I'm probably a heretic.

"I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and the Bible."

Wait a second...something doesn't sound right about that. But based on the way a lot of Christians treat the Bible, they might as well say that.

Christian culture has a problem with idolizing the Bible. It is often treated as equal to God himself because "it is the word of God."

At what point in the Bible does it say that it is God's words directly?

People will use verses like 2 Timothy 3:16 to answer that question. Unfortunately, that verse is seriously limited. For one thing, depending on the version, it says that all Scripture is God-breathed or inspired by God. That sounds pretty indirect to me. Also, the verse speaks about "all Scripture." When Paul wrote 2 Timothy, he did not have the canonized Bible as we have today. All that the Jews had at the time was the Old Testament. So the phrase "all Scripture" cannot be referring to anything in the New Testament, simply because it had not yet been written. And even if it was in process of being written, it had not yet been decided that these texts would also be Scripture.

When was it decided what would and would not be Scripture? At some early-church powwow in the 400s. But why did they choose what they chose to be Scripture? Also, why does what they decided have to be the end-all and be-all of what the Bible is today? If I was "under the influence" of the Holy Spirit and I wrote a letter to a local church, why would it not be considered Scripture?

That's another thing. Much of the New Testament was not even intended to be "Scripture." Paul wrote letters, for Pete's sake. Personal letters to specific churches addressing specific issues that each church was facing. (Also, this means that Paul did not write any universal commandments. They're more like advice.) I wonder what he would think if he saw his letters being classified as Scripture. Part of me thinks that he would instantly deny it because he's not God, and so he could not produce Scripture--just like the time in Revelation when John started to bow before an angel, and the angel said, "Do not do it! I am only a fellow servant like you!" or something. I have a feeling Paul would have a similar reaction.

Of course, that's not to say that Paul's letters aren't valuable. One can glean wisdom from them about some situations and how to handle them. But I actually think it's wrong to unquestionably say that Paul's letters apply to us today--they were written to specific groups of people for specific reasons.

Also, keep in mind that the texts that we have comprising the Bible were written down by imperfect human hands. Even if the writers were under the influence of the Holy Spirit (an argument I've heard a lot), human language is finite. Additionally, no one language correlates perfectly to another. Thus, some meaning is certainly lost in translations. Our Bibles came from Hebrew/Aramaic/Greek, to Latin, to German, to Ye Olde English, through centuries of evolving English until we get to modern-day American English. There is no possible way that all the meanings made it through--which is why people go to Seminary to study Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. And even then, scholars still debate what is meant by what was written down because they don't completely know.

Countless Christians that I have met say that they use Scripture as ultimate direction and authority in their life. Again, isn't that placing Scripture above Jesus? I would rather develop a relationship with Jesus and have him directly speak into my life, instead of reading about him in a text that may or may not be errant.

I've also heard a lot of Christians say that "The Bible is sufficient," and that God has given us all we need in the Bible. I would contest that statement. The fact that Christians have disputed for centuries about how to interpret several passages speaks to that. If the Bible were sufficient, then those controversial passages would be explicitly clear. In addition, my personal experience is integral to my faith story. In fact, the Bible plays a pretty minor part in my faith story. It is through my experiences that I have seen God most at work and have gotten to know him best.

My view is not popular with Protestants, I know that. In fact, other Christians have declared my faith lesser and invalid because of these beliefs I have. But honestly, as long as I'm trying to follow Jesus and serve others, does it really matter that much?