It is lamentable that most people find the evening news more credible than the Bible. The stories we read in the newspaper, magazines, or rumours passed along through email on the internet are more quickly believed than spiritual truth from God! I am amazed with some of the nonsense that is believed and passed on before it has been looked into. An earnest Facebook message turns out to be the third cycle of an internet rumour which started in 2003! People read the claims, assume it must be true, and perpetuate a lie. I don't know who said it first, but it bears repeating: truth can stand examination. Snopes is not faultless, but the Bible is!
What I find more remarkable than frail arguments against the Bible, is that many who perpetuate them don't care for them to be answered. I doubt that in the last thousand years there have been any new assaults upon the veracity of scripture. The arguments have hardly changed. In the words of C.H. Spurgeon, "Unbelievers only 'glean their blunted shafts, and shoot them at the shield of truth again.'" (Lectures to My Students, pg. 270) As useless as their blunted shafts may be, unbelievers are happy to gather them back up even after they have been blocked harmlessly to the ground. Blunted arrows may look intimidating in the quiver of an adversary, but they do nothing to stop the advance of truth. There is such a thing as a sincere skeptic, but they are a rare breed which must be moved into the "wilfully ignorant" category when they refuse to acknowledge God's truth.
It is not that people have examined the Bible and found it lacking: they have likely not even examined it themselves. Many justify their own unbelief by parroting the baseless critiques of others! When a man reads God's Word, it immediately goes to work upon His mind and soul. It is not like other books written by men, where one paragraph can be highlighted and another page crossed out. It is to be believed completely or not at all; it is either truth emanating from the Most High God, or it is a deception without any merit. God does not force a man to believe Him, but the Holy Spirit compels the conscience to decide. The whole of scripture exists to reveal to man the Gospel truth: God has created all things; God made man; man rebelled from God and is separated from God by sin; God sent His Son Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for sin to reconcile man to Himself; Jesus was buried and rose from the dead; He ascended to the Father and bids all to join Him. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
No one can make another person believe. This is part of God's divine order to the end that people would freely believe, trust, and love Him. No man can "make" a woman fall in love with him. But his tireless pursuit, constant affirmation, notes, gifts, and genuine love go far in winning the heart of his beloved. God has shown a love of a far greater depth and breadth in giving us His Word and His Son. The Bible proclaims that every person has a Divine Admirer they would not have known without God's revelation. Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." It is a demonstration of great folly to burn a winning Lotto ticket because you had never won previously. It is far more ridiculous to discredit and throw out the Bible as irrelevant when you have not first examined it yourself. How much more valuable is eternal life and love over money!
What I find more remarkable than frail arguments against the Bible, is that many who perpetuate them don't care for them to be answered. I doubt that in the last thousand years there have been any new assaults upon the veracity of scripture. The arguments have hardly changed. In the words of C.H. Spurgeon, "Unbelievers only 'glean their blunted shafts, and shoot them at the shield of truth again.'" (Lectures to My Students, pg. 270) As useless as their blunted shafts may be, unbelievers are happy to gather them back up even after they have been blocked harmlessly to the ground. Blunted arrows may look intimidating in the quiver of an adversary, but they do nothing to stop the advance of truth. There is such a thing as a sincere skeptic, but they are a rare breed which must be moved into the "wilfully ignorant" category when they refuse to acknowledge God's truth.
It is not that people have examined the Bible and found it lacking: they have likely not even examined it themselves. Many justify their own unbelief by parroting the baseless critiques of others! When a man reads God's Word, it immediately goes to work upon His mind and soul. It is not like other books written by men, where one paragraph can be highlighted and another page crossed out. It is to be believed completely or not at all; it is either truth emanating from the Most High God, or it is a deception without any merit. God does not force a man to believe Him, but the Holy Spirit compels the conscience to decide. The whole of scripture exists to reveal to man the Gospel truth: God has created all things; God made man; man rebelled from God and is separated from God by sin; God sent His Son Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for sin to reconcile man to Himself; Jesus was buried and rose from the dead; He ascended to the Father and bids all to join Him. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
No one can make another person believe. This is part of God's divine order to the end that people would freely believe, trust, and love Him. No man can "make" a woman fall in love with him. But his tireless pursuit, constant affirmation, notes, gifts, and genuine love go far in winning the heart of his beloved. God has shown a love of a far greater depth and breadth in giving us His Word and His Son. The Bible proclaims that every person has a Divine Admirer they would not have known without God's revelation. Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." It is a demonstration of great folly to burn a winning Lotto ticket because you had never won previously. It is far more ridiculous to discredit and throw out the Bible as irrelevant when you have not first examined it yourself. How much more valuable is eternal life and love over money!
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