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A grandfather asked his ten-year-old grandson, "What did you learn in Sunday School today?"
"Well, Grandpa, we learned all about the Jews and the Exodus. The Jews got chased all the way to the Red Sea by the Egyptian soldiers in chariots, before Moses ordered a dozen big boats. They just made it across the sea before the soldiers caught them. The Egyptians started to cross the Red Sea after them, but a huge wave came and drowned them all, and the Jews were saved."
The grandfather exclaimed, "Your teacher told you THAT?" "Well, not exactly," said the boy, "but you'd NEVER believe it the way SHE told it."
Many folks are likewise content to distort or dismiss God's Word because it seems "unbelievable." Yet, it is the divinely inspired record of our Lord's character, will, and work; and it deserves our daily attention.
Source: "A Treasury of Religious Humor," ed by James Myers, p. 70.
Topics/Tags: Word of god, inspiration of; Scripture, inerrancy of
"You know, every time I think I have God, or life, pretty well figured out and I start rummaging through the Bible, then ZAP!! Some new shaft of life shatters my neat little God-package or life-package. My cozy figuring-out is undercut or deflated, and I've got to take a fresh look at the whole business again.
"Of course, if this didn't happen the Bible would have no authority for us. It would not convey a word from the beyond at all; it would simply be a dull, commonplace book, handy to have around to confirm me in my prejudices and partial understandings. For if this Bible is in any sense a Word of God, then by its very nature it has to startle and surprise, shake us up. It just won't let me spell 'life,' or 'God,' with the letters of my alphabet."
Source: Edmund Steimle, in "The Minister's Manual for 1994," p. 55.
Topics/Tags: Word of god, inspiration of; Word of god; Bible
A college professor who taught a course in New Testament Survey was well-known for giving a final exam which, every semester for 20 years, had included only one question: "Discuss the missionary journeys of Paul." Every student on campus knew about the professor's routine, so a full roster of students always eagerly signed up for this "gimme" class every semester.
One semester, come final exam time, the professor shocked his students by asking a different question, for the first time in over 20 years. Instead of asking students to discuss Paul's missionary journeys, his final exam instructed: "Criticize the Sermon on the Mount."
The entire class was shocked, then frustrated, then livid—except for one football player, who began to write as fast, as furiously, and as long as he could. While all the other students slammed their papers down in frustration, this one student, at the end of class, calmly laid his paper down on the professor’s desk.
The next day, there were two stacks of papers on the professors desk—one stack of all F's, and another stack (with only one paper, the paper of the football player, in it!) with an "A."
The answer given by the athlete? His multi-page paper began with this sentence: "Who am I to criticize the Sermon on the Mount? What I want to do is discuss the missionary journeys of Paul…"
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…which reminds us that the Bible should 'criticize' us, not the other way around.
Source: James Merritt, Southern Baptist Convention, 6/11/98.
Topics/Tags: Word of god, inspiration of; Bible; Education
But can we rely on the biblical accounts? you may ask. When I first became a Christian, I certainly raised such questions. In fact, I began to study the Bible with a lawyer's skepticism. I suspected it was a compilation of ancient fables that had endured through the centuries because of its wisdom.
I made some startling discoveries, however. The original documents from which the Scriptures derive were rigorously examined for authenticity by early canonical councils. They demanded eyewitness accounts or apostolic authorship. Today a growing body of historical evidence affirms the accuracy of the Scriptures. For example, the prophecy recorded in Psalm 22 explicitly details a crucifixion, with its piercing of the hands and feet, disjointing of the bones, dehydration. Crucifixion, however, was a means of execution unknown to Palestine until the Romans introduced it -- several hundred years after the Psalms were written. So modern critics concluded the Psalms were written later, such "prophecies" perhaps even recorded after the fact. Then came the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which made possible the scientific dating of portions of the Psalms to hundreds of years before Christ.
--Charles Colson
Source: Charles Colson, Kingdoms in Conflict (p. 100, 1990)
Topics/Tags: Word of god, inspiration of; God, providence of; Scripture; Bible
The finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 has not only given scholars additional Hebrew Bible books which are much earlier than any extant manuscripts, it has also confirmed the validy of the previously found manuscripts. Comparing the Dead Sea Scrolls of Isaiah with the Masoretic (i.e., medieval) text reveals a 95 percent word for word identity. The remaining five percent of the variants deal mainly with a slip of the pen or spelling. The noted Yale professor, Millar Burrows, says that the Isaiah Scroll is very important for establishing the best possible text of the Old Testatement. "Essentially it is the same as the book of Isaiah in our Bible, a voice from 2,000 years ago. Preserved in the wondrous providence of God, confirming the integrity of the Bible."
Howard A. Hanke
Source: The Thompson Chain-Reference Bible Companion (Page 28-29) ((c) 1989)
Topics/Tags: Word of god, inspiration of; Accuracy; Scripture; Bible
If you can't believe what God says in Genesis 1 when he speaks about the earth, how can you believe what God says in Revelation 22 when he speaks about heaven?
If you can't believe what God says in the first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis then how can you be confident in John 3:16?
- Barry Landrum
Source: Barry Landrum
Topics/Tags: Word of god, inspiration of; Confidence; Bible; Truth
(The following is a tongue-in-cheek commentary on the 'enlightened' way in which some biblical commentators have treated the biblical text…)
"The Lincoln/Kennedy Myth" by Professor L. C. Atom
My recent archaeological digs in the ancient city of Washingtonia have revealed much insight into the Lincoln/Kennedy controversy. While many respected archaeologists have suggested that the Lincoln and Kennedy stories refer to two different persons who may or may not have been historical, I have finally proven beyond any doubt that the two stories are myths. These myths not only refer to the same person, but this Lincoln/Kennedy individual never actually existed.
The evidence for my conclusions are overwhelming. Archaeologists have know for a long time that there are seven letters in each name. However, my research has also shown that each of the so called presidents also had the legality of his election contested. The myths also portray both of these persons as involved with the issue of civil rights. (This is probably some secret mystery that involved the ancient religion of Democracy. Many idols to the gods of Democracy were found in ancient Washingtonia.)
Additional proof that the Lincoln/Kennedy myths are variants of the same earlier myth are as follows: Both men were supposedly slain on Friday and in the presence of their wives. Lincoln was elected in 1860 while Kennedy was elected in 1960. (An obvious corruption of the earlier myth!)
Both men are said to have had successors who were named Johnson. The successors were both Southern Democrats who had previously served in the U.S. Senate. Any rational archaeologist must conclude that the two Johnsons are the same individual. Further proof of this may be seen in their birth dates. The Johnson of the Andrew/Lincoln myth was born in 1808 while Johnson of the Lyndon/Kennedy myth was born in 1908. Also both names Andrew Johnson and Lyndon Johnson contain thirteen letters (Again another obvious corruption of the earlier myth.)
In the myths both of these men were supposedly killed by Southerners. Even thought modern archaeologists have not yet discovered the ancient language from which the two cognate terms "Booth" and "Oswald" come, I believe we are very close to making this discovery. For example, John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald each contain fifteen letters. Also, we have just uncovered additional evidence which reveals that in both myths Booth and Oswald were murdered before their trial could be arranged. Also, not only were these men both Southerners but they both favored unpopular ideas.
Additional evidence that we recently uncovered reveals that according to legend Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy who advised him not to go to the place where he was killed. While Kennedy had a secretary name Lincoln who advised him to not go to Dallas. And last but not least, the legend also says that both men were taken to their burial place by the same horse drawn vehicle. An obvious anachronism since we know that people in the middle of the 20th century did not use horse drawn vehicles!
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Since ancient times, some have attempted to rationalize how the Bible must be a "myth." Yet the Bible is truly the inspired, living, active Word of the living God.
Source: "The Lincoln/Kennedy Myth" by Professor L.C. Atom
Topics/Tags: Word of god, inspiration of; Truth; Myth; Unbelief
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