A. W. Tozer says, regarding the spirit of Christians today:
"We read our chapter, have our short devotions and rush away, hoping to make up for our deep inward bankruptcy by attending another gospel meeting or listening to another thrilling story told by a religious adventurer lately returned from afar.
"The tragic results of this spirit are all about us: shallow lives, hollow religious philosophies, trust in religious externalities, quasi-religious fellowships, salesmanship methods, the mistaking of dynamic personality for the power of the Spirit. These and such as these are the symptoms of an evil disease, a deep and serious malady of the soul.
"For this great sickness that is upon us no one person is responsible, and no Christian is wholly free from blame. We have all contributed directly or indirectly , to this sad state of affairs. We have been too blind to see, or too timid to speak out, or too self-satisfied to desire anything better than the poor, average diet with which others appear satisfied. To put it differently, we have accepted one another's notions, copied one another's lives, and made one another's experiences the model for our own. And for a generation the trend has been downward. Now we have reached a low place of sand and burnt wire grass and, worst of all, we have made the Word of Truth conform to our experience and accepted this low plane as the very pasture of the blessed.
"It will require a determined heart and more than a little courage to wrench ourselve loose from the grip of our times and return to biblical ways. But it can be done. Every now and then in the past Christians have had to do it. History has recorded several large-scale returns led by such men as St. Francis, Martin Luther and George Fox. Unfortunately, there seems to be no Luther or Fox on the horizon at present."
I may be no Luther or Fox, but I, as they did, will stand up and speak out for a return to purity, righteousness, and a separation from worldliness. I must stand on the Bible for my spiritual standards, caring not that the Word of the Spirit may be divisive or disruptive. Will you stand with me?
Showing posts with label Word of God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Word of God. Show all posts
Friday, July 3, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
The Bible -- the Word of God?
Is the Bible God’s word?
First, does the Bible pass the test of historical accuracy? We know it does, for several reasons: first, because it passes the test of reality – worldly archaeologists rely on it to tell them where to find places to dig (and what do you know…the archaeologists dig, and presto – there it is) – the Bible is archaeologically accurate. Second, the Bible has more manuscript evidence than any other historical document. Third, even the secular historians’ (Josephus, etc.) accounts agree with those of the Bible. And fourth, the Bible’s account of historical events and people have consistently been confirmed by other historians, even today (Darius existed, King David existed, Solomon existed, etc.).
These are more than enough to show the Bible’s reliability, at least as a historical document. Now, this does not prove that it was inspired by God (i.e. men wrote what God told them to), as men alone can also write historically accurate documents…but it does give us some place to start, because if we know that it is historically accurate, then we can look at its content (i.e. what Jesus said about himself) to see what it says.
Second, is the Bible consistent with itself? In its 2000 (at least) year history, there has been ample time for those who do not believe it to find a contradiction in it, but to date, there has been found not one bona fide, incontrovertible contradiction.
Now, can we prove something from this? Not directly, until we consider what Jesus said about himself. So what does he say? Most importantly, he claims that he is God.
If we examine Jesus’ claims, then we are left with only a few options. Either Jesus was who said he was, or he wasn’t. What does this mean? If we break it down further, Jesus could have been a lunatic (with an infinitely wrong belief of himself), a liar (one who knows that what he says is untrue), or exactly who he claimed to be – God. There are no other options.
That Jesus claimed to be God is plain to anyone who reads the historical accounts of his teachings (see John 1:1-17; 8:58; 10:30; Luke 5:20-21; and others)
But what if he was not who he claimed to be? We have two options left: he must have been a liar or a lunatic.
If he was a liar, what did he stand to gain by propagating the lie? That people would follow him?...this might be possible, except that when given the chance to save his life by simply saying “yeah, it’s not true, I’m really not God” does he do this? No, in fact, he continued to maintain that what he said was true (see John 18:19-23; Luke 22:67-71; and Mark 14:61-62). Again, if he was a liar, how is it then that he rose from the dead? He was certainly dead after having been crucified (the Romans were experts in crucifying people), and yet there were hundreds of eyewitnesses who saw him alive after he had been dead and buried. Not only this, but those who could have disproven his resurrection did nothing to deny it (the Pharisees had a lot of credibility to lose if Jesus rose from the dead, and the Roman soldiers who were guarding the tomb could have easily repudiated the story of Jesus’ resurrection, if it had not been true). Thus, we see that the claims that Jesus made were not lies; at the very least, Jesus believed in what he taught up to the very end.
This brings us to our third option…if he were a lunatic. What is the defining characteristic of lunacy? It is that what I am and what I believe I am are different. If this difference is only a little, we call it pride (or depression), if it is larger, we call it delusions of grandeur; now, these differences are those of degree – what if we look at differences of kind - if I were to believe myself to be a horse? I would certainly be classified as certifiably insane. The ultimate in lunacy, then, is to claim to be something infinitely different in kind and degree, when I am not that something. For a man to claim to be God is just such a situation – God is infinitely greater (degree) and definitely not human (kind). For Jesus to believe his claims (assuming that they are not true), would mean that he was raving mad – as insane as is possible. And yet, his claim were true, as we have seen before... everything that he claimed would happen to him, or that he was, are backed up by history, as he said, (paraphrased) “If I don’t do the works of my Father [God], then don’t believe me. But if I do, then you know that the Father is in me, and I in the Father” (John 10:37-38)…thus, he says that if what he does is not matching what he says, then we don’t need to believe him. Jesus clearly was no lunatic.
The logic of this argument goes thus:
Jesus is lord, liar or lunatic.
Jesus was not a liar.
Jesus was not a lunatic.
Therefore: Jesus is lord.
This argument is not my own original creation – I’m not that smart – C.S. Lewis originally used it in “Mere Christianity” (an excellent book, by the way) and Josh McDowell refines it in “Evidence That Demands a Verdict” (I don’t have space to quote his whole chapter here, you’ll have to read it for yourself).
"But," you may say, "you still haven’t proven that the Bible is the Word of God." You are right…but I don’t have far to go. Now we can say that:
Jesus was God
Jesus maintained that Scripture is authoritative (see Mark 12:10; Luke 4:21; and John 7:38; 17:12)
Therefore: Scripture is at the very least, ordained by God as the authoritative rule of conduct for all men (i.e., you and me).
Whether it was specifically written by God or “is the Word of God” or however you want to look at it, this is far enough for our purposes…the Bible is authorized by God as the rule of life which defines right and wrong conduct.
First, does the Bible pass the test of historical accuracy? We know it does, for several reasons: first, because it passes the test of reality – worldly archaeologists rely on it to tell them where to find places to dig (and what do you know…the archaeologists dig, and presto – there it is) – the Bible is archaeologically accurate. Second, the Bible has more manuscript evidence than any other historical document. Third, even the secular historians’ (Josephus, etc.) accounts agree with those of the Bible. And fourth, the Bible’s account of historical events and people have consistently been confirmed by other historians, even today (Darius existed, King David existed, Solomon existed, etc.).
These are more than enough to show the Bible’s reliability, at least as a historical document. Now, this does not prove that it was inspired by God (i.e. men wrote what God told them to), as men alone can also write historically accurate documents…but it does give us some place to start, because if we know that it is historically accurate, then we can look at its content (i.e. what Jesus said about himself) to see what it says.
Second, is the Bible consistent with itself? In its 2000 (at least) year history, there has been ample time for those who do not believe it to find a contradiction in it, but to date, there has been found not one bona fide, incontrovertible contradiction.
Now, can we prove something from this? Not directly, until we consider what Jesus said about himself. So what does he say? Most importantly, he claims that he is God.
If we examine Jesus’ claims, then we are left with only a few options. Either Jesus was who said he was, or he wasn’t. What does this mean? If we break it down further, Jesus could have been a lunatic (with an infinitely wrong belief of himself), a liar (one who knows that what he says is untrue), or exactly who he claimed to be – God. There are no other options.
That Jesus claimed to be God is plain to anyone who reads the historical accounts of his teachings (see John 1:1-17; 8:58; 10:30; Luke 5:20-21; and others)
But what if he was not who he claimed to be? We have two options left: he must have been a liar or a lunatic.
If he was a liar, what did he stand to gain by propagating the lie? That people would follow him?...this might be possible, except that when given the chance to save his life by simply saying “yeah, it’s not true, I’m really not God” does he do this? No, in fact, he continued to maintain that what he said was true (see John 18:19-23; Luke 22:67-71; and Mark 14:61-62). Again, if he was a liar, how is it then that he rose from the dead? He was certainly dead after having been crucified (the Romans were experts in crucifying people), and yet there were hundreds of eyewitnesses who saw him alive after he had been dead and buried. Not only this, but those who could have disproven his resurrection did nothing to deny it (the Pharisees had a lot of credibility to lose if Jesus rose from the dead, and the Roman soldiers who were guarding the tomb could have easily repudiated the story of Jesus’ resurrection, if it had not been true). Thus, we see that the claims that Jesus made were not lies; at the very least, Jesus believed in what he taught up to the very end.
This brings us to our third option…if he were a lunatic. What is the defining characteristic of lunacy? It is that what I am and what I believe I am are different. If this difference is only a little, we call it pride (or depression), if it is larger, we call it delusions of grandeur; now, these differences are those of degree – what if we look at differences of kind - if I were to believe myself to be a horse? I would certainly be classified as certifiably insane. The ultimate in lunacy, then, is to claim to be something infinitely different in kind and degree, when I am not that something. For a man to claim to be God is just such a situation – God is infinitely greater (degree) and definitely not human (kind). For Jesus to believe his claims (assuming that they are not true), would mean that he was raving mad – as insane as is possible. And yet, his claim were true, as we have seen before... everything that he claimed would happen to him, or that he was, are backed up by history, as he said, (paraphrased) “If I don’t do the works of my Father [God], then don’t believe me. But if I do, then you know that the Father is in me, and I in the Father” (John 10:37-38)…thus, he says that if what he does is not matching what he says, then we don’t need to believe him. Jesus clearly was no lunatic.
The logic of this argument goes thus:
Jesus is lord, liar or lunatic.
Jesus was not a liar.
Jesus was not a lunatic.
Therefore: Jesus is lord.
This argument is not my own original creation – I’m not that smart – C.S. Lewis originally used it in “Mere Christianity” (an excellent book, by the way) and Josh McDowell refines it in “Evidence That Demands a Verdict” (I don’t have space to quote his whole chapter here, you’ll have to read it for yourself).
"But," you may say, "you still haven’t proven that the Bible is the Word of God." You are right…but I don’t have far to go. Now we can say that:
Jesus was God
Jesus maintained that Scripture is authoritative (see Mark 12:10; Luke 4:21; and John 7:38; 17:12)
Therefore: Scripture is at the very least, ordained by God as the authoritative rule of conduct for all men (i.e., you and me).
Whether it was specifically written by God or “is the Word of God” or however you want to look at it, this is far enough for our purposes…the Bible is authorized by God as the rule of life which defines right and wrong conduct.
Friday, April 25, 2008
The Translators to the Readers
I took the time to read the preface in my Bible (KJV) over the last couple days, and I was surprised by the depth to which the translators explained the issues that they dealt with in the translation process -- many of those issues are "current"...yet the translators had to take them into consideration even in 1611.
I found the final paragraph (which I have divided into three parts for ease of reading) to be very provoking - stimulating thought, and encouraging me to walk by the same rule whereto I have already attained, as Paul exhorts the Philippians (3:16).
"Many other things we might give thee warning of, gentle reader, if we had not exceeded the measure of a Preface already. It remaineth that we commend thee to God, and to the Spirit of His grace, which is able to build further than we can ask or think. He removeth the scales from our eyes, the vail from our hearts, opening our wits that we may understand His Word, enlarging our hearts, yea, correcting our affections, that we may love it above gold and silver, yea, that we may love it to the end.
Ye are brought unto fountains of living water which ye digged not; do not cast earth into them, with the Philistines, neither prefer broken pits before them, with the wicked Jews. Others have laboured, and you may enter into their labours. O receive not so great things in vain; O despise not so great salvation! Be not like swine to tread under foot so precious things, neither yet like dogs to tear and abuse holy things. Say not to our Saviour with the Gergesites, Depart out of our coasts; neither yet with Esau sell your birthright for a mess of pottage. If light be come into the world, love not darkness more than light; if food, if clothing, be offered, go not naked, starve not yourselves. Remember the advice of Nazianzene, It is a grievous thing (or dangerous) to neglect a great fair, and to seek to make markets afterwards: also the encouragement of St. Chrysostome, It is altogether impossible, that he that is sober (and watchful) should at any time be neglected. Lastly, the admonition and menacing of St. Augustine, They that despise God's will inviting them, shall feel God's will taking vengeance of them.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God; but a blessed thing it is, and will bring us to everlasting blessedness in the end, when God speaketh unto us, to hearken; when He setteth His Word before us, to read it; when He stretcheth out His hand and calleth, to answer, Here am I; here we are to do thy will, O God. The Lord work a care and conscience in us to know Him and serve Him, that we may be acknowledged of Him at the appearing of our Lord JESUS CHRIST, to whom with the Holy Ghost, be all praise and thanksgiving. Amen."
Having the very Word of God in our hands, we should not despise it nor ignore it, but guard it as though it were the only spring of water -- living water in this dry and thirsty land...for it is the Word of life preserved for us by God's mighty hand. Let us drink not sparingly of it, but as we are commanded to: opening our mouths wide, that the Lord may fill us with every spiritual blessing in high places. Let us not hoard it either, but as we have been filled, we ought to thus share with others -- that as it were rivers of living water might flow out of us -- giving refreshment and direction to those both weary and lost along the way.
I found the final paragraph (which I have divided into three parts for ease of reading) to be very provoking - stimulating thought, and encouraging me to walk by the same rule whereto I have already attained, as Paul exhorts the Philippians (3:16).
"Many other things we might give thee warning of, gentle reader, if we had not exceeded the measure of a Preface already. It remaineth that we commend thee to God, and to the Spirit of His grace, which is able to build further than we can ask or think. He removeth the scales from our eyes, the vail from our hearts, opening our wits that we may understand His Word, enlarging our hearts, yea, correcting our affections, that we may love it above gold and silver, yea, that we may love it to the end.
Ye are brought unto fountains of living water which ye digged not; do not cast earth into them, with the Philistines, neither prefer broken pits before them, with the wicked Jews. Others have laboured, and you may enter into their labours. O receive not so great things in vain; O despise not so great salvation! Be not like swine to tread under foot so precious things, neither yet like dogs to tear and abuse holy things. Say not to our Saviour with the Gergesites, Depart out of our coasts; neither yet with Esau sell your birthright for a mess of pottage. If light be come into the world, love not darkness more than light; if food, if clothing, be offered, go not naked, starve not yourselves. Remember the advice of Nazianzene, It is a grievous thing (or dangerous) to neglect a great fair, and to seek to make markets afterwards: also the encouragement of St. Chrysostome, It is altogether impossible, that he that is sober (and watchful) should at any time be neglected. Lastly, the admonition and menacing of St. Augustine, They that despise God's will inviting them, shall feel God's will taking vengeance of them.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God; but a blessed thing it is, and will bring us to everlasting blessedness in the end, when God speaketh unto us, to hearken; when He setteth His Word before us, to read it; when He stretcheth out His hand and calleth, to answer, Here am I; here we are to do thy will, O God. The Lord work a care and conscience in us to know Him and serve Him, that we may be acknowledged of Him at the appearing of our Lord JESUS CHRIST, to whom with the Holy Ghost, be all praise and thanksgiving. Amen."
Having the very Word of God in our hands, we should not despise it nor ignore it, but guard it as though it were the only spring of water -- living water in this dry and thirsty land...for it is the Word of life preserved for us by God's mighty hand. Let us drink not sparingly of it, but as we are commanded to: opening our mouths wide, that the Lord may fill us with every spiritual blessing in high places. Let us not hoard it either, but as we have been filled, we ought to thus share with others -- that as it were rivers of living water might flow out of us -- giving refreshment and direction to those both weary and lost along the way.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
