My Fundamentalist supervisor

Part Two, A revealing conversation

As part of settling into my new job, I had a few conversations with my supervisor about his faith and mine. Recently I’d been reading the Bible and was also attracted to the early Friends and their experience of hearing Jesus’ voice inwardly. In one of our discussions, I mentioned that I felt this was important.

“But you’ve got to watch that,” Ernest said. “Because what if you hear a voice telling you to kill somebody?”

“Wait a minute. The Bible is full of stories that begin, ‘An angel of the Lord appeared to so-and-so, and said such-and-such.’ I doubt if these angels appeared from out of the sky, and with wings. Maybe they appeared as a person or, just as likely, as an invisible voice.”

“Oh,” he responded. “God doesn’t speak directly to people anymore.”

I was stunned. It was the first time I’d encountered this attitude and only years later did I discover the supposed Scriptural basis. My husband’s background had been Evangelical Friends—pastored, programmed meetings and heavy reliance on the Bible.

Ellis immediately identified the source of this belief: “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.” (Rev. 22:18-19, New International Version)

Ernest’s attitude indicated to me that any Scriptural passage can be twisted to mean whatever the reader wishes. I didn’t then realize that Revelation had been written before the Bible was assembled. In this respect, I was as ignorant as Ernest apparently was.

Thus, George Fox’s statement about Scripture reading becomes more cogent: “For I saw in that Light and Spirit which was before Scripture was given forth, and which led the holy men of God to give them forth, that all must come to that Spirit, if they would know God, or Christ, or the Scriptures aright.” (p. 33, Fox, Journal; Nickalls edition)