All words in the bible are 'God inspired' - so why would we choose to believe some of the things in the bible, and not others?
Please assist with convincing thoughts/truths as to why you think all stories in the bible are 'actual events' and not just stories... or not? I've heard now from a few that are unsure - some on this reading team and, as I had originally intended, wanted this 'platform' to be a point of discussion not of just what we read, but to voice/post some of the questions that you've always had but just haven't asked.
And really, I'm not sure why we would choose one account in the bible over another to be true,... or not. Personally, I hold the bible as a book of true events/truths... and the faith that I have in Christ, is a faith built on the truths from His book/Word. That's gut, but wanted to toss that out there to be exhausted.
Oh.. be sure to read today's 'reading posting' below too - just needed to get this discussion-trail out there this a.m. too.
Post your comments speaking to this topic... don't be shy. Thanks.. csb
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3 comments:
Whoa! C.!!! That's Huge!!! Studying for Suday School now don't have much time. I'd just say I can't believe one part of the Bible and not others. If God is big enough, powerful enough, to create the heavens and the earth and to design a plan through Christ so that we can live with Him through eternity, ...He is certainly able to pull off any story we read in the scriptures. Jesus himself referenced Jonah and Abel in our readings in Matthew. I have a person I'm talking to that just absolutely trips up over the story of Noah. She is trying to figure out the logistics of how that all worked. What she doesn't get is that it was no big deal for Almighty God. She also hangs up over how the Bible could be passed down from Moses to us accurately. Again, I don't think that would be a big deal for Almighty God. 1Cor 1:25 says "For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strenth." Can man understand/come to grips with the height, the width, and the depth of the universe? NO! Can God? YES! He created it!!!!!!!
I believe it was Mark Twain who said (paraphrased) that it wasn't the parts of the Bible he didn't understand that troubled him but that it was the parts he did understand that troubled him.
I believe it totally natural to question something we do not understand. Abraham questioned how he was to be a father in his and Sarah's old age. Moses questioned how was he was to have the skills to convince Pharoh to release the Israelites for Egypt. Even Jesus questioned the Father in Gethsemane to see if there was another way.
However, all those mentioned did not question God's sovreignty or
His ability to see and know far more than we. They believed in Him to provide, be faithful and true. With God, who can do all things, I do not believe it is the "How" that matters; it is the "Who". It is important not to miss the forest for the trees; we will never understand God's ways, nor the all the events in His Word. It is by our faith in Him that we differ from others and that faith can overcome our questioning.
I think that being able to believe that the Scriptures are true and from God comes a lot from my own experiences with God's Spirit working in life. There are things that God has done in my own life that seem a lot more unbelievable to me than Noah's ark, or Abraham's child rearing. I know that in my own life God has provided me with wisdom that only comes from Him bringing me through life. I recently heard a description of the Bible that we lose sight of. We always refer to it as "the book". It is not one book. It is many books with many authors who were inspired by God over many years to share with others what God was doing. It was so important that the people would keep these collections of author's writings and keep copying them down. Finally these books were put into one writing. These writers, many independent of each other, wrote about the same God with divine consistency. Not because of talking with one another and comparing notes, but because they were all writing with inspiration from the one True God. That is why I can put my faith in the scriptures as being real: because the same God that I read about in the Bible is the same God that I experience in my own personal life. We serve a God of miracles. This I know, because of this experience. God has put me into a place of service that I have to be in front of people. That is not a miracle. But the fact that the greatest fear in my life for 25 years was being in front of people. I fought with God on a regular basis about why I was so afraid of being in front of people, and yet He was the one who called me to the public position. I would have rather built an ark out of tooth picks. But the God that we read about who provides strength and peace has blessed me with a sole desire to tell others about God and His work. I have no trouble believing in the ark, or any other miracle that is written in Scriptures because I no longer have trouble being in a public position. And I know that in my own heart mind, I could have believed that someone could walk on water before I would be comfortable with what God had called me too. I tell many people that I work with, there are things in Scripture that I can't get a grasp on with my mind, but because of the times God has proved Himself faithful in the areas I do understand, I will take Him at His word for the things I can't comprehend. Is that blind faith. Yes, because it wouldn't be faith. We serve a great God who is faithful.
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