Just a quick tidbit:

Things have started to slow down with the school year lurching forward again. I expect that I will write some more about my trip to New Mexico and some on my youth ministry musings. For now I would like to point you to a really great post from a friend of Andrew "Call to Die" Lindsey's. The full post can be found here. It's on a topic I have been mulling over for a while, that is, how quickly we trade the all surpassing wonder of knowing God and studying his word for the human desires of someone to rally behind and a ritual to complete.

This really resonated with me, it seems to touch on modern Christianity's "self-help guru" thing that's going on.

Interpretation of scripture

Rome: in summary, the interpretation of scripture is determined by the Church, as it is headed up by the authority of the Pope and other hierarchy. At one point in time, even possessing a personal copy of the scriptures was worthy of death.

Today’s ‘protestant’ correlation: serious students of the Word are rare; besides an occasional personal glance at scripture, many Protestants rarely spend time studying the deep truths of the Word on their own. The local pastor’s teaching, if he is liked among the congregation, is taken as ‘truth’ in doctrines that require the least bit of study. Instead of the Pope and other hierarchy, the protestants can boast of their own ‘superstar’ teachers, even in the Reformed community, who are looked at by many as being near infallible in their interpretation.

Has anyone ever caught themselves prizing the teaching of a John Piper or other notable men of God over God's word itself? I know that I have to watch to make sure I'm not getting more of their teaching than actual personal bible study. Long and short of all this, read your bible, like it was the Word of God.