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Chapter 7: The Bible and You
The Bible and You . . .
A
poll conducted by U.S. News & World Report in 1994 reported
that nearly six in 10 Americans believe the world will come to an end or be destroyed,
and a third of those think it will happen within a few decades. That same survey
also showed that 44 percent believe in a final Battle of Armageddon. A similar 1997
poll showed that 66 percent of Americans believe Jesus Christ will return (in most
other countries these percentages tend to be smaller).
If Christ were to return now, what would it mean to the average citizen of the world?
If the Judge of all mankind called for an accounting (2 Corinthians 5:10), where
would you stand? In all recorded history only one society has repented as a group
when God warned of impending troubles. That was the ancient city of Nineveh, capital
of the Assyrian empire, which repented at the warning of Jonah (Matthew 12:41).
If nations don't mend their ways, what can individuals do? In other words, what should
you do with the information you have read in this booklet? If the Bible is
indeed the inspired instruction of the Creator of the universe to His created beings,
what should you do?
The message is clear: No matter what others may do, you have the power and responsibility
to take personal action and seek God. The Bible is a reliable guide to human conduct.
It is God's Word to a spiritually bankrupt humanity. It is our Maker's instruction
book, telling us how we should live.
The Scriptures have been available for millennia. People have heard the Word of God
from its pages and from the prophets. They have heard God's exhortation to repent
and obey. But, no matter who has brought the message, no matter the medium, the result
has always been the same: Only a small minority have responded.
When Christ spoke the gospel powerfully to His own people, they rejected it. He pointed
out to them a shameful fact: Even though they had God's Word, they refused to believe
and act on it, so God turned to others. "But I tell you truly, many widows were
in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six
months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them
was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a
widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none
of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian" (Luke 4:25-27).
Jesus noted a sad fact evident throughout history: Although many have had opportunity
to learn of God's truth, only a relative handful have responded and allowed that
understanding to change their lives (Matthew 22:14).
Faith and choice
What is different about those who respond compared with those who do not? It is usually
several things. One
is a conviction that the Bible is indeed the Word of God. Another is the exercise
of free will. God has allowed us the right of free choice and doesn't force us to
do things His way. Some people use their free will to respond positively when God
calls; others reject this calling. The choice is always ours.
But there is another factor that figures heavily in how we react to the Word of God.
In this booklet we have confronted the issue of whether the Bible is true and therefore
a reliable guide to human behavior. We have presented some solid evidence confirming
that it is. Although substantial, the evidence that the Bible is true is not enough
to satisfy every agnostic and atheist. If it were, no one on earth would be an atheist
or an agnostic. Every rational person would exercise his free will to at least believe,
if not obey. However, the Scriptures remind us that even the demons know God exists,
but simply choose to disobey Him (James 2:19).
It is God's purpose to give us a choice as to whether we will exercise a measure
of faith. As American statesman and orator Daniel Webster once noted, the Bible is
a book of faith. If we had evidence sufficient to refute every skeptic's misgivings,
we would have no need for faith. This is not the way God has chosen to work. Everyone
from Adam to the present has been called upon to live by faith.
And what is faith? "Faith gives substance to our hopes and convinces us of realities
we do not (yet) see" (Hebrews 11:1, REB). Concerning faith, the apostle Paul
tells us that Abraham "praised God in the full assurance that God was able to
do what he had promised"" (Romans 4:21, Goodspeed). God wants us to have
this same trust in Him.
The Bible and the present generation
While some insist on hard scientific evidence before they will believe, others fall
into the other philosophical ditch. They are not interested in a God who meets them
through scriptural revelation; rather, they desire a god who meets them where they
are in their own personal view of the world. Some have termed this a quest for a
designer god or boutique religion.
Author Wade Clark Roof notes that baby-boomers, those born between the end of World
War II and about 1964, "have grown up in a post-sixties culture that emphasizes
choice, knowing and understanding one's self, the importance of personal autonomy,
and fulfilling one's potential-all contributing to a highly subjective approach to
religion" (A Generation of Seekers, Harper, San Francisco, 1993, p. 30).
They tend to steer away from structured religion. They are less apt to belong to
an organized church, and they are less likely to regard the Bible as objective truth.
They are not sure where to turn for answers to religious questions.
Unsure of what truth is or whether it even exists, such people tend to look for a
church that meets their personal preference rather than a place where objective biblical
truth is to be found. It is more important for them to feel comfortable with their
church or congregation than to participate in a church whose teachings and practices
are firmly anchored in the Bible's teachings. Experience in their formative and young-adult
years has contributed to a feeling of alienation from societal institutions, including
religious institutions.
As members of the first television generation, baby-boomers were conditioned for
what Roof calls the "mentalizing" of salvation. Their parents gained most
of their view of the world through reading. Boomers were largely educated through
the use of images on the television screen. "In a print culture, priority was
given to the objective, to the rational use of the mind, which encouraged religious
discourse with logically ordered content. Doctrinal debate and theological reflection
flourished under these conditions . . . But in an image culture the subjective
takes precedence over the objective . . ." (ibid., p.
135, emphasis added).
The result? Recent generations have taken a different philosophical attitude toward
God, churches, religious experience and the Bible. Whether the Bible is true apparently
isn't that important to them.
This view is held by some professionals as well. "There is no lack of scholars-among
them historians, theologians, philologists, and archaeologists-who . . .
have come to the conclusion that fundamentally it is of secondary importance whether
the facts reported in the Bible are correct or not" (Werner Keller, The Bible
as History, Bantam Books, New York, 1982, p. 433).
But it does matter. Biblical archaeologist George Ernest Wright expressed the opinion
that "in Biblical belief everything depends on whether the main events actually
took place" (Keller, p. 434). If the main events of the Bible didn't take place,
then how can we believe anything it says?
The life stories of the Old Testament patriarchs are the foundation upon which the
historical record of the Bible is based. If the God who claims to have inspired the
Bible gave us a collection of myths and legends, then how could we have confidence
in anything He says?
Abraham and Alexander the Great
According to the New Testament, the patriarchs and prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures
were real people. Consider Abraham as an example. He is listed in the ancestry of
Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:1). In a discussion with the Pharisees, Jesus alluded to
Abraham as a real historical figure (John 8:56-58). If Christ were mistaken, then
He was nothing but a man and a rather uninformed one at that. In this case He could
not be our Savior, and our faith would be in vain. So the accuracy of the Bible does
matter!
Belief in the historicity of Abraham requires a measure of faith because no one has
produced a signature in Abraham's own handwriting. Yet the evidence of his existence
is there.
By comparison consider the example of a major secular figure. No one has produced
a written document bearing the signature of Alexander the Great, either. Alexander's
influence upon his time is widely acknowledged. He "changed the entire map and
culture and language of the world-even the customs and dress of its peoples"
(The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. 1, p. 77).
Yet the earliest surviving written volume about the life of Alexander was written
some 400 years after his death. The earliest known biographer of Alexander
was the Greek historian Arrian, born about A.D. 96. We have no contemporary
of Alexander's who can attest to his deeds. Yet most do not question the words of
a man who lived four centuries later and described Alexander's influence on the world.
Ancient biblical documents that were composed four centuries after his existence
describe Abraham and his world. The very customs of the world of Abraham and Sarah
as described in Genesis 15-16 are attested to in tablets found at Nuzi, near the
city of Asshur in Assyria. The documents "pertain to matters such as inheritance
and property rights, slavery, adoption, and the like" (Merrill, pp. 38-39).
Some scholars once claimed that the unusual events described in these two chapters
of Genesis, such as the episode of Abraham fathering a child by his wife's handmaiden,
Hagar, were fabricated. The same scholars had to back down when the Nuzi tablets
demonstrated that such practices were commonplace in the culture of that time when
a woman was infertile.
If Abraham were not a historical figure, millions of Jews and Arabs who claim to
be of his lineage hold to mythical traditions and spurious accounts of millennia
of history. Christ said Abraham would rise in the resurrection (Matthew 8:11). To
deny the historical reality of Abraham is to deny Jesus Christ's words as well as
records and traditions going back thousands of years.
In the end, the issue comes down to a matter of faith. Do we believe the Bible is
truly God's Word? Do we believe God?
God encourages faith
In spite of mountains of evidence that can be amassed in favor of the truthfulness
of the Bible, having believing faith comes through developing a personal relationship
with God. Doubt and disbelief are not an insurmountable hurdle. Even some people
who encountered our Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh stumbled at times. "Lord,
I believe; help my unbelief!" pleaded a man who struggled with his faith (Mark 9:24). Jesus was sympathetic and helped the troubled man and healed his son (verses 25-27).
God is understanding in His approach to struggling humanity: "For He knows our
frame; He remembers that we are dust" (Psalm 103:14). God will help people who
diligently seek Him.
One way of seeking God is through careful study of the Bible. A continuing investigation
of Scripture will promote the faith you need (Romans 10:17). If you engage in an
earnest study of the Bible, you will find that your faith will grow. You will be
amazed at what the Scriptures proclaim. As you learn basic truths, you will want
to study more and more.
You will find that the Scriptures contain the answers
to the colossal problems that now confront mankind. This in itself will build your
faith in God. You will have confidence that He is fulfilling His plan in the world
as well as in your personal life.
©1999 United Church of God, an International Associtaion
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