The Bible Idol

I've been waiting for a while to use John Birch's cartoon,


To me it sums up the great danger evangelical Christians face with their love of scripture which can so easily become idolatry. How? Well one way this happens is summarised nicely by William Witt (HT):

There is a danger of focusing on the texts as documents, and forgetting that the Scriptures are not self-referential. They speak of a reality beyond themselves, namely, God’s creation and redemption of the world and humanity in Jesus Christ. The purpose of exegesis is not only to decipher the grammatical meaning of the text or to find precedents for permissible or impermissible behavior, but to allow oneself to be formed and transformed by the reality to which the Scriptures refer so that one can find oneself within the Bible’s story of creation and redemption.

The only sermon I've ever really managed to upset someone with (as far as I know) was when I suggested that it was possible to have too high a view of scripture! But it is very simple, I don't worship the Bible, I only love the scriptures in that they, and as far as they, point me to Jesus.