Sorry it took me a little while to update: too much going on right before Thanksgiving!
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“Because God is absolute truth, I will believe what He says and live accordingly.”–Bill Bright
If you study world religions, you find a somewhat common trend to them: they have often been sanitized in their depictions of their founders and their truths. Often the great thinkers of a certain philosophy will be deified. The rituals and mysticism is retro-fitted so that it all so nicely explained. However, this is not the case with Christianity.
God represents Himself in the Scriptures in often very confusing ways. Much ballyhoo has been made about how “contradictory” and “cryptic” some passages seem. But this should make us think: If we were able to fully understand God and His ways, what would then separate us from being just like Him, from becoming equal to Him? I like my God to be a little mysterious, a little unknowable, a little too big for me.
Also many of the sacred texts of the various world religions were written many decades, even centuries, after their founding. But the Bible has not only been historically verified by ancient manuscripts, it also speaks to its own aunthenticity. I Corinthians 15:6 speaks of five hundred witnesses to the resurrection of Christ (possibly the Bible’s most extreme claim), most of whom were still alive at its writing. If that many people, who could have been interviewed and their stories verified, did not reject at that time the truths the apostles taught, then logic dictates that we must give biblical scripture its factual due.
Finally, the Bible does little to white-wash or clean up the image of its characters. In fact, it takes great effort to expose the flaws, sins, and failings of its most beloved stories! It almost dares the reader to say, “So why am I trying to emulate these people? They’re no better than me.” EXACTLY! The Bible’s power resides in its applicability even to us, in its reality and its message to everyone across time.
My challenge for you is to consider the significance of the truth that the Bible represents. There are many uncomfortable things the Bible has to say to us. There are passages that, like Thomas Jefferson, we would prefer to just cut out. Instead bump up against the rough edges, the hard places. Take God to task about them: yell, scream, hit, whatever! Just don’t deny their truth or their power from that truth.
