and our failure as leaders are simply the symptoms of the disease called sin. As Luther would say, they are the fruit of a bad root. To offer perople five steps from the Bible to a better you-fill-in-the-blank is like a hospital offering the victim of a lethal gunshot wound a tissue: after a while no one would recognize the authority of the hospital either.