quotes from "God Has Spoken" by J. I. Packer

I'm reading this book for my class "Bibliology" and it is arguing that the Bible truly is God's Word and, as such, it is clear, understandable, and sufficient.

Packer's words are (sad but) so true for our generation:

"...the Word of God is in a real sense lost. Why is this? For it is not as if the Bible were no longer read and studied in the churches. It is read and studied a great deal; but the trouble is that we no longer know what to make of it. Mesmerized by the problems of rationalistic criticism [and, may i add, post-modernism], we can no longer hear the Bible as the Word of God. Liberal theology, in its pride, has long insisted that we are wiser than our fathers about the Bible [can you say 'Rob Bell', 'Erwin McManus'?], and must not read it as they did, but must base our approach to it on the 'assured results' of criticism, making due allowance for the human imperfections and errors of its authors. This insistence has a threefold effect. It produces a new papalism--the infallibility of the scholars, from whom we learn what the 'assured results' are. It raises a doubt about every single biblical passage, as to whether it truly embodies revelation or not. And it destroys the reverent, receptive, self-distrusting attitude of approach to the Bible, without which it cannot be known to be 'God's Word written'." (page 25-26)

"...it appears that modern theology, for all its claim to stress the personal quality of God's revelation to us and our knowledge of Him, actually takes a sub-personal view of both. To maintain that we may know God without God actually speaking to us in words [which is what many are saying today when they propose that God's word cannot be taken at face value] is really to deny that God is personal..." (page 53)