We may be the Only Bible People ever Read!
Francis Schaeffer, an intelligent defender of the Christian faith in the 20th Century, predicted that self-professing Christians would increasingly reject the Bible as God’s inerrant Word. Of course Schaeffer was aware that already many once-conservative Bible schools and seminaries had rejected its Spirit-breathed truth, leaving them nothing to teach but myths and historical records.
But it isn’t just schools of higher education assailing the Bible; state and municipal governments seem to be on the attack. In 2008, Arizona Courts gave a man jail time for holding Bible studies in his backyard. In 2011, the city of San Juan Capistrano fined a man for holding home Bible studies without a permit. (And there are others.) But perhaps the most significant assault is coming from mainline churches, now rejecting a literal interpretation of Scripture, choosing to soften ‘hard sayings’ to accomodate our culture of tolerance.
That said, I have no interest in Biblical apologetics. Why? “People who aren't spiritual can't receive these truths from God's Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them; they can't understand it. Only spiritual people can understand what the Spirit means” (1 Cor. 2:14). No, the best way to prove the integrity of the Bible is to live it. The best testimony to Biblical veracity is a changed life (yours and mine).
Hi Dr. Greg,
ReplyDeleteI concur. It has been my experience that believers cannot argue a person into the Kingdom. And even if they can, the result is that the new convert always uses reason as the gatekeeper for belief. If it is not reasonable, then it cannot be believed. When this happens, God is servant to reason. The result of that is a cult of denial (God and man cannot exist in the same being, God cannot be flesh and spirit, The bible cannot be inspired by God and written by humans, a loving God cannot have hell as an end of life option, etc.).
This is not to say that the Christian faith is not reasonable. As CS Lewis comments, he came to the Christian faith kicking and screaming looking for any other reasonable alternative, but could not find one.The Christian faith is the most reasonable. That said, there also must be room for God to be God (not just a bigger, more powerful, more kindly human). And this is where some of the tenets of faith kick in. God is. In Him, we live, and move, and have our being. God is active and not silent. God is both transcendent and intimately close and personal. God is both the most familiar and unknown. God is beyond paradox to antinomy.
Godspeed!
Larry
Thank you Larry. Your words reminded me of something I heard Albert Mohler say. You cannot understand the Gospel while you are on the 'outside.' You have to accept it, knowing you won't fully understand until you are on the 'inside.' What an irony! But, fortunately, God gives us the faith to believe while we are still on the outside!!
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