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| THE BAFFLING BIBLE - Cont. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Mind of God | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� If people willingly gave over their bodies to be mutilated and destroyed for the freedom of having a Bible in their own language so they could read it for themselves, how can we today take the Bible for granted?� | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Furthermore, how can we truthfully tell ourselves it's okay to trust other human beings - be they minister or whoever they are - to tell us what is in the Bible?� What is it about us that trusts our souls to other people, regardless of how holy they act and how much they smile at us?� Don't we want to know for sure what is in it? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� We are so lucky that God shared his mind with us.� No other religion in the world other than Mohammedism claims they have a book written by God through men.� In every other religion in the world, people have to guess what their imaginary god is thinking and expecting of them.� They have to guess and imagine and wonder.� In most of these other religions, their god never makes direct contact with them.� They cannot know for sure what he is or what they are.� They cannot know for sure who he is or who they are.� They cannot know for sure how to reach him.� Or if their god even cares. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� In these other religions of the world, heaven is a vague state of being and their god is a vague state of being.� Nothing is anywhere in particular, and no one is anyone in particular.� How terrible to have to go through life like this.� Always wondering.� Always searching.� Always failing to find out anything for sure. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� How can we possibly take the Bible for granted?� Have we ever read the entire Bible through in a year?� It only takes about 20 minutes a day.� Or have we ever looked up everything the Bible says on important spiritual subjects so we can have God's entire opinion rather than man's opinion?� All we have to do is get a concordance (complete index to the Bible in large phone book size) from any bookstore, and find out for ourselves. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� How can we leave it up to other people to determine our eternal destiny?� | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Jesus said "the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light" (Luke 16:8, KJV).� He was talking about people using more common sense in doing business in this world than in preparing to live in eternity.� Do we read the fine print before signing documents?� Have we ever read the fine print of the Bible? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� What kind of example are we getting in our worship services?� Are we learning just a few scattered things, or are we learning the entire Bible?� A man who identified himself only as "Thomas" wrote this a long time ago. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� "I was baptized...on a relation of my 'experience' as a Christian.� Of my conversion there was no doubt entertained by our preacher....Our preacher generally explained a whole VERSE in one sermon; though I have known him sometimes explain only half a verse in one day's preaching.� During nine years I had explained to me one hundred and eight texts - equal to two chapters in Matthew. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� "About two years ago I became a warm anti-reformer...I was a delegate to the Dover [Baptist] Association in 1831, and was consulting with some of my brethren on the best ways and means of putting down the reformers.� Meanwhile I had a conversation with a very pious sister who I thought was quite orthodox; and in the course of her remarks she asked me for a reason of the hope which I entertained.� I related my conversion.� 'But,' said she, 'what do you hope for?'� 'My salvation,' said I.� 'Salvation from what?' she asked again.� I hesitated; but finally said, 'From sin.'� 'And,' said she, 'is the hope of salvation from sin, the hope which you now entertain?' | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� "I felt myself confounded....I was afraid to commit myself by any assertion; for I felt my ignorance of the Scriptures...determined on changing the subject.� 'Indeed,' said I, 'the Reformers have ridiculed this thing called Christian experience so much...it is now more than a year since I told my experience.'� 'Well,' said she, 'I have never heard a reformer ridicule, or speak improperly upon Christian experience....Do you recollect what Peter has said on the subject of the present and future salvation?'' | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� "I was struck dumb.� I knew nothing about Peter's view in particular; and could not even tell to what part of the Testament she referred....to get out of this difficult I said, 'Don't you, sister, lean a little more towards the Reformers than you did some time ago?'� 'I always leaned to my Bible,' she rejoined....'I associate with all the brethren and sisters in the neighborhood and would advise you to read the Acts of the Apostles several times....' | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� "Our preacher preaches miraculous conversions and quotes Young and Milton twice for once Paul or Peter is honored with a place in his discourses.� He is very fond of harmonious sentences and is smitten with the love of poetry.� It throws such an air of fiction around his whole subject that his prose appears as visionary as his verse; and, therefore, the admirers of Sir Walter Scott are better pleased with him than any other preacher in our country.� I have become a Reformer; and now I can pray with my wife and children, and I begin to delight in reading the oracles of God." [31] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� God, I have my favorite verses just like everyone else.� Those are the important verses.� Why do I need to know any of the rest?� I know all I need to know.� Don't you think so, God? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Why? Just How Important Is It? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� In the days the Bible was originally written, it was called "scriptures."� During the days of Moses who gave the Ten Commandments and about 600 other laws to the Israelites/Jews, he quoted God in Deuteronomy 4:2, "'Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.' " | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Proverbs 30:6 says that adding to the Bible makes us liars.� Yet there are many of us who can lie with a straight face, and even fool ourselves.� How are we to know they are lying if we don't read it for ourselves? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Ezekiel was told by God to pass on his words.� Ezekiel didn't want to do it because he would become unpopular.� How did God answer? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� "When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you will surely die,' and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.� But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself" (Ezekiel 33:8-9). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� It is popular today to show God as one-sided.� A God who smiles all the time is not really loving.� If we never got angry at our children when they were doing self-destructive things, we would not really love our children.� If we never got angry at people who treated the innocent wrongly, we would not really love rightness.� We must protect ourselves and others from wrong.� This one-sided always-happy God concept in so many congregations is leaving many people empty. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� What did God tell Ezekiel to say to the people? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� "Son of man, say to the house of Israel, 'This is what you are saying:� "Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them.� How then can we live?"'� Say to them, 'As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather than they turn from their ways and live.� Turn!� turn from your evil ways!� Why will you die, O house of Israel?'" (Ezekiel 33:10-11). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� People may say that God is not just to punish people.� But God has a reasonable answer to this too. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� "Yet your countrymen say, 'The way of the Lord is not just.'� But it is their way that is not just.� If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, he will die for it.� And if a wicked man turns away from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he will live by doing so" (Ezekiel 33:17-19). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� God would not be a good God if he let people continue to do wrong and hurt other people any time they want.� And there are very few sins that don't ultimately hurt someone else besides the sinner.� Yet we lie and have worship services that talk only about the side of God that loves everyone in their sins (which he does), but never tell them how to turn from those sins.� By withholding God's word on any subject, we are lying by omission. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Centuries later, the Apostle Paul told Christians in Rome that those who refused to recognize Christ as the Son of God were lost.� In the following statement he referred to the Jewish unbelievers:� "Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.� For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge....Consequently, faith comes from hearing [reading], and hearing [reading] by the word of God" (Romans 10:1,2,17). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Paul wrote to the church in Galatia (today's Turkey), "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a DIFFERENT GOSPEL - which is really no gospel at all.� Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.� | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we [apostles] preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!� As we have already said, so now I say again; if anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned.� Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God?" (1:6-10).� How are we supposed to know any of this if we do not read the Bible for ourselves? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� We still face our Day of Judgment.� On that day we cannot pass the buck to our minister, our bishop, or parents, our spouse, or anyone else.� God is going to say, "Why didn't you read my last will and Testament for yourself?" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� How in the world are we supposed to know whether a sermon is scriptural if we don't compare it with scripture?� Paul wrote the young man Timothy, "All Scripture is God breathed, and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17).� What makes us thoroughly equipped?� What people tell us is in the Bible?� No, what we read for ourselves. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Have we convinced ourselves that God does not really have a will for us to do?� Is God mindless? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus warned that, just because we go to church all the time, we aren't necessarily saved.� He said, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom� of heaven, but only he who DOES THE WILL of my Father who is in heaven." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Jesus went on to say, "Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?'� Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you.� Away from me, you evildoers!' " | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� That's heavy!� How are we ever going to know for sure we're pleasing God?� We can know for sure by not trusting our knowledge of the will of God to other people.� We can know for sure by reading the Bible for ourselves.� | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� The Apostle Paul warned about religious rules "based on human commands and teachings.� Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility...but they lack any value" (Colossians 2:20-23).� | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Believing Jesus is the Son of God is not all we must do to be saved.� Jesus' own brother and later an apostle warned, "You believe that there is one God.� Good!� Even the demons believe that - and shudder" (James 2:19). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Timothy who worked along side several apostles was told, "If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceiting and understands nothing"(1 Timothy 6:3,4).�� | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� The church in Rome was warned to "watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the doctrine you have learned.� Keep away from them.� For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites.� By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people" (Romans 16:17,18).� How are we supposed to know whether we're being deceived if we do not read the Bible for ourselves? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Jesus warned, "Why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?� ....You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.� You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions....Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down." (Matthew 15:2; Mark 7:8,9,13).� | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� How are we supposed to know whether our traditional worship is according to God's command if we never read the Bible?� If we're depending on our minister to do it, we must remember that our minister will not be judging us.� The same God who judges us will also judge our ministers. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� The apostle Paul warned, "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ."� We may think this isn't so important as long as everyone acts holy and is sincere.� But in Acts 5:29, Peter and John said, "We must obey God rather than men."� How are we supposed to know any of this if we don't read the Bible for ourselves? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Later the church in Rome was warned about Judgment Day, "for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger....Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves?" (Romans 2:5-8, 16). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Paul was greatly upset by a congregation who was blindly going along with whatever their leaders were telling them:� "You foolish ones!� Who has bewitched you that you should not obey?� ....You were running a good race.� Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?� That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you....The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be" (Galatians 3:1; 5:7-10). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Why do we allow so much time for talking ABOUT the Testament and so little time reading directly out of it?� It doesn't make sense! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Jesus said, "If you love me you will obey what I command" (John 14:15).� How are we supposed to know what Jesus commanded directly and through his apostles?� He said, "Your [God's] word is truth" (John 17:17).� Romans 10:17 says, "Faith comes by hearing [reading], and hearing [reading] by the Word of God [not imagination]" (KJV).� | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� David said in Psalm 19 that God's word appeals to our logic, for it includes laws, statutes, precepts, commands, ordinances and warnings.� Then it appeals to our feelings, for it is perfect, trustworthy, right, radiant, pure, sure, and precious.� The result is that is revives us, it makes us wise, it gives us joy, light, endurance, gives us simple eyes and heart, and provides a sure reward for our souls. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� David further said in Psalm 119:32 that God's commandments set his heart free.� Knowing God's commandments eliminates all the guess work.� Knowing God's commandments is the only way to bring us peace.� Knowing God's commandments ultimately leads us to an intimate relationship with him, and an end to our loneliness. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� But God, no one ever told me Jesus had any laws besides just believing in him.� I believe in what others said about Jesus.� Isn't that all I need?� They've never read the Bible through either.� You do understand, God, don't you? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Divide and Conquer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� The Bible is full of commands that seem to contradict each other.� In one place it tells us to offer animal sacrifices.� In another place it tells us Jesus is our once-for-all-time sacrifice.� In one place it tells us that only men of the Levite clan can be priests.� In another place it says all Christians are priests.� What's going on in these 66 books called the Bible? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� If we divide up the Bible, we can understand and conquer it.� Imagine mankind as a person going through infancy, toddler, preteen, adolescent, apprentice, graduate and adult ages.� Dividing mankind up by these ages helps us conquer our confusion with the Bible.� | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Infancy - Early Genesis (Book 1): | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Mankind was innocent, not even knowing evil.� That was our Garden of Eden Age.� We were Adam and Eve.� We lived only in a small corner of Persia/Iraq.� This age was around 6000-7000 years ago. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Toddler - Mid & Late Genesis (Book 1): | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Mankind started exploring and getting into a little trouble.� So God gave us just a few rules, but not many.� God just wanted us to treat each other fairly and for heads of families to sacrifice to him occasionally.� This was our Patriarchal Age.� We were Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the 12 descendants (tribes) of Jacob also called Israel.� We covered Persia, Syria and Palestine.� This age was around 5000 years ago.�� | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pre-Teen Age - Exodus-Samuel and Job-Song of Solomon (Books 2-10; 18-22): | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Mankind started getting into major trouble.� We subdivided ourselves into nations but were not very civilized.� Actually we were quite barbaric with each other.� So God gave us a lot of rules called the Law of Moses.� It started with just ten commandments, but expanded into some 600 commandments.� | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� It governed what we ate, who we married, how we did business, when-where-how we washed ourselves and our clothes, how far we could walk on Saturdays, who was allowed to be priests, and minute details on how to worship either weekly or annually.� We tried to keep all those complicated laws, but it only made us feel like failures.� This was our Mosaic Age.� We were Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Gideon, Samson, Samuel, Kings Saul, David and Solomon.� This age was around 4000 years ago. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adolescent Age - Kings-Esther (Books 11-17): | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Mankind became outright rebellious and out of control.� We invented all kinds of imitation gods - gods of our imagination.� Hardened, we broke every one of the Laws of Moses plus the laws of common decency and we loved doing it.� No one was going to tell us what to do - not even God.� This was a continuation of our Mosaic Age.� We were a multitude of kings who divided our country by a civil war and then made us wallow in every invention of our imagination.� This age was about 3000 years ago. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simultaneous - Isaiah-Malachi (Books 23-39): | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Mankind got so rebellious and headstrong that God sent many prophets to warn the Jewish people to return to the Law of Moses he had given.� Sometimes they did a short while, but always they returned to getting into trouble.� He also sent prophets to other nations to at least be respectful toward each other and God.� Sometimes she did a short while, but always they returned to getting into trouble too. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� By the end of this period, most of the great kingdoms of that era either became powerless or disappeared completely - Babylonia, Assyria, Egypt, Israel, Persia, Greece.� This was a continuation of our Mosaic Age.� We were Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and many other prophets sent to the kings of the world and turned away by them.� But finally, after spending a lengthy time in captivity, some of us were released to return to Jerusalem and try all over again to do better. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Apprenticeship - Matthew-John (Books 40-43): | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Mankind had settled down and gotten more civilized.� We went back to following the Laws of Moses and became radical about it.� Even then, we failed.� No matter how hard we tried, we couldn't keep that law perfectly. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� So God sent his son, Jesus, to live in human form and show us how to live that Law of Moses perfectly.� We tried, but we couldn't keep up with him.� Finally the experiment with the Law of Moses was over.� Someone had to pay the penalty for all those centuries of breaking the Law of Moses.� The innocent Jesus stepped in and said, "Punish me."� So he - the perfect Lamb of God - laid himself on the altar of mankind, shed his blood, and died in our place.� Then he came back to life.� | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Jesus had shown us how to live, how to die, and how to come back to life.� Then he said, "Just forget the Law of Moses.� I'm giving you a new law of faith in me."� This was the end of the Law of Moses.� We were the Twelve Apostles, the 5000 miraculously fed from a few loaves and fishes, the lepers healed, Pilate, Mary and the thief on the cross.� This was about 2000 years ago. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Graduate - Acts of the Apostles (Book 44): | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Mankind was ready to go through the transition from childhood to full adulthood, from living physically to living spiritually, from living by works to living by faith in Jesus.� Graduation day was for the 3000 on the day of Pentecost, and later the Ethiopian Eunuch, Saul (later called Paul) Lydia, Cornelius.� This was the beginning of the Christian Age.� Graduation day for all of mankind is whenever each of us personally becomes a Christian. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adulthood - Romans-Revelation (Books 45-66): | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Mankind now left behind the "childish" Laws of Moses and were given fewer but more responsible laws by Jesus.� Jesus' life and teachings were expounded by his Apostles as well as James and Jude, his half-brothers. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� It was easy to become Christians.� The hard part was living the Christian life.� Many letters were written to us explaining how.� We were found in Rome of Italy; Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus of Turkey; Philippi, Colossae, Thessalonica of Greece.� We were Timothy, Titus, Philemon.� We were the seven congregations of the province of Asia in Turkey.� The Christian age - mankind's adulthood - is good. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� That's it, God?� That's the theme of the whole Bible?� I never knew that?� Now I know why I was so confused.� I was applying things from mankind's toddler age to mankind's adolescence.� And I was applying things from the Mosaic Age to the Christian Age.� No wonder I was confused.� Why didn't anyone ever explain this to me?� I'm anxious to learn more God.� What a story! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Enough Time | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Henry Halley in the now 50-year-old edition of his POCKET BIBLE HANDBOOK, said that "widespread neglect of the Bible by the churches...is just simply appalling.� Oh, we talk about the Bible, and defend the Bible, and praise the Bible, and exalt the Bible.� Yes indeed!� But many church members Seldom Ever Even Look into a Bible." [32] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Regarding the place of the Bible in our Sunday-morning worship, Halley said, "The scripture lesson, as commonly conducted, is given a very minor place, while the whole service is built around the sermon.� What a mistake!� The sermon the big thing!� The Scripture lesson very insignificant!� Usually, just a few verses read as a sort of lifeless form in the opening part of the service with the droning close, " 'May the Lord add his blessing to the reading of his Word.' " [33] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Years ago ministers used to say, "Here are the scriptures I am referring to in my lesson.� Write them down.� Go home and read them for yourself.� Check on me.� I may be wrong.� But the Bible is never wrong.� If you think I am wrong, come show me the scriptures and explain them to me so I may correct my error."� Preachers today don't say that much any more.� Perhaps because there aren't many scriptures in their sermons.� They need to.� And we need to hear it.� | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Preachers usually not only know how to preach, but also how to read aloud.� Some even take courses called, "Oral Interpretation of the Bible," meaning how to read the Bible aloud with proper feeling. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Most if not all preachers today take a single short passage from the Bible and expound on it.� But in today's world, people don't know enough of the rest of the Bible.� This pick-and-choose method only exposes people to a very limited part of the Bible. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Instead, the preacher could read an entire book of the Bible for the sermon, with brief explanatory comments as he goes.� Look at how short 17 of the 27 books of the New Testament Are: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5-1/2 Pages����� Galatians | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 Pages����������������������� Ephesians | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4-1/2 Pages����� I Peter | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 Pages����������������������� Philippians | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4-1/2 Pages�������������� I Timothy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 pages������������������ James | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 pages������������� ����� I John | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3-1/2 Pages����� Colossians | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 Pages��������������������� I Thessalonians | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������������������������������� II Timothy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2-1/2 Pages���� � II Peter | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 Pages������������������� II Thessalonians | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 Pages ������������������ Titus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 Page������������� Philemon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 Page�������������������� Jude | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1/2 Page����������������� II John | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1/2 Page ���������������� III John | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� When this is done, don't stop with announcing the book, chapter, and verses; announce the page number in the pew Bibles.� Give people time to get their Bibles out and read along with the oral reader.� Hearing and seeing both enhance absorbency. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Another approach is for the preacher to look up every verse in the Bible on a certain topic, have all the verses typed up together, then read from the pulpit from God's own mouth everything he has to say on that topic.� The congregation would be swept off their feet! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� When doing this, the preacher may wish to show the verses on an overhead projector so people can read along.� There are also slides out giving every verse in the Bible, but they are expensive. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� The most effective and memorable sermon I ever heard was some 45 years ago.� I still remember it so clearly.� This man got up and quoted directly from the Bible about creation and Adam and Eve, major events in the Old Testament, the birth of Christ, major events of his life, the death of Christ, how the apostles told people to become Christians from the book of Acts, how to stay a Christian from some of the writings of Paul, and then Revelation describing heaven.� | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Finally he quoted Jesus' own words, "Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy ladened and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28 KJV).� Then, without a single word of his own, he raised up his hands to indicate the audience stand.� We stood and sang an invitation song, encouraging people to come forward and become Christians. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� How many sermons do we hear today that are in large part quotations from the Bible?� People hunger for the actual word of God.� People hunger to learn how to read the word of God for themselves. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Another suggestion, if time permits, is to have a theme for the day centered around the selected scriptures.� Then teach one passage from the Bible on that topic to be repeated periodically by the audience throughout the service until it is memorized by them. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� For those who have not taken a course in how to read aloud, here it is in a nutshell.� | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1.�������� Read as though you're surprised.� It won't sound that way to others, and will add excitement and vibrancy to the words.� | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2.�������� Read slooooooly.� As children we read aloud fast to prove we can do it.� But as adults, we need to read as though we're trying to explain something well enough the hearer(s) can soak in each word. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3.�������� Pause between sentences.� This, too, helps the hearer(s) absorb the sentence that was just read.� Time is then given for meanings to be absorbed that were never thought of before. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� God, all this time I thought the Bible could only be understood by the clergy.� Now I know different.� Knowledge is power.� Has the clergy been keeping us in the dark so they could feel more important and smarter than us?� We could still respect them if they'd share your actual words with us.� We'd respect them more.� Please, God, make my preacher want to share right out of the Bible more. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Undeniable Proof | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Thirty-seven percent of America's church attenders believe that the God of the Buddhists, Muslims, and other world religions is the same God, even though the Bible describes a different God than the rest of the world religions have.[34]� Thirty-five percent of church attenders say Satan is not a living being, even though the Bible says he is. [35] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Either we believe in all the Bible or none of it.� The same God who said to love our neighbors also said the miracles were true.� If part of the Bible is myth, it all is. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� Is it possible to know for sure the Bible is true?� There are three ways to prove it is true.� | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� First, it is scientifically accurate.� Things were written in the Bible centuries and millenniums before scientists knew these things.� For example, the Bible said about 2500 BC that the earth hangs on nothing (Job 26:7) and there is fire inside the earth (Job 28:5); about 1000 BC that there are current "paths" in the ocean (Psalm 8:8); and about 600 BC the earth is round (Isaiah 40:22). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Second, it is historically and archaeologically correct.� Lost cities and civilizations have been discovered by following descriptions given in the Bible.� More ancient manuscripts have been found of Bible writings than any other document in the world.� Inscriptions of pagan nations attest to the existence of many of the characters of the Bible.� | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Third, its prophecies always come true.� Predictions of the destiny of well-known nations were written centuries before they occurred.� The existence of the Persian Empire, Grecian Empire and Roman Empire were all predicted before their existence and in the correct.� One king, not even born yet, was predicted generations earlier by name and exactly what he would do. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� The exact year Jesus would begin teaching was predicted.� The city he was born in, the fact that babies would be killed at his birth, the exact amount of money he would be betrayed for, how he would be executed at the hands of foreigners, how he would be buried in a rich man's tomb, and many many other events in Jesus' life were predicted with unhuman accuracy. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� God, I'm so ashamed.� I have not only not read the Bible through even once, but I've never encouraged our minister to read it aloud before our congregation.� Maybe that's what it will take to get us reading. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| God, Forgive Our Ignorance | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� The last thing Jesus ever said to his followers through all ages was this:� "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, AND teaching them to OBEY EVERYTHING I have commanded" (Matthew 28:19-20). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� There is no possible way we can teach others to obey everything Jesus commanded unless we ourselves know what he commanded.� We cannot rely on other people to do this for us.� We must all read the Bible for ourselves so we can teach people for ourselves.� | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� How are we supposed to do that unless we know directly from him what he commanded?� How do we do that?� By reading the accounts of his life written by eye witnesses, and by reading the other books of the New Testament written also by his eye witnesses, his apostles. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� Too many of us are relying on "he said" and "she said," or "Well, that's what my creed says," or "I think it's in the Bible somewhere."� Jesus did not tell us to teach what he and she said. He did not tell us to teach what is in our creed.� He did not tell us to teach what we think is in the Bible.� He did not even tell us to teach just part of what he commanded.� We are to teach EVERYTHING he commanded. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� We cannot rely on other people to do our reading for us.� We cannot rely on our parents, our spouses, our teachers, or minister.� We must read it for ourselves.� Otherwise, we will not be able to obey Jesus' final command to us.� Remember, Jesus said, "If you love me, you will obey what I command" (John 14:15).� | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� Jesus' commands are not grievous; he gives them to us to offer us his freedom, his peace, his salvation.� His commands are not any more grievous than our commands are to tender little children.� They are given out of love. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� The purpose of our Sunday-morning worship is two fold, as explained in Hebrews 10:25.� We are to encourage each other to have love and good works.� Who are we to love?� It does not specify here.� But the Bible as a whole says we are to love God, love each other, and love God's enemies - the unsaved. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� In our public worship, we remind each other of God's love and try to impart that love to each other and our visitors.� Visitors - or even regular attenders - who do not really understand God's love and have never really become Christians (in the saved sense - not the generic sense), cannot know God's love unless they know what he has to say to them.� God poured out his heart to us in his Bible (Proverbs 1:23). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� We in North America have access to the Bible.� Why would we want to accept a second-hand message?� Why would we be satisfied with just "he said" in classes and sermons?� Comments about the Bible and how to apply it to our lives are good.� But they are never and can never be substitutes for God's very own words! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� The whole thing of talking ABOUT what God said is like trying to have a friend with communication only from a mediator.� The intimacy is not there.� We want the intimate conversation ourselves.� There can be no substitute to either Christians or the lost in our assemblies for hearing word for word what God has to tell us.� This is what will capture the lonely heart. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� "God actually said that?" the unconverted and lonely might comment silently.� Well, there it was right in his word, read aloud for everyone to hear.� "How amazing!" those people may think who never heard much out of the Bible before.� And it's personal.� Personal to the saved.� Personal to the unsaved.� Personal to the lonely.� It says so right in John 10:3 - God knows us each by name. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� Ultimately, we could tell people ABOUT the Bible and ask them to have faith in us so they can in turn have faith in God so they can in turn become Christians.� That's wrong.� We must take people directly to the Bible so they can have for-sure faith in God so they can become Christians. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� Why are we so round-about in reaching the lonely and lost?� Are our egos so large we are willing to put our words above the actual words of God?� The gospel is the power for the salvation of everyone (Romans 1:16).� God's word - not ours - is that "word of truth, the gospel" (Ephesians 1:13). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� Ultimately, would you want to hear what your best friend said always through a mediator with a few quotes thrown in now and then?� You certainly would not remain best friends for long.� Being best friends means direct communication.� God talks to us through his Word.� We talk to God through prayer.� That is what will make best friends for God of the lonely and lost.� | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� If we truly believe this, we will set aside significant time in our worship for letting God - nay, insisting that God - talk directly to us. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� In order to change our private lives and our private habits of Bible reading, church leadership must lead the way by reading the Bible when we are assembled together for worship.� It must be read and re-read and re-read.� | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� Paul told Timothy in his instructions on how a congregation should be organized said, "devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture" (1 Timothy 4:13). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� We must take time.� We must make time.� Otherwise, we are worshipping the God of our imaginations.� Some day Jesus will say, "I never knew you" because we indeed never did really know him.� We did not know the Bible or believe it was important enough to follow. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Oh, God, forgive me.� Forgive our congregation.� We have taken your Bible for granted.� We've wasted so much time.� This is your mind poured out to us.� This is your heart laid open.� From now on our congregation is going make Bible reading the center of our worship. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Our Only Bible | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� In the book, IN THE PRESENCE OF MINE ENEMIES, Howard Rutledge, who had been a POW for seven years in View Nam, wrote:� "Now the sights and sounds and smells of death were all around me.� My hunger for spiritual food soon outdid my hunger for a steak.� Now I wanted to know about that part of me that will never die.� Now I wanted to talk about God and Christ and the church.� But in Heartbreak Hotel solitary confinement, there was no pastor, no Sunday school teacher, no Bible, no community of believers to guide and sustain me.... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� "It took prison to show me how empty life is without God, and so I had to go back in my memory....If I couldn't have a Bible and hymnbook, I would try to rebuild them in my mind.� I tried desperately to recall snatches of Scripture, sermons, children's songs, and the hymns we sang in church.� The first three dozen songs were relatively easy. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� "Every day I'd try to recall another verse or a new song | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "....Most of my fellow prisoners were struggling like me to rediscover faith, to reconstruct workable value systems.� Harry Jenkins lived in a cell nearby during much of my captivity.� Often we would use those priceless seconds of communication [tapping on the wall] in a day to help one another recall Scripture verses and stories. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� "One day I heard him whistle.� When the cell block was clear, I waited for his communication, thinking it to be some important news.� 'I got a new one,' he said.� 'I don't know where it comes from or why I remember it, but it's a story about Ruth and Naomi.' He then went on to tell that ancient story of Ruth following Naomi into a hostile new land and finding God's presence and protection there.� Harry's urgent news was two thousand years old.� It may not seem important to prison life, but we lived off that story for days, rebuilding it, thinking about what it means, and applying God's ancient words to our predicament. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� "Everyone knew the Lord's Prayer and the Twenty-Third Psalm, but the camp favorite verse that everyone recalled first and quoted most often is found in the Book of John: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� "'For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life' (John 3:16).� With Harry's help I even reconstructed the seventeenth and eighteenth verses.... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� "How I struggled to recall those Scriptures and hymns!� I had spent my first eighteen years in a Southern Baptist Sunday school, and I was amazed at how much I could recall; regrettably, I had not seen then the importance of memorizing verses from the Bible or learning gospel songs.� Now, when I needed them, it was too late.� I never dreamed that I would spend almost seven years (five of them in solitary confinement) in a prison in North Vietnam or that thinking about one memorized verse could have made a whole day bearable. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� "One portion of a verse I did remember was, 'Thy word have I hid in my heart.'� How often I wished I had really worked to hide God's Word in my heart.� I put my mind to work....Remember, we weren't playing games.� The enemy knew that the best way to break a man's resistance was to crush his spirit in a lonely cell.� In other wars, some of our POWs after solitary confinement lay down in a fetal position and died.� All this talk of Scripture and hymns may seem boring to some, but it was the way we conquered our enemy and overcome the power of death around us. [36] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Second-Century Church | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Justine Martyr wrote about 150 AD in Apology I, 67:� "We always remember one another.� Those who have provide for those in want....And on the day called Sunday there is a gathering together in the same place of all who live in a city or a rural district.� The memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits.� Then when the reader ceases, the president in a discourse admonishes and urges the imitation of these good things." [37] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� Tertullian wrote about 170 AD in Apology xxxix:1-5:� "We are a body with a common feeling of religion, a unity of discipline, and a covenant of hope.� We meet together in an assembly and congregation....We meet together in order to read the sacred texts, if the nature of the times compels us to warn about or recognize anything present.� In any case, with the holy words we feed our faith, we arouse our hope, we confirm our confidence.� We strengthen the instruction of the precepts no less by inculcations; in the same place there are also exhortations, rebukes, and divine censures.� For judgement is administered with great authority, as among those in the presence of God." [38] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� Clement of Alexandria said about 200 in his Miscellanies V.xiv.113.3:� "Always giving thanks in all things to God through righteous hearing and divine reading, true inquiry, holy oblation, blessed prayer, praising, hymning, blessing, singing; such a soul is never separated from God at any time." [39] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| If you have questions or comments about this chapter, you are welcome to join our Godfind discussion group. |
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| End Notes For This Page | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [31]..� Campbell, Alexander, Editor, Millennial Harbinger, 1833, "Confessions of a Regular Baptist," by Thomas [No Last Name], December 1833, pg. 588-589 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [32]..� Halley, Henry H., Pocket Bible Handbook, Henry Halley Pub., Chicago, 1952, p. 714 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [33]..� Pocket Bible Handbook, pg. 738 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [34]..� Barna, George, What Americans Believe, Regal Books, Ventura, Ca., 1991, pg. 210 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [35]..� Barna, pg. 206�������������������� | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [36]..� Rutledge, Howard and Phyllis, In the Presence of Mine Enemies 1965-1973:� A Prisoner of War, Fleming Revel, New Jersey, 1973, pg. 34-37 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [37]..� Ferguson, Everett, Early Christians Speak:� Faith and Life in the First Three Centuries, "The Christian Assemblies," Sweet Publishing, Austin, 1981, p. 67-68 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [38]..� Ferguson, p. 82 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [39]....� Ibid | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||