Church Plans To Burn Bibles, Christian Books

Pastor Says Burning Meant To Light A Fire Under True Believers

CANTON, N.C. — A North Carolina pastor says his church plans to burn Bibles and books by Christian authors on Halloween to light a fire under true believers.

Pastor Marc Grizzard told Asheville TV station WLOS that the King James version of the Bible is the only one his small western North Carolina church follows. He says all other versions, such as the Living Bible, are “satanic” and “perversions” of God’s word.

On Halloween night, Grizzard and the 14 members of the Amazing Grace Baptist Church also will burn music and books by Christian authors, such as Billy Graham and Rick Warren.

Telephone calls to the Amazing Grace Baptist Church and Grizzard’s home were not immediately returned Wednesday.

There is a video that goes with this story, so please do follow the link above and watch the video. You will be glad that you watched it.

One of the problems with Anabaptist theology is that in some strains of it there is an emphasis on perfection that leads to a strict separation from other believers. Many Anabaptists had (and have) a very commendable desire to reach out for Christian perfection. That desire is something that we should all have. Many of the early Anabaptists separated themselves out into communities in order to be better able to live Christian lives. Again, this is commendable, if one thinks of the early monks and their desire to live out a Christian life. Among the descendants of the Anabaptists are the Mennonites, the Amish, the Old Order Brethren, the Bruderhofs, etc. They generally have in common a desire to live a common life apart from others, a desire that the life they live apart be a simple life, and a strong belief in pacifism that includes an avoidance of both physical and verbal violence.

But, somewhere along the line something went wrong with some of the other Anabaptists. These are often actually descendants of the English Separatist movement of the very early 1600’s. They have adopted many of the Anabaptist outlooks without their emphases on community and non-violence. They lay claim to a spiritual descent from the Anabaptists, but in reality they simply adopted emphases, such as adult baptism, perfection, etc. The original Anabaptist emphasis on each person reading their Bible and interpreting it was heavily leavened by the fact that they lived in community, so that individual interpretations were often reined in by the normal back and forth of a committed community, and thereby kept from too much extremism and division.

But, the English Separatists came together more for self-protection than out of a desire for community. Among them were the Puritans, many of whom eventually came to the colonies. But, they were not the only ones to come. And, in America there was no necessity to really live together and agree with each other. Rather, there was plenty of empty land, and one could always move out and start one’s own homestead, or church, if one did not agree with the theology of others in the community. It is said of Daniel Boone that when asked why he left Kentucky he replied: “Too many people! Too crowded, too crowded! I want some elbow room.”

 In what became the United States, the separatist emphasis changed. Originally, the English Separatists wanted separation of Church and State, just like most of the continental Anabaptists. But, somehow that concept of separation slowly merged with the Anabaptists desire for a separation that would allow the living out of a cleaner Christian life. And, when the two concepts merged, we got people who do not believe in living in community but believe in separating themselves from those whose theology and practice is not clean enough. They have the emphasis on the individual interpretation of Scripture without the leaven of a loving committed community that will give them feedback. And, without the input of a loving community, too many of them have turned their desire for growth in the Christian life into a legalism that defines Christianity by a set of doctrinal propositions and behavioral rules without the love that an Anabaptist community so often demonstrates. Eventually it becomes a point of pride to have separated oneself rather than the admission that one is too weak to live out the Christian life without the support of a community.

The article, and video, I quoted above is an example of what can happen if it goes to an extreme. But, here is a question for you. Why did the early monks not fall into the same trap? Well, actually, some of the early Christians did. You can read about the Novatian heresy sometime. But, in reality, how did the monastic movement avoid–by and large–the trap of a separatism that removes the person claiming to be a Christian from being a part or contact with the Church?

===MORE TO COME===