| Author | Message | ||
| Patti |
Greetings, You may not understand this post. I may be treading on sacred ground for some of you. Please hear me out before you make a judgment, however. I have just about come to the conclusion that the less a professed Christian trusts in the saving work of Jesus Christ, the more adamantly he defends the precision of the accuracy of the Bible, especially the OT (for example, Genesis). My contention: The Bible has some inaccuracies (the discrepancy between Genesis 1 and 2, for example), but the Truth of the Bible, the entire PURPOSE of the Holy Scriptures is the revelation of our salvation in Jesus Christ. The Old Testament points forward to the Christ event; the New Testament proclaims His great saving act for mankind. ALL ELSE IS PERIPHERY. Not that doctrine do not flow from this single most important belief; but all else pales in significance beside the uplifted cross of Jesus Christ. Paul encouraged us not to have disputes about peripheral issues; yet it seems when conversing with a Christian who does recognize that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all things, they will defend the periphery tenaciously, as if it were Gospel truth itself. Does anyone understand what I am trying to say? I am reacting to this statement that was made to me: If Genesis is not accurate, that God created the world in 6 literal days, then none of the rest of the Scriptures, even the Gospels, can be trusted. Comments? I have more to say, but I will save it for the dialog that will probably spring forth from these thoughts. | ||
| Delstar |
Hi Patti, I think you have some very valid concerns. Thoughts that have sort of faded in and out of my head in the past months..... It's interesting that these very same people who do not trust implicitly upon Jesus will say that there is so much that we must DO to attain eternal life. Oh how happy I am to be free in Jesus. You are absolutely right that all else pales when one beholds the cross. All the goodness, righteousness and holiness in the world will avail us nothing without that cross. The question was asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" The answer was given, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ". This is our answer today, tomorrow and forever until we meet Jesus. May God bless you as you focus on the Jesus of the Cross. Jesus Is Enough | ||
| George |
Patti, Now you have gotten into an area I have wanted to explore for a long time. The psychology of religion or belief if you will. This area is so vast and yet it can be so simple. The end result of learning should be selfactualization--being at peace with yourself and the world around you--yet very often the more we learn, the more we are at odds with everything, and seem to defend the most that which is pointless. For me salvation is so simple it is all that I need to know, the rest, as interisting as it may be, is not necessary. There is a lot more I would like to say put I have to be to work in 45min. and I am not ready. Perhaps we can get something going again as we have in the past on other subjects. See you later-----George | ||
| Patti |
George, I impatiently await your input! Grace and peace, Patti | ||
| George |
Patti, It is now ten hours later and I am not sure where I want to go with all this. The answers I think you are looking for are surprisingly simple when we finally get there but the journey can be very confusing, frightning, and almost more than one can stand. This morning when I said, "For me salvation is so simple it is all that I need to know, the rest, as interesting as it may be, is not necessary." I meant that was all I needed to know about the Bible. The Bible and all things spiritual are just a small part of the human existance. Some of the others are friendship, work, love, disapointment, and a few more. We have to have all of these or we are not a whole person. If, as I pointed out earlier, a person only knows what is in the 88 books of the church, they will be very narrow. If you add the Bible to that you will still be quite narrow. Perhaps in heaven that is all we will need, but, we are not there yet, so we have to know what is going on around us here on earth. One of those things is the dynamics of relationships--how we act to others and how they react to us. I really am heading somewhere with this but there are so many points to be made along the way I am not sure how to do it. You said you had more to say too, so why don't you take a turn at it, and I will see if that will help me get my thoughts in order. George | ||
| Patti |
Hi, George! Thanks for responding. As you probably guessed, I have been involved in a rather hot and heavy conversation elsewhere on the (in)accuracy of the Bible, specifically Genesis. His argument is that if Genesis is inaccurate, then none of the Bible can be trusted. Now for my premise: The Bible is NOT the Word of God: Jesus Christ is the eternal Word of God. The Bible only has spiritual value in that it reveals the Word of God incarnate to us. (John 1) John 5:39 "You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. 40 Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. 41 I do not accept glory from human beings. 42 But I know that you do not have the love of God in you. 43 I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44 How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. 47 But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?" Jesus Christ is God's final and ultimate Word to mankind: Hebrews 1:1 Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. 3 He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high As Delleen said it so beautifully above: "You are absolutely right that all else pales when one beholds the cross. All the goodness, righteousness and holiness in the world will avail us nothing without that cross." It seems to me that sometimes people cannot see the forest for the trees; and they cannot seem to see Jesus for all of the "doctrine" they find in Scripture. Jesus is the meaning of the entire Bible. If a person has not seen his salvation in Jesus Christ, the Bible is nothing more than a history of a struggling and rebellious people. One does not need the Bible to find Jesus: If this were so, then none of the early Christians would be saved. "Faitn comes of hearing, and hearing of the Word of God." "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...." Having said that, what do I believe the purpose of the Bible is? Obviously to reveal Jesus Christ. And I do believe that all our doctrine must be supported by Scripture. But it is not the written word that is holy; it is the eternal Word of God. Does that make any sense? Grace and peace, Patti | ||
| Allenette |
Well, you know the saying, "If we're wrong on the fall, we're wrong on it all".....;-) | ||
| George |
Patti, The more I thought about it, the more I was sure I was taking the long way around to the answer to your question. I am not sure I can give you a real good answer. The Bible was writen by humans, and there for subject to errors. Wait just one minute, here. I know what some are going to say--EGW was human too and her writings are also subject to error. There is a very big difference between the two. The first part of the Bible was written when the recording of language was still very primative compaired to what was available to EGW and has been interpreted and copied many times. This is not the case with EGW. As you can see, I am willing to give the Bible a little more room than anyone else. Where besides the Bible do we hear anything about God and salvation? As far as I can see it is only the Bible. If there is no Bible there is no God. And, if there is no God there is no devil as we hear of them both in the same book. If this were the case, where do all people get the intense desire to believe in something bigger or outside of themselves? An old friend of mine used to tell me that--paper will lay still and let anyone write anything on it. This is where what I was starting to tell you and faith come into play. If I knew only the Bible, I would not know that most, if not all people have a great need to believe in something. Not knowing that, I would not be very accepting of the errors humans could get into the Bible, and would then throw the whole thing out. Often we have to take some bad with the good. In this case the good is so good the bad (if there some of it) is insignificant. Is the Bible true? It seems to be if what Bruce told me is true. He said that in his reading of ancient histories there was mention of some of the things the Bible talked about. This seems to be independant evidence to me. This help any?? George | ||
| Colleentinker |
I've been quite surprised and interested to watch my own attitude about the Bible change as I've discovered Jesus and begun to experience living with him. I used to "believe" it was God's word, but I also believed that we had to interpret certain passages away because they didn't make sense. Adventists adamantly do not teach the inerrancy of the Bibe. When I left the church, a member of a faculty of religion at an SDA university said to me, "Part of your heritage as an Adventist that you will take with you is that you do not believe in the inerrancy of the Bible." I looked at him and kept silent. There was really nothing in the context that I could say that he would hear. The truth is, I've come to take the Bible much more seriously than I ever took it before. I also believe that the Bible is neither a book of science nor is it a history text. It is a book of stories that tells of God's interaction with humanity. If you start saying you must take Genesis as a literal desicription of creation, then you must explain the fact that there are two apparently contradicting accounts of creation in Gen. 1 & 2. How is that literal? Which account is the right one? On the other hand, if you believe that the Bible tells the truth and does not contradict itself, then you start to see that those two stories are like looking at creation through different lenses. Genesis 1 can be thought of as the wide-angle lens account; Genesis 2 can be thought of as the macro-lens account, so up close that its focus is actually on the part of the earth that was Eden. And so on. When Moses wrote the Pentateuch he was recounting the oral tradition that people had transmitted for generations. He did not give a detailed or specific account. He told the story of God's plan for the earth, of his sovereign power that spoke things into existence, and of his creation of humanity in his own image. And good story (as an English teacher I can't resist reminding you) tells truth even if the details are not all there or if they're not strictly factual. Truth is much bigger than what we can see or perceive; story grasps that largeness and mystery and paints broad brush strokes that tell us the truth even if they don't tell us all the details. We tend to think there are only two choices: either the Bible tells every literal detail and leaves nothing true unsaid, or the Bible cannot be trusted and must be interpreted to fit our perception of reality. The reality is that there is another choice: the Bible is completely true, but its purpose is to build our faith in God, not to tell us every literal detail. When you start to look at the Bible and trust that it does not contradict reality or itself, then you start to see that some of the most symbolic and metaphorical passages of the Bible might actually suggest things much bigger and more awesome than we could have thought by assuming literal meanings. Creation, for example, might have happened in six 24-hour days, or it might have happened in six epochs or distinct phases. Thomas Torrance says in his book Reality and Evangelical Theology that God has chosen to reveal himself entirely through created reality. We experience no revelation of God outside of creation; we are, indeed, part of creation, and God uses the reality of creation as his medium of self-revelation. Therefore, realityóincluding physics, astronomy, history, mathematics, etc.óare all parts of the medium through which God reveals himself. And these parts of reality will never contradict the revelation of God found in the Bible. If science or any discipline teaches something that overtly contradicts the Bible, then we have to assume that "discovery" is either false or poorly understood. If science appears to contradict the Bible, that contradiction may be true. It also may be that we are putting the Bible and God in a box and saying, "Because I know what the Bible says, I know that this scientific finding cannot be true." That assumption can lead to really crazy thinking. We have some friends who are very fundamental in their beliefs. I'll never forget my shock one day during the time the late, ill-fated Mars probe was on its way to the red planet. I unsuspectingly said, "I just can't wait to see what this rover finds when it gets to Mars!" The husband picked up his Bible and said with some heat, "Everything we need to know is written right here; if it isn't in here, we shouldn't even be asking the questions!" That attitude assumes that the literal words of the Bible are the sum total of truth. Obviously, that attitude really keeps one from knowing reality in a profound way. To summarize: I believe the Bible is far more dependable and understandable than I ever used to think it was. I believe it does not contradict itself; I also believe that all of it was given to us by the inspiration of God and is for us today. But I also believe that the words of the Bible will not contradict reality as we observe it. It's OK to say that portions of the Bible are shrouded in mystery and symbolóespecially the beginning and the end, Genesis and Revelation! There are details we may never be able to know this side of eternity. There are other details that may gradually begin to make sense as science and history unfold. The Bible is the living wordóit is just as true today as when it was written. It is still our gift from God through faithful people who were willing to write what the Holy Spirit inspired them to say. It is our absolute and final rule of faith. I praise God for giving us an absolutely reliable, living book that tells us the truth and guides us to understand reality. Praise God for his faithfulness and amazing creativity and love! Colleen | ||
| Lydell |
Colleen, I would have to disagree with what you said about Creation possibly have happened over 6 epochs. The story told us in creation is that what God made was perfect, then man sinned, and death came because of the fall. If death came because of the fall, then nothing died before the fall. That is as much a part of the story of the need for our salvation as is the cross. "If science appears to contradict the Bible, that contradiction may be true." However, the reverse may also true. Sometimes it may appear to contradict the Bible because it may just be really bad science. Done ala the SDA method, we will assume we know it happened this way because of what someone has said and we will refuse to look at any facts. When "science" works that way it isn't science, it's religion. | ||
| Susan |
There is so much wisdom here at this website! Everyday I am so blessed by all of you. I hope to one day be as spiritually wise as you guys. Colleen a great big DITTO! (Did you get my e-mail on Fri.? I'm not sure if it was sent out???) When I first became a Christian I really clung to the inerrancy of scripture (still do!). When folks try to bring up some discrepencies in scripture, it's usually not a matter that would alter essential docrtrine. At least that's been my experience. Also, I've read a little about the Jewish oral tradition (in "A Ready Defense" by Josh McDowell). I think it was considered more reliable than the written word. Compared to other books of antiquity, the bible is considered to be much more accurate than any other books from long ago. Just some thoughts. Enjoying this discussion! In Christ, Susan | ||
| Patti |
George wrote: I am not sure I can give you a real good answer. The Bible was writen by humans, and there for subject to errors. Wait just one minute, here. I know what some are going to say--EGW was human too and her writings are also subject to error. Patti: Yes, I have heard that often enough on SDA websites: that there are errors in the Scriptures, therefore, we should not mind a few mistakes in Ellen White. Unfortunately, SDAs do not realize what they are saying when they say this. They are giving direct evidence that they DO indeed put Ellen on the same plane as the Bible writers, despite their impassioned denials. That being said, let me inform you that this did not come up in a conversation with an SDA. The person with which I am communicating is a former JW. George: As you can see, I am willing to give the Bible a little more room than anyone else. Where besides the Bible do we hear anything about God and salvation? Patti: Here is where I part ways with you a bit. I hope we can disagree amiably. (We have before! :) We do not need the Bible to learn about God: Romans 1:19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse Nor do we need it to learn about salvation: Romans 10:12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. 13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? 17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Again, the Word of God is Jesus Christ, the testimony of Jesus is the Gospel. We believe, we tell, others hear, others believe, others tell. George: Where besides the Bible do we hear anything about God and salvation? As far as I can see it is only the Bible. Patti: Then, why, George, did I read the Bible through (for JMV) and memorize text after text in my youth and continue my Bible study as a young adult, BUT NEVER SAW THE GOSPEL until our Pastor started preaching on grace? Until I listened to Brinsmead's words which fell like cool water on a parched lips? Why are there hundreds of "Christian" denominations who claim to base their beliefs on the Bible, but who have no idea from whence their salvation comes? I believe it is because we have left out a most important link in the chain of salvation--the Holy Spirit. We cannot "see" the Gospel except that the Holy Spirit reveals it to us. John 15:26 "When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, HE WILL BEAR WITNESS OF ME... John 16:7 "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. 16:8 "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment; 16:9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you no longer behold Me 11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. 12 "I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. I am going to go out on a limb here. I do not believe that one can "find" the Gospel (salvation by the doing and dying of our Lord Jesus Christ ALONE) in the Bible (or anywhere) unless it is revealed to him by the Holy Spirit. I will state further, that if we have the Gospel, we have all the truth of the Bible. In other words, we do not judge the truth of Jesus by what the Bible says; we judge the truth of the Bible by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you for writing me, George. Grace and peace, Patti | ||
| Maryann |
Hi Patti, George wrote something real cool this morning! He got up from the computer and asked me to read it and post it. I read it and destroyed it!!!!! Boo hoo hoo:-(( Grrrrrrrrr I guess I just messed up again!;-)) and he'll probably say something about "SISTERS!" Maybe he'll do a better one this evening:):) Maryann | ||
| George |
Patti, It is to bad I left it up to my sister to post for me this morning!! It was good. I am not sure how to tell you this but you didn't understand anything I was trying to say yesterday. Because the Bible was written so long ago I am willing to accept some minor errors. For thousands of years it has been passed down by mouth and a rather primative writing system. (At least as compared to what we have today and in EGWs day) I DO NOT GIVE EGW THE SAME LATITUDE!!! She had good language and writing skills available to her. Her works have not been copied and translated away from the original (at least not for the English speaking) and then the originals lost. THERE IS NO POSIBLE EXCUSE FOR HER INACCURACYS. Here is part of what my sister destroyed this morning; If ten people see someone get shot, you will get ten stories all different, but all of the people will have it right too. Person A shot person B, there is no question of that. In this way I am sure of the accuracy of the Bible. Colleen touched on that idea in her post above. If our whole identity is not tied up in our own version of the Bible, we will not have to blindly defend it. We will not have to take an all or nothing stance to the Bible. We will be able to see the value in what others have written or said. You see, if we are at peace with ourselves and the world around us, we don't have to make a contest out of everything, we don't have to win or loose and are then free to learn what is to be learned, by who ever is teaching. We are then able to weigh all the evidence and arrive at a good solid answer. But, we can only do this if we are willing to see the whole picture and not just defend our own pet ideas. So to answer your question I think the Bible is the word of God even if there are some apparent inaccuracies, most, if not all can be taken care of with a correct reading and understanding. Do you think I should let Maryann read and post this? NOT!!!!! George | ||
| Patti |
SIBLINGS Speaking of siblings, did I tell you about the time my older brother saved my life? I was just a baby, and mother walked into the room and found him (5 years old) holding a very large rock over my head. What's that you say? How did he save my life? He didn't drop the rock. He tells me I owe him my life to this very day. | ||
| Maryann |
Yeh, speaking of SIBLINGS!!!;-(( If MY sibling didn't ask me to proof read his stuff, we wouldn't be having this conversation! By the time I fix as many of the mistakes as I'm capable of and pre-view a few times, I just automaticly figure it's posted and I accidently destroy it:-(( Grrrrrr ;=)) He dared me to post this, sooooooooo, I did:):):):) Maryann:):) | ||
| Maryann |
Hi Patti, Speaking of Verbal Inspiration. You have no doubt noticed that I don't use much scripture in my post's. There are two reasons: 1...I'm not very well versed in the Bible. 2...I feel that a non-Bible thumping gospel with stories, metaphors etc is attractive to some people. Take George. He understands salvation. At this point in his walk, that is all he needs to know. Once I am well versed in the Bible, chapter and verse wise, I will most likely keep my post's more on the low keyed side as far as Bible verse(ing) is concerned. I UNDERSTAND SALVATION!!! And I have a few verses to draw on to present the principles of salvation and that is all some people want to hear, a couple. I've already had people tell me that they can understand salvation when I explain it in my "story form." What got me back to God was NOT a lot of Bible!!! It was the low keyed, "Bible story tellers" along with some great preachers that used a lot of stories:-)) This is why this forum is so awesome. Everyone is soooooo different and presents their ideas so differently. Most people want to dialogue with a lot of Bible and that is awesome. The majority of you "poster"s" are so good!!!:):):) And I salute you! And I still have a "burn" to know it like y'all do:) Upward and onward.........Maryann | ||
| Patti |
Maryann, You have supported my thoughts precisely. It is not necessary to know a lot of Bible to know that one's salvation has been secured. All one has to know is that the doing and dying of Jesus Christ is totally sufficient for his/her salvation. One may get the idea that I am opposed to Bible study. On the contrary. When one understand salvation by grace alone through the work of Jesus Christ, then the Bible becomes a new book. The OT foretells Christ, the NT reveals Christ. But Jesus Christ is the Word of God. The written word can never take the place of the Eternal Word of God. Looking back, when I was in grade school, we were taught very precisely that the Bible was HOLY. That we should never place anything on top of the Bible, that we should treat it with utmost respect and care. (Seems to me that if a Bible were getting good use, that it would probably become dirty and tattered rather quickly.) The Bible is only holy because it reveals to us the true Word, Jesus Christ the righteous Lamb of God. (Here is one for Bill: When we were in sixth grade, our teacher jumped all over me because I had colored in the leaves down the side of a Steps to Christ that we were given during Week of Prayer. She told me I was defacing the word of God.) | ||
| Maryann |
Hi Patti, "She told me I was defacing the word of God.)" Wow, I just never got to share so many of the experiences that so many of you had, because of my not going to school! Maybe that is why understanding the gospel, when I finally heard it, was so simple? As to the Holiness of the Bible. How I remember the "big deal" about letting anything sit on it. To this day, I will sometimes hesitate from ingrained habit before setting something on the Bible! I remember several years ago at a (heathen) Christian church, asking the pastor's wife why so many people put things on their Bibles! Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese, what a question! When there are so many others questions that are soooooo important. Even funnier.....you know what their question was to me? "If you die today, will you go to heaven?" What a difference between an SDA question and a (heathen) Christian question!! Looking next to my 'puter is a Bible sandwiched between a Hymn book and a Geisler book and two other versions with some mailer adds on them. So happy not to be burdened with guilt....Maryann | ||
| Terry |
UGH! That is is horrible! (STC by EGW?) I am really enjoying this thread tonight, all! I just wanted to share Romans 10: 17 from my Bible (updated NASB): "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." Terry | ||
| George |
Patti, I guess you didn't care for my views on the accuracy of the Bible. Geouge | ||
| Patti |
Sorry, George! I just got sidetracked. This discussion I am involved in is not a case of the Bible vs. EGW. It is just a case of if the Bible is inaccurate in any way, then we cannot trust what it says about Jesus either. George: If ten people see someone get shot, you will get ten stories all different, but all of the people will have it right too. Person A shot person B, there is no question of that. In this way I am sure of the accuracy of the Bible. Colleen touched on that idea in her post above. Patti: I am sure of the accuracy of the Bible because it reveals our salvation in Jesus Christ. I guess I am not making myself clear. I do not believe in Jesus Christ because "the Bible tells me so" and the Bible is the word of God. On the contrary, I have learned to believe in the Bible BECAUSE of the salvation in Jesus Christ that has been revealed to me. The Bible did not show me Jesus; the Holy Spirit did. And now that I believe in the Gospel, the Bible becomes very clear. Jesus is the Word of God. George: You see, if we are at peace with ourselves and the world around us, we don't have to make a contest out of everything, we don't have to win or loose and are then free to learn what is to be learned, by who ever is teaching. We are then able to weigh all the evidence and arrive at a good solid answer. But, we can only do this if we are willing to see the whole picture and not just defend our own pet ideas. Patti: That "whole picture" is the Gospel. Just listen to the folks here around us. Most of us do not know each other, I have never met anyone on here, except for my former classmate, and Rayna who hasn't posted for awhile. But we have come to unity separately. Why? NOT because we are former SDAs, but because we were delivered from SDAism BY THE GOSPEL. We can tolerate quite a bit of dispersion on peripheral issues, because we are united on the one, most important issue--Salvation by the doing and dying of Jesus Christ alone. There is no one-up-manship here. People willingly let others have their say about a variety of things, and then they express their own opinions; but we keep coming back to the same focal point: Jesus Christ and Him crucified. When Jesus said, "Sancitify them by your Word; your Word is truth," He could not have been speaking of the scriptures, the NT at any rate because it did not exist yet. He was speaking of Himself, and His perfect salvation for all who would believe. He was speaking of the "testimony," or, the Gospel. "Faith comes of hearing, and hearing of the Word of God. " "In the beginning was the Word..." "In these last days, He has spoken to us through His Son..." Good points, George, I am just not sure if we were talking about exactly the same thing. | ||
| George |
Patti, While I can accept some small contradictions in the Bible for the reasons I stated and still go on believing, I could not believe in it if I thought all of it was just a story. As I stated before most of not all primitive people demonstrate a need to believe in some kind of spirit. Is this at the prompting of God? Because I believe in the truth of the Bible I think it is. But if the Bible was just a collection of stories there would be no God no devil and no salvation. The Bible is the word of God, but if it were not true there would be no God for it to be the word of, as this is the only way we hear of Him. As for the need to believe in something, perhaps it would then be only our desire to want something better for ourselves. I guess what I am saying is that we have to be big enough and WILLING to overlook some perceived inconsistences for the above stated reasons or we are just looking for an excuse not to believe. And the only way that I can see to become that big is to not have single-minded tunnel vision on one subject and learn to become a whole person. George Open to anyone for comments |
