By the Numbers

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Are Bible Teachings Incredible, Or Just Not Understood?

                         Are Bible Teachings Incredible, Or Just Not Understood?
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Jim learned his new friend John was a Bible believing Christian. Surprised, he asked John how he could believe a book teaching such absurd things. "What absurd things?" John inquired. Jim said, "I've heard the Bible says that the earth is flat with four corners, that a guy named Jonah swallowed a whale, that an Ark of the Covenant landed on Mt. Judi, and that Bible characters lived immoral lives. Ha! Ha! If that's what I thought the Bible said, I wouldn't believe it either, Jim.
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Unfortunately, people today who know little if anything about the Bible hear biased misinformation about what it really says. Only if they seriously study it for themselves with an open mind in its historical, grammatical, cultural context can they get a true understanding and find that its teaching is most reasonable. Let me clarify a few people's misunderstandings.
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That the Bible opposes science and modern thought. Persons in Bible times didn't give scientific explanations for natural phenomena but spoke in language of appearances--we still do today. The  Bible does say God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1), but doesn't say the earth is the center of the universe. The four corners of the earth  (Rev. 7:1) doesn't mean the world is flat and we can fall off.--it means the four directions of the compass. Isaiah even  called the earth a circle and said God spread out the heavens centuries before we found these things out (Isa. 40:22). The sun rises and sets  and was still for a whole day (Joshua 10:12-14). We know the earth rotates on its axes and goes around the sun but that's not the way it appears to the naked eye. Joshua's long day could be a tremendous display of God's creative power, but more likely was some kind of aerial condition God caused as perhaps reflected sunlight to insure the Israelites victory.
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God is not required to give us a scientific explanation of everything that may even be beyond our understanding anyway. The universe seems designed for human habitation (anthropic principle). Even as the unique position of earth in the arms of our galaxy that allows for cosmic exploration. The universe's origin shows the glory of God's eternal creative power. Remember, Bible interpreters can make mistakes and today's assured scientific facts may be tomorrow's science fiction. When all the facts are in and correctly understood God's Word and God's world will agree. 
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That God was evil to command destruction of the Amalekites, men, women, children, everything (1 Samuel 15:3). Many people today say this makes the Bible God guilty of genocide, a moral monster, and totally unbelievable. Let's consider this in its biblical framework. If there is no personal moral sovereign God, what ethical standard is there but each persons own personal opinion? And if conflicting human opinions are all we have, anything is permitted and whoever gets the biggest stick controls and beats us into submission to their opinion--throughout history this has destroyed human dignity, equality, freedom and many lives and property.
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Only our Creator, Life-giver, and Judge can serve as humanity's standard of ethical behavior. No impersonal force, limited tribal god, or atheism can serve as a basis of human dignity, morality, love, and hope.  Critics who accuse Christian faith of intolerance must borrow from the Bible ethic even to have an ethic, and show hypocrisy themselves in being intolerant of biblical Christianity.
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Now the Amalekites were terrorists who sought to destroy Israel. Their behaviors were everything God told Israel not to do or allow--idolatry, adultery, nakedness, homosexuality, sex with animals, sexuality transmitted diseases, child sacrifice, filthy surroundings (Lev 18). A merciful forgiving God told Abram they had 400 years (rounded number) to turn from their evil ways, but knew they would only grow worse (Gen. 15:13-16). Because they were not totally destroyed they were always a thorn in Israel's side. They sought to prevent God's covenant plan with Abraham to be the means of bringing about human redemption through the Messiah (Gen. 12:1-3; Gal. 4:4-5). A moral God knows our beliefs and behaviors whether good or evil and had to take out a moral cancer that would infect everyone's life and hope. He will one day destroy the devil and his forces (Rev. 20:7-10). He allows them now to test our faith, love, and obedience to His truth, goodness, and will. If He destroyed every sinner, none of us would be left. Who we obey is our choice and has serious consequences.
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As for innocent children, we are all born in sin  and deserve death (Psalm 51:5; Romans 5:12). Our Maker is our Owner who gives us our every breath and has the right to take life anytime, and once did to the whole evil world (Gen. 6:5; 7:23). Children who die before the age of belief or accountability go to be with God (Deut. 1:39; Isa. 7:15; Mk.10:14; John. 9:41).
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That Adam and Eve are just myths.  Modern scholarship, assuming evolutionary naturalism,  considers the Adam and Eve account as myth, not history (Gen.1:27; 2-3). It's true the Bible tells their events in story form for all peoples to understand. But the Bible everywhere represents them as real persons in real history. Events of their lives are mentioned, they get married, have children, family problems, and are referred to throughout the Bible as our first parents. God's plan of redemption is based upon their being real people who brought sin into the world for which the prophets spoke of a one day coming Messiah and Savior. 
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And yes, the Bible does record miraculous acts of God. But not that the prophet Jonah swallowed a whale, but that God prepared a great fish that swallowed Jonah and carried him to the destination in God's plan that his preaching could result in people in the city of Nineveh turning to God.
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Miracles seem incredible only if one assumes a naturalistic philosophy supposedly supported by science. But does science show that no existence can explode into everything, that mindless molecules can arrange themselves into all our present life forms? Wouldn't plants and animals have to be complete and functional from the start? Can things exist with only partially developed systems and organs? Are there missing links, or a whole missing chain?  What scientific experiment can demonstrate biological evolution? What seems incredible to me is that some persons would rather assume connected universes exist in order to deny a Creator who loves them, offers them a life of purpose and rewards them with Heaven.
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That Bible characters are immoral examples of bad lives. Jesus is the only One without sin with power to be a Savior of us sinners. No other Bible character and no person is said to be without sin or morally perfect. Yes, bad actions along with good ones are openly discussed in the Bible even of God's prophets and apostles. But everything recorded in the Bible is not approved as Abraham's lie, David's sin with Bathsheba, Solomon's polygamy.  The Bible gives us both good and bad behavior's as examples to learn what God approves and disapproves (2 Tim. 3:16). As God gives us the human dignity of free will, anything becomes possible. The alternative is that we be robots dishonoring to God and without dignity ourselves. Justice is not always achieved in this life, but an all-knowing God assures us it will be one day.  We have the choice to believe that an omnipotent, omniscient, holy and loving Triune God knows what's best for us, or to reject God which is fatal.  
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That James contradicts Paul about how to be right with God. There is no contradiction as both are true at different times before different persons. Faith before God is the root and good works before man is the fruit. Paul says we are justified or made right before God  by faith alone (Romans 4:5-6; Titus 3:5). James says true faith is made known to men only by our good works, otherwise its seen as dead or not real faith (James 2:18-23). When Abraham believed God it was counted to him for righteousness, but it was shown real to men when he offered Isaac in sacrifice. "For by grace (God's undeserved favor) you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:8-10).
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We can trust God for the fuller life of truth, purpose, love, and hope and grow in knowing His life in us. His goodness and love can't force Himself on us---what is your decision? This may be God's call to you. Won't U say, Lord Jesus I trust You as paying for my sin on your cross and with your help I'll live for You and share my new faith with my friends.
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See my note about the Ark below. Couldn't fit it into the article.


1 comment:

  1. See my article, What Did Muhammad Say About Jesus? Moses said (1400 BC) Noah's Ark landed on Mt. Ararat (Gen. 8:4). But Muhammad said (570-632 AD) Mt. Judi (Sarah 11:44). His many Bible contradictions is why Jews & Christians rejected Muhammad as a false prophet. Also, Muhammad did no miracles, but Jesus did.

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