I have already indicated that my conversion was to a pentecostal form of the christian faith. I have also spoken about how my quest for truth and right living as a convert led me to engaging study of the bible, partly to find answers to the many questions I had but also to get a sense of 'now that I am a christian, then what?' Thus the bible became a central book in my quest to understand my being a christian as well as life. But this was true of those that I found already pentecostal. It was the bible that people looked up to in order to understand God's will for their lives. When they said "God said to me...", it was used interchangeably with "the bible says" or "the word of God says". To these folks, knowledge of Scripture was an assumed must. In any meeting, whether in the privacy of their homes or in the church hall, 'sharing' was what was expected. And this 'sharing' was the exchange of scripture and impressions thereof among each other. Indeed they would frown at any one who speaks other things but Scripture. Such was the environment I was inducted into as a young and new christian. And it is obvious from the above the place of the bible among these folks.
Naturally one would then expect that the bible must then have played a very significant role in the practices of these pentecostal folks. And yes, it did. There was always pressure to conform to biblical injuctions. This pressure was maintained through the practice of meeting together where the agenda was always "what God said" and people exchanged "what God or the Holy Spirit said" to them. The import of the saying of the Lord to these folks was mostly ethical. Thus, greatly praised would be a person whose conduct was increasingly exemplary of the ethics of the bible as understood and required by the world around these folks. So the Bible was seen as the sourcebook for ethical behaviour which every member was enjoined to emulate. For these folks, there was a definite link between their practice and the bible. They seemed not to know or to be interested in any doctrinal system but that which the bible teaches. If you could show them that what you were talking about iwas in the bible, then it appears to me that they would believe you with no questions asked unless it conflicted with the body of knowledge they already had gathered through their personal reading, sharing and pulpit ministry. Otherwise, they would invoke a hermeneutic of the spirit which would allow them an escape from a theological tight corner. But the Bible was very important to the pentecostal folks I became a member of.
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