The Bible and Christians

Throughout the month of June I have been writing a series on the importance of the Bible. Today I conclude that series with a blog post on what the Bible means to me now as a Christian.

1. Guidance

As I have stated before, the title of the blog is based on a line from Psalm 119 which says, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

  

God’s Word reveals his will for humanity, as we see in it examples and lessons applicable to our lives. In that sense we can receive guidance for our day-to-day concerns by prayerfully understanding what the Bible conveys.

Most importantly it guides us to our source of salvation – Jesus! If we are saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus, how can we be saved unless we hear about Jesus? As the apostle Paul said, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17). The apostle Peter similarly said, “the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” (1 Peter 1:25). Certainly you can see the importance of this book to the Christian. By it we come to the knowledge of a saving relationship with God through Jesus! Praise God! Remember that next time you pick up the book!

2. Spiritual Discernment/Warfare

“And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Ephesians 6:17)

Ephesians 6 describes the “armour of God” which the Christian must use in order to withstand and combat the forces of evil. Each item in the list is defensive except for the sword, which represents both the Spirit and the Word of God.

Jesus gave us the perfect example of how the Word can be used to combat evil. When he was fasting in the wilderness, Satan appeared and tempted him three times. Each time, Jesus responded by quoting scripture! He said authoritatively, “It is written…” (See Matthew 4)

How does this apply to someone’s day-to-day life? First, if you find yourself confronted by temptation, discouragement, or confusion, you can go to the Bible to cut through these things. Have scriptures in your heart that can come to mind in time of need. Second, if confronted by some new doctrine, test it by the Bible. As I mentioned last post, if any spirits (and those who claim to have spoken to spirits) “speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20). It is important to be familiar with the Bible so we can have a ready response when someone presents us with doctrine which is contrary to what God gave us in his Word. Like Jesus, we can be ready to say, “It is written…”

3. Nourishment

The Bible says that we receive spiritual nourishment in our reading of it. As Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)

This “nourishment” facilitates our growth as Christians. As the apostle Peter said, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.” (1 Peter 2:2)

If you feel as though you are stagnant in your Christian life, it may be because you’re spiritually malnourished! Put aside the sinful media of the world as spend some quality time with the sincere milk of the word. (Clever, eh? I thought so)

Some final thoughts:

I feel the need to apologize to anyone who has been hurt by the venomous words I used about the Bible in the past; as an atheist I understood the Judeo-Christian scriptures to be the vain imaginings of primitive men, and I often expressed that idea without tact. I have repented and I believe God has forgiven me for the terrible things I said about his Word; I hope you can too, and I am sincerely sorry.

Thank you for reading this series on the Bible. Next I hope to begin a series on some basics of Christian life, beginning with this concept of being “born again.” ‘Til next time!

The Bible and Mormons

Dearest LDS friends/family,

As you may know, I grew up in the LDS church and I believed and loved its teachings. Today I have a profoundly different idea of Jesus’ gospel, and I have become a born again Christian! You can read about my conversion here: http://eph1-17.blogspot.ca/2013/05/a-journey-to-jesus-part-one.html. God has given me a heart for sharing his gospel with others, especially with the Latter-day Saints. The message I want to share with my LDS friends and family today is this: YOU can trust the Bible!

The Bible is one of the standard works of the LDS church, along with the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price. But the Bible has a different status from the other books. As LDS Article of Faith #8 says, “We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.” (Emphasis added). The Book of Mormon says that the Bible does not contain the fullness of the gospel, but that it is missing many “plain and precious truths” (1 Nephi 13). The LDS bible dictionary says, “The Church reveres and respects the Bible but recognizes that it is not a complete nor entirely accurate record.” (See link for full reference: http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bd/bible?lang=eng&letter=b.) Whereas the Book of Mormon is proclaimed to be “the most correct of any book on earth,” the clause regarding the Bible as true “as far as it is translated correctly” has allowed the church to depart from what the Bible teaches and revise or downplay its teachings.

Joseph Smith recorded his own “Joseph Smith Translation” (JST) of the Bible, which altered and added to the text. You can see a selection of these changes provided by the LDS church here: http://www.lds.org/scriptures/jst?lang=eng. Many of these changes are minor, but some change the message that the Word of God conveys. For example, the John 1:1 that most Christians are familiar with declares Jesus’ status as the one true God, saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). (We know “The Word” means Jesus, because verse 14 says the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and goes on to describe his earthly ministry). Joseph Smith changed these words to say, “In the beginning was the gospel preached through the Son. And the gospel was the word, and the word was with the Son, and the Son was with God, and the Son was of God.”…Quite a difference! This is just one example of many changes which the LDS church justifies by saying the Bible is inaccurate.  

What did Jesus say about his word?

Jesus said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35; Mark 13:31; Luke 21:33)

Woah! Let that sink in for a moment… If we trust what Jesus says here, that means his words are even more permanent than heaven and earth! Everything you see around you, the trees and mountains, the skyscrapers and highways, will all pass away… But his words shall not pass away. Would you read the Bible differently if you truly believed that?

Here is another example where the scriptures promise the permanence of God’s Word:

“For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” (1 Peter 1:24-25)

The Bible is the word of God. LDS friends and family, I urge you to take this point seriously, because it may have eternal consequences. The Bible warns that spirits appearing as angels and apostles would preach “another gospel” to lead people away from what Jesus taught. “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8). How do you know if you’re following the true gospel or “another gospel” unless you know “that which we [the apostles] have preached unto you”? The only way to know that is to have a standard against which to judge new information. That standard is God’s word (the Bible). In fact, Isaiah stated that if spirits (and people visited by spirits) “speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20). The Bible is the standard that keeps us from deception, so be careful how you regard it!

I urge you to read the Bible, not as a mish-mash of partially inspired and partially corrupted words, but as Jesus says we should read it: as His Word, which shall never pass away. Pray that God will open your eyes and ears to understand what HE wants you to know from the Bible, even if it differs from what men in your church want you to think. In the next blog post, I will explain what the Bible means to me now as a born again Christian. God bless you as you read his word!

The Bible and Atheists

Dearest Atheist friends,

I was proud to count myself among you for four years. Last year I became a Christian (you can read about what led to that conversion here: http://eph1-17.blogspot.ca/2013/05/a-journey-to-jesus-part-two.html). But I find that I can still relate to the way you think, and I can still appreciate the reasoning for your position on the religion question.

That said, if you’re anything like me when I was an atheist, you may be less informed about the Bible than you think. I remember railing against what I perceived to be inconsistencies and absurdities in the Bible; it was much later that I realized I only had an “on-the-surface” understanding of the text. I’m sure you’ve looked up passages in the Bible here and there, perhaps to cite as a friendly challenge to a Christian friend; unfortunately, selective reading like that can miss the meaning the text is trying to convey. I don’t expect everyone to be Bible scholars, but I do want to encourage you to read the Bible differently.

If you’re one of those skeptics who (like me) has cried “foul” at a biblical passage before fully understanding its intended meaning, you’re in good company. Several brilliant minds have made the same mistake. Here are two that come to mind:

The Cursing of the Fig Tree

In the 1920s, philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell wrote “Why I Am Not a Christian.” He expounded a number of arguments against Christianity. It is apparent that he only skim-read certain passages of the Bible, however, and as such he misunderstood them.

For example, in his section on “The Moral Problem” of Christianity, Russell criticizes Jesus for cursing the fig tree that did not bear fruit. “This is a very curious story,” says Russell, “because it was not the right time of year for figs, and you really could not blame the tree. I cannot myself feel that either in the matter of wisdom or in the matter of virtue Christ stands quite as high as some other people known to history. I think I should put Buddha and Socrates above Him in those respects.”

The story Russell refers to is found in Matthew 21 and Mark 11/12. Jesus enters Jerusalem, goes to a fig tree and sees that it is barren; he curses it, and it withers up. Its significance is not apparent at first because Jesus first uses his actions to illustrate the importance of faith for producing miracles (after all, the people were baffled at how he just did that). He doesn’t reveal the symbolism of his actions until after he delivers a related parable (starting at Matthew 21:33). Jesus concludes, “Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof” (Matthew 21:43).

The point of the story was that it was a warning to the nation of Israel! They had been entrusted with God’s word and they did not do with it as God had desired. The context of the story makes it clear that cursing the fig tree had symbolic significance, but you simply don’t get that from a surface-level reading of the text. Ignoring the symbolism, it just seems like a petty move. Read the parable in Matthew 21:33-43 to understand the concept Jesus was illustrating with the fig tree.

“My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

It’s one thing for a mathematician to misunderstand the Bible, but you would expect more from someone who specializes in studying early Christianity. Even New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman has misunderstood passages of the Bible by overlooking some of its nuances.

For example, Ehrman said in a public presentation (and likely in his book “Misquoting Jesus” as well; regrettably, I have not yet read it) that there were discrepancies in the gospel accounts of Jesus’ crucifixion. See a clip from that presentation here: http://youtu.be/ipiZnRHnY0s?t=2m52s.

He concludes by summarizing, “In Luke’s gospel, Jesus is completely in control of the situation. He knows what’s going on, he knows why it’s going on, unlike [the gospel of] Mark where he seems to be in doubt.” His reason for believing this is that Luke’s gospel records more of Jesus’ words during the crucifixion, whereas the only quote that Mark records is “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

If that’s all you knew of that quote, it would be easy to get the impression that Jesus felt abandoned by God during his crucifixion. However, Jesus was not lamenting his abandonment – he was quoting scripture which actually declared his status as the victorious Messiah! If you look at Psalm 22 you can read what Jesus had in mind when he said that. It is a psalm that describes one who is unjustly persecuted before being vindicated by the ultimate triumph of God over his enemies! Hardly the statement of one feeling abandoned.

The Jews of Jesus’ day understood what those words meant. It even says in the Book of Mark that the onlookers understood his words to be messianic: “And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elias” (Mark 15:34-35). It is easy to miss this if you’re not willing to look into the intended purpose and context of the text.

Conclusion

Remember, these mistakes were made by well-respected and widely-published scholars! If they can get it wrong, it is certainly possible for a guy with a search engine to get a few things wrong too. Myself included.

I hope this does not come across as a “straw man” argument (ie, these criticisms of the Bible are wrong, therefore all of them are); that’s not what I am trying to communicate. Indeed, there are other criticisms which are far more sophisticated. But I do hope these examples give us pause to think! When you come across a questionable passage in the Bible, do not cry “foul” until you fully understand the context and nuances of the passage. If your criticism is justified, it will have to convey more than a surface-level understanding if you intend to be taken seriously by Christians who know their Bibles.

When you read the Bible, I recommend starting with the New Testament (Why? Because it deals with the life of Jesus and what followed, and Jesus is the way that God reveals himself to humanity – see Matthew 11:27). The Gospel of John is a good place to start because more than any other gospel it was written in very straight-forward language. Try reading it with the intent to understand rather than to find another arrow in your arsenal against Christians. In the end, you will either be better equipped to defend your position, or you will come around to the position that the Bible advocates – that maybe there’s something to this Jesus fellow. Either way, what do you have to lose?

In the next blog post I will continue my series about the Bible. Happy reading!

The Bible as History

The early Christians would rather be fed to lions in the Roman Colosseum than deny their faith. Faith in what? In the person and teachings of Jesus Christ. What a bizarre and radical concept! Today, Christianity is the world’s largest religion; although it now appears in many different forms, it all stems back to the events and people of that first century. Whether you are a Christian, skeptic, a Muslim, or any number of other things, you can only understand this worldwide phenomenon (the Jesus movement or Christianity) by reading the documents important to its early adherents: the New Testament. YOU should read the Bible.

As a recent B.A. History graduate, I am aware of the challenges and strengths of particular kinds of primary sources. I cannot comment too extensively on the historicity of the Bible (I’m more of a modern history guy – first century and earlier is not my expertise at all), but I do have a few thoughts to share.

The earliest of the gospels is generally thought to be The Gospel of Mark in the 60s A.D. The disadvantage of this document is that we are clearly not dealing with in-the-moment documentary evidence of Jesus’ life – then again, we don’t have much of that kind of evidence from that era at all, so it’s not too discouraging. The advantage is that the source was still written within the lifetime of Jesus’ contemporaries, such as his early disciples who likely dictated the document.

What does this mean? It means the written accounts in the gospels may not be as exact as video footage, but they can still be reliable re-tellings of what happened only a few decades earlier. I deal with challenges like this as a modern historian to some extent: for example, a memoir written in the 1860s about events that occurred in the 1830s could be partially influenced by hazy memory or values shaped by later contexts. Although it is appropriate to have some reservations, the document can still provide insight into the past with proper analysis.

The gospels are not the earliest New Testament documents. Most of the Epistles of Paul were written in the 50s A.D. and The Book of James was written in the 40s A.D., merely a decade after Jesus walked the earth! Some anti-Christians have attempted to argue that Jesus did not even exist, suggesting that stories of this mythical figure were invented as late as the 300s A.D. These notions are completely absurd; the early dating of the texts should put such theories to rest. Regardless of whether you are willing to accept the miraculous events described in the books, you must at least acknowledge that Jesus existed as a historical figure and that the virulent Jesus movement (which began in the first century) was based on his life and teachings.

Skeptics (and others), I encourage you to pick up the New Testament and read it. At least look at it as a fascinating set of historical documents which describe the thoughts and actions of this radical first-century group of people… and the Lord they served and followed.

As the book of 2 Peter says (likely written in the 60s A.D.), “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” (2 Peter 1:16)

Thanks for reading! This article is the start of a short series on the importance of the Bible. I intend to pitch the Bible to a number of specific groups, and conclude by explaining what the Bible means to me. Happy reading!