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| <~~~ BACK Mary accepts God's will for her life calmly--joyously. Some might argue that she was able to respond this way because she was "in the know" about who Jesus was. But the Bible shows otherwise. While certainly she knew that Jesus was the Messiah, like most Jews of the time, she expected the him to be nothing more than an earthly king; her reaction to the divinity of Jesus is constantly noted as "surprise" throughout the New Testament. Therefore, her reaction to the news of her pregnancy was one of faith and trust. What's your reaction to God's will in your life? Are you "perplexed" like Mary and Zacharias? (Probably; it seems most of us are.) But what God cares about is what you do with that gut feeling. Do you question, complain, express skepticism, or feel negative, like Zacharias did? Or do you respond with faith, trust, and celebration, like Mary? As this week's recommendation highlights, God asks us to trust him and not be afraid. You can read the short article Do Not Be Afraid here: http://www.cbmcint.org/EE/epistle1299.htm Questions Q: "Are there lost books from the Bible?" A: In a word, no. Although you can study the manuscripts some claim are "lost" and check for historical accuracy, fraud, etc., the most reliable way to determine whether or not the Bible has lost books is to ponder just what "Bible" means. Christians know that the Bible is the word of God. Yes, it was written down by humans, but God controlled those writings. Some say that mankind is flawed, and therefore what humans write is flawed (therefore the Bible is flawed), but this isn't logical. Humans have written books without flaws. In addition, this argument ignores the fact that the Bible was supervised by God. Some argue that for political reasons, or just plain neglect, some parts of the Bible may have been lost. But to the Christian, the Bible has also been preserved by God. Frankly, I cannot fathom that God would allow parts of his word to be destroyed or lost. This is illogical. In his article Any Lost Books?, Gregory Koukl states, "Either the Bible is divinely inspired, or it's merely a human document representing the beliefs of a religious group known as Christians. Given these two definitions, could any books of the Bible be lost?" If the Bible is supernatural, then no part of it can become lost, because, as Koukl points out, God can't loose anything. And if the Bible is a human document, then "the lost books thesis would be reduced to this: 'Early church leaders rejected certain books as unrepresentative of their beliefs, that they actually believed reflected their beliefs.' The contradiction is obvious. If the Bible is a collection of books that early church leaders decided would represent their point of view, then they have the final word on what is included. Any books they rejected were never part of their Bible to begin with, so, even by the second definition lost books of the Bible would be a misnomer." For an excellent and more complete answer, read the entire "Any Lost Books?" article at http://www.reasons.org/resources/fff/2002issue10/index.shtml?main#lost_books GOT A QUESTION? I invite you to ask it. What stumps you? I'll do my best to find an answer! To ask a question, email me at [email protected]. (c) 2003 by Kristina Seleshanko. |
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