Believing in the Bible

I hear Christians say, "I believe in the Bible" a lot. It's really beginning to get on my nerves. I kind of wonder if the Bible has become the replacement for the Trinity in the minds of many American Christians.

I'm in a transition period for what I feel like the Bible represents for me and how I feel it should be used, so I can't really articulate all that I'm feeling at the moment about the subject. I think it might take a multi-chapter book to explain.

But I do know that I am not a big fan of, and am actively trying to not believe, treating the Bible like it is God. I feel it is conflating a description/representation with the actual thing.

I have precedent:

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, light from light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary
and became truly human.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Note how the only place that it says anything about the Bible is "in accordance with the Scriptures". There is no "I believe in the Scriptures" or "I believe in the Bible" anywhere in there. You could make a really twisted argument that "in accordance with the Scriptures" makes the case for elevation of the Bible to a higher plane, but I don't think that's what the writers had in mind.

Of course, this presupposes that I choose to accept the Nicene Creed as orthodoxy. I did and do so, after a lot of careful consideration that deserves its own post, that I may get into at some point. But that's where I stand. I just don't think that idolatrous treatment of the Bible is good for Christianity, the church, or Christians' treatment of each other or anyone else. I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone say or do something offensive or cruel and say "BUT IT'S IN THE BIBLE" when justifying it. That's bad theology and bad neighborship. Is the Bible an important tool for understanding Christian faith and a guide for understanding the Trinity? Yes, and it's one of the few things we have to go on. But treating it as the first, last, and only arbiter of the will of God cuts our religion off at the knees, not to mention depriving the Holy Spirit of its role.

So let's have a little more patience, kindness, and imagination with our religion and with each other. And a little more education about orthodoxy and exegesis/hermeneutics wouldn't hurt either.