I don't know exactly where I'm going with this post, but I'm burdened to clear the air on a couple of points ... so bear with me as I get this off my chest.

I've spent a good deal of effort on GraceHead.com explaining how inferior the written Word (scripture) is to the Living Word. Here (http://bit.ly/1o5YRm) is a list of articles to this effect. The point is that the Lord is the SOURCE of the scripture. And that He makes it true, not the other way around. I stand behind these points, but I'm taking the time in this article to temper the remarks so that I don't give the wrong impression.

It occurs to me that anyone could make a case that the scripture is essential to us, even if it is not essential to God. And the only proof that they would need is the existence of scripture. In other words, we MUST have needed it or it would not be here. That may seem obvious, but I've been delivered from the fear of saying obvious things. :-)

This reminds me of something I said when asked if we really need prophets. My answer was not really from me, and it still doesn't sound like me. However, some inspiration arose in me to say this: "If God sends prophets, then a prophet must have been needed. If no prophets are sent, then none are needed."

So, we have the Old and New Testaments, and even though God could re-inspire equivalents at any time ... He preserved these things because the need for them never subsided. Likewise, we have new written Word ... as a Final Testament ... and its very existence is all we need as proof of its need (authenticity is another topic ... here I am presuming its authenticity for the sake of discussion.)

An analogy of this would be that a if a doctor gives a patient a cure, one could say that we don't NEED the cure, because we have the doctor and as long as we have the doc, we can get the medicine at any time ... but that would be a bit too far, wouldn't it? We might had better say, that we MUST NEED the cure, or else the doc would not have prescribed it. The issuance of the prescription is THE evidence of the need of the prescription ... and likewise the issuance of the Letters closes the debate on whether or not they are needed by their mere existence and nothing more.

Perhaps the analogy is even more fitting when you consider that God is called "The Great Physician."

Of course, the argument is moot for any so-called word from God that is demonstrably false (Book of Mormon comes to mind.) ... but like I said earlier, authenticity is another subject for another day.