Out the risk of sounding ungrateful is Scripture really necessary.

I think if we're honest, some of us are a bit embarrassed by it.

Isn't it silly to claim that something as commonplace as a book actually contains God's

words?

If God really is God, couldn't He just communicate with human beings in a less run-of-the-mill

way?

He certainly could. The Bible itself gives plenty of examples.

God speaks to people by means of dreams, visions, angels, even on one significant occasion

from a burning bush.

He also speaks to individuals by means of their consciences, by hard-wiring us with a deep

in a hunger for him, even by determining where and when in history we live.

He speaks through all creation as Psalm 19 and Romans 1 make clear. He constantly speaks

to us of his goodness by providing for us regardless of whether we love him or not, and he still

guides his people by means of his Holy Spirit.

But if we were to hear a voice speaking directly to us, a voice claiming to be God Himself,

how would we know it was God speaking, and not just indigestion, our own desires, or

something worse?

The Apostle John addresses this in 1 John 4 verse 1. Dear friends, he says, do not believe

every Spirit, but test the Spirit to see whether they are from God. The way we test the

Spirit is to measure everything against God's written Word. If any voice chafes against

Scripture at any point, then according to Scripture it shouldn't be treated as being

from God. That's the first reason why Scripture is necessary. It gives us a supreme court in

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