At 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 inner 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 chapter 4 verse 1.

Dear friends, he says, do not believe every spirit,

but test the spirits to see whether they're from God.

The way we test the spirits 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 which to weigh up every human claim to be speaking or

acting with God's authority. But there is a second reason why scripture is necessary. Writing was

the natural way to preserve God's words for present and future generations. The Ten Commandments are

described as having been inscribed by the finger of God, and when the stone tablets were smashed by

Moses in a fit of anger at Israel's idolatry, God immediately took steps to replace them. Why? Because writing

was the way that God carefully protected his words so that in future

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