BEWARE PITHY STATEMENTS

We often see pithy theological statements on posters, Facebook and Twitter. Pithy means concise and forceful. The purpose is to catch you attention with a nice sounding phrase. Be careful about adopting these. They may not be accurate.

For example, I recently heard a fellow on a Christian radio station say “it is good to know your Bible; it is better to know its author”. While there are a few people that really know the Bible and do not know god, there are not many and they probably do not listen to Christian radio. So, what is the point?
The problem here is the implication that you can know God outside of the Bible. Certainly we can know something about god from creation. Romans 1:20 tells us that. But the word “know” in the Bible usually refers to a relationship. You may know facts about God but not have a relationship with him. You can only have a relationship with God the Father by having a faith relationship with his Son, Jesus. (John 14:6) You can only have this relationship with Jesus by hearing and receiving the Gospel. (Romans 10:14)

You hear the Gospel by hearing it preached and read. Therefore, we see that you cannot know God apart from knowing his word, the Bible.
Pithy may fit today’s media needs and our short attention spans. But people need God’s truth spelled out clearly and completely. Beware of pithy statements and think them through before you adopt them.

Let’s be careful out there.