Spurgeon made me laugh...

“There is dust enough on some of your Bibles to write ‘damnation’ with your fingers.”

Charles H. Spurgeon, “The Bible” in Spurgeon’s Sermons, Vol. 1, 33.

Only One Question

There's so many questions surrounding Christianity like pain and suffering, the Big Bang, evolution and the hiddenness of God. There's so many things that clutter your mind. But what you realise after a while is that everything stacks behind this one big question.

Was Jesus Christ the Son of God?

If he was, and is, nothing is impossible.

The belief that a man can be subject to the most brutal and complete death, entombed, and then raised back to life three days later is one that is totally miraculous. That sort of thing just doesn't happen. But it did. According to Josh McDowell it is the most well documented fact in history. (See his book, The Resurrection Factor).

If Jesus Christ was God himself, all these other questions become secondary.

Does God exist? Absolutely.
Is the universe six thousand or thirteen billion years old? Either. He could create it in an instant.
Is the Bible the perfect word of God? Jesus seems to think so.
Is there a reason and an answer for every question you could possibly think of? There absolutely must be.

So all in all, Jesus really is the cornerstone. Every line of thought, every reason, every question and answer stems from him. When it comes to his divinity, we have an inexplicable sum of evidence, and no explanation to the contrary.

Totally Human, Totally Divine

"As Jesus Christ was totally human and totally divine, so is the bible."
ESV Study Bible, Crossway, p2569

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work."
2 Timothy 3:16-17

I was debating the nature of the bible with a friend as to whether it was the perfect word of God, completely infallible and without error, or just a normal book like any other. Trustworthy to some extent, but ultimately flawed. I obviously subscribe to the former and not the latter. But here's a thought:

It's either totally perfect and infallible, or it's unbelievably dangerous. Like a bowl of chocolate ice cream with shards of glass ground in. You wouldn't touch it. No matter how hungry you were.

If the bible distorts our picture of Jesus, if the gospel wasn't quite recorded right, if some of the truths and commandments aren't wholly accurate then we really are bleeding from the inside.

Jesus only gave us two options: either he's the Son of God, or a delusional madman. And the bible presents the same scenario. It repeatedly claims to be the unadulterated word of God. It's either accept or reject, there's no middle ground.

"The words of the LORD are pure words,
like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times."
Psalm 12:6

Correct Approach

With regard to preparing life group bible studies (or any sort of preaching or teaching), there is nothing worse than a indolent, slothful approach. The word of God is "sharper than any double-edged sword" (Hebrews 4:12). It's not the sort of thing you just pick up and chuck at your friends.

It's the thing you work at and sweat over. You rehearse your swing over and over until you get it perfect. You constantly push yourself to become more skillful and accurate.

I've come to the conclusion that if you can't do your absolute best on a given topic, on a given week, for whatever reason, it's good to just leave it. As my dad always use to say, "if you're going to do the job, do it properly".

The Hiddenness of God (Part 4)

In some ways when we struggle with the hiddenness of God we are, at those moments, questioning whether Creation, Jesus and the Bible is enough. If we conclude that they aren't enough proof, they're not enough to cement our belief, that's a very big statement. We're passing judgment not only over God's work in history, but Jesus Christ himself. It's personal.

The Hiddenness of God

"Moses said, "Please show me your glory." ... "But," he said [the LORD], "you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live¹."
Exodus 33:18-20

"Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him², because we shall see him as he is."
1 John 3:2

¹ There seems to be a real need for God to speak to us indirectly. Occasionally people hear the audible voice of God, yet it's very rare. But no-one's ever seen God the Father and lived to tell the tale. If he was to just turn up and show himself, like many people wish he would do, we would all die instantly.

² We would also be transformed into perfection with utter purity and holiness, just as Jesus Christ. So in short, we would cease to be of any earthly use.

It seems that God filters down His voice to a level that we can cope with. We have the Bible, and the whisper of the Holy Spirit to our soul. We are ministered to by angles, often without realising it. All very quiet, subtle ways. Some had even entertained angels and had no clue (Hebrews 13:2). But when people do see angels in the bible, they are usually terrified. And these are just created beings like us.

I would guess it's not God's plan to terrify us to on a daily basis.

But if we accept that we can't see God, we might at least question why He doesn't provide undeniable proof of His existence? Apparently, He already has...

"For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."
Romans 1:20

"He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'"
Luke 16:31

If we can't see Him from creation, if we don't believe the very words of God, written, in the bible, we will never believe no matter what.

Satan's Creed

"Satan, too, has his creed: Doubt God's faithfulness. 'Hath God really said? Are you not mistaken as to His commands? He could not really mean just that. You take an extreme view, give too literal a meaning to the words.' How constantly, and alas, how successfully are such arguments used to prevent whole-hearted trust in God, whole-hearted consecration to God! How many estimate difficulties in the light of their own resources, and thus attempt little and often fail in the little they attempt! All God's giants have been weak men, who did great things for God because they reckoned on His being with them."

Biography of James Hudson Taylor, 1973 edition, p349

Hudson Taylor: Jesus is Lord of all

"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."
Mark 16:15 (King James Version)

"You are not your own; you were bought at a price."
1 Corinthians 6:19-20

"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?"
Luke 6:46

Hudson Taylor on Jesus as Lord of all:

"How are we going to treat the Lord Jesus Christ with reference to this command? Shall we definitely drop the title Lord as applied to Him, and take the ground that we are quite willing to recognise Him as our Saviour, so far as the penalty of sin is concerned, but are not prepared to own ourselves 'bought with a price', or Him as having any claim to our unquestioning obedience? Shall we say that we are our own masters, willing to yield something as His due, who bought us with His blood, provided He does not ask too much? Our lives, our loved ones, our possessions are our own, not His: we will give Him what we think fit, and obey any of His requirements that do not demand too great a sacrifice? To be taken to Heaven by Jesus Christ we are more than willing, but we will not have this Man to reign over us?

The heart of every Christian will undoubtedly reject the proposition, so formulated; but have not countless lives in each generation been lived as though it were proper ground to take? How few of the Lord's people have practically recognised the truth that Christ is either Lord of all, or is not Lord at all! If we can judge God's Word as much or as little as we like, then we are lords and He is the indebted one, to be grateful for our dole and obliged by our compliance with His wishes. If, on the other hand, He is Lord, let us treat Him as such. 'Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not do the things which I say?'"

Biography of James Hudson Taylor, 1973 edition, p439-40

Stumbling in the dark

It occurred to me recently that on the days you choose not read, or forget to read God's word, it's like turning off all the lights at night and stumbling around in the dark. You can't see where you're going. At best, you can get a feel of those things immediately around you. But even these things look very different in the dark. The light reveals things as they truly are.

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path."
Psalm 119:105

If the devil is the father of lies (John 8:44), and the whole world is under his power, then life in this world, without God's light in our daily life, is one of delusion, distortion and blindness.

"We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one."
1 John 5:19

The Bible: the Perfect Word of God?

"As Jesus Christ was totally human and totally divine, so is the bible. All scripture is witness to God, given by divinely illuminated human writers, and all Scripture witnessing to himself in and through their words."
ESV Study Bible, Crossway, p2569

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work."
2 Timothy 3:16-17

It seems there are two essential views inside Christianity. The first is that every word is the breath of God, written by men, directed by the Holy Spirit. It is a divine work and completely free from error. The second is that it's a collection of 'trustworthy' books. Like reading someone's diary. Essentially good but ultimately a human work with many flaws, errors and imperfections.

Here's some of my own observations...

Observation #1
Unless the bible is the perfect word of God, completely without error, it's as good as useless. If you don't believe it's perfect, you can pick and choose what to believe, skipping over sections you don't like. You are free to disagree with scripture at any point. It becomes increasingly vague and not very useful. Which is a problem.

Observation #2
The bible reads like the very words of God. I've never read a book like it. It cuts down to your very soul. You're refreshed by reading it. You feel anchored, like you're plugging into the source. There's something within you that seems to confirm that these words are very, very good. I would say this is the Holy Spirit at work in you as you read the bible. Maybe one way of plugging into the Holy Spirit is simply to read your bible.

Observation #3
The actual writings of the bible stretch out over a period of 1500 years. In this period of time over 25% of the written words are prophecy, predicting future events. These events later occur with stunning accuracy. One example is found in Daniel 9:26-26 which foretells the exact date Jesus Christ would come to Jerusalem. The mathematics are staggering when you look into them. There's a real supernatural side of the bible that is grounded in historical fact. That makes it immensely interesting.

Observation #4
According to The Resurrection Factor by Josh McDowell, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ can be proved in a modern day court of law. This is a claim based on historical evidence which validates the central character of the bible as the son of God.

Observation #5
Ultimately, we believe the bible is the word of God because it claims to be. The most direct claim is 2 Timothy 3:16-17. Nothing else can be higher than the word of God in order to validate it's claim. Historical evidence, reason, experience and such can all point to it, but can never themselves pass judgment on the bible as they are under it.

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Anyway, it turns out this is rather a massive subject and delving into all the specifics hurts my brain! To check out how the bible was put together, and how God oversaw the whole process, listen to Wayne Grudem on The Authority and Inerrancy of the Bible