I Want To Announce My Presence With Authority

In one of the greatest scenes in movie history LaLoosh is on the mound and after being shaken off, Crash Davis, comes to the mound.  LaLoosh will only throw his fastball and Davis wants him to throw something off speed.  But LaLoosh demands to throw it to "announce my presence with authority".  Davis tips the batter as to the pitch and here is what happens...

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20NEbFeXU7w

LaLoosh didn't have authority. What about our faith? Do we have any authority? Is there any authority over us?

"In Christ" and "sovereign grace" two huge topics that we have tried to summarize briefly through their ramifications in our lives.  Hopefully we were able to somewhat answer the "so what" of these issues.  I just realized that another central issue is our view of the Bible.  Is it authoritative? Is perfect? Inerrant? These questions and so many more fly about in conversations in coffee shops all over the place.

I want to take a little different angle on this question.  I am more concerned about whether or not the Bible really is the history and narrative of the people of God.  If it is then it truly informs us our past and gives us insight into our present and future. It speaks to us in a way that nothing else can. How we deal with this issue determines much about how we interact with the Bible and how we understand ourselves.

To begin with we must ask - Is there continuity in the Bible? Is there one dramatic line of thought from beginning to end? If there is, then we have a text which is timeless and provides us the guideposts and direction we need.  If not, then what we have is a loose collection of interesting writings, but nothing truly authoritative.

I tipped my hand.  Authority of the text, in my opinion, comes from its internal consistency.  If it is not internally consistent then it cannot be trusted to be authoritative.

The Bible is the means by which we come to an understanding of who God is and what he wants from us. If it's found to be without consistency how do we know anything? If it's found to be consistent then it demands from us something more than an hour or so a week.