Ok so today at church I kind of had an "ah-ha,wow, so that's what it's like..." moment. I really don't know why I never figured this out on my own, or did my own research to discover this but it is something real simple and what a lot of people question these days. The source. As in God's word, the bible.
So many people question whether God is real and that the bible is something that can't possibly be truth because it was sooo long ago and so many authors put it together over years and years. The church I go to does "series" so today was the first series of "The Source" and they touched on the subject of how creditable the bible is. Yeah I'm not sure if creditable is a word, so I might have made it up. Anyway, when listening to the guest speaker, who is a pastor at a church in Kansas City, MO, this is where I had my "ah-ha" moment. He started off talking to us about how 70% odd percent of people, and a majority of them being between the ages of 18-25 don't read the bible because they just don't really believe the accuracy of it. I mean how can someone that far back in time remember alllll of those stories. They don't have the technology like we do today where if we need to remember something, like where we parked at the mall, where they can just pull out there cell phone and simply take a picture of where they parked! So how can you really believe someones "stories" when they were written years ago?
To be quite honest with you this is something that I guess was a little, and I mean little question in my head. Don't get me wrong I believe in God, and ALL of what he can do and who he is. I was raised going to church every Sunday, and sometimes Wednesdays and love my God, but when others would question the word, or God it was kind of difficult for me to come up with an answer that would really "stick it to em."
So here's how he went into detail....
He had a chart that he had done research on certain leaders or well known people from way back in time. He listed when they had passed, and then listed the FIRST writen document on stories of this person. Events that had happend. So for example he listed Ceasar and Muhammed....I'm not sure on the dates (I knew I should have started writing down all of this) but the numbers I do remember are the most important. For Ceasar the time gap between when he passes and the first time something was written was 750 years. Muhammed was 1500! He then listed Jesus' time frame..... 20 years. Now I don't know about you but when I was in History class not once did my teacher tell me this info when learning about certain people. You didn't hear him say "Now students what I'm about to tell you I'm not sure is true, because really the first time something was written about this person was like 1500 years ago, but I'm going to tell you anyway." NO! We sat there and learned, and believed about alllll of these leaders and rulers who didn't have anything documented until TONS of time had already passed. Yet the majority of us question Jesus, and the SOURCE....the bible?!! That was crazy to me... and that's where I got my ah-ha moment. My moment where I connected even more with God and his word, where I want to go pick up my bible and start from the beginning and read about all of these events that happened.
In that same age group (18-25) half of the people don't even know that the first book in the bible is Genesis. HALF of us don't know that....wow. That was crazy to me.
Now I'll try to make the rest of this short, but after he gave us those numbers he went on to say that not only do people not believe it because it was written so long ago, but there are so many versions of the bible and some bibles say different things and it can be confilicting, so why believe all these different versions? How am I supposed to know what one is right? Now for the most part when it comes the the conflicting interests of the bible, you also have the same thing with alllll those other books out there on Ceasar and Muhammed, and other leaders. So again he put a chart up of the accuracy of all the different resources out there. Guess what? The bible had a 99.9 percent accuracy. Being compared to ALL the bibles out there when it is compared to the same story in another version, it's not all that different! Again....can I get an AMEN?!
Our culture today is not what it was then. Well DUH you say? I mean I remember playing the telephone game when I was in elementary school, and let me tell ya, whatever was being said was being twisted around in 2 min, so how the heck could these stories not have gotten twisted around? It was the culture back then. They had someone that was known for preserving the culture. Now I can't remember the actual name of what they were called, I tried googling it, but didn't find it. But anyway they were known for preserving the culture and the events and stories that happened.
So all I want to say is this.... If you sat in your classroom today, or even years ago and believed the textbooks in front of you telling you stories upon stories of multiple leaders in your History class, then why is it so hard for us to believe the Bible? The accuracy is wayyyy higher than all those textbooks, so what's your concern? Why don't you believe that there is a God, that died on the cross for YOU?
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AMEN Sister!!
ReplyDeleteHere's a little devil's advocate for you ... without disclosing what I currently believe or do not believe. I was raised Catholic; baptism, first communion, confession, confirmation, and I was minoring in religious studies in college.
ReplyDeleteThe Bible was written by man, right? Man. Not God. Not Jesus. Just men. Have you ever come across a man writing a story that doesn't tend to embellish things a little? Or even make things up completely? How can we be certain that a book written thousands of years ago by man was the truth to begin with, and not written for the sole purpose of making things make sense or to serve as a way to keep people in check for that time and those situations? For the most part, based on that, it wouldn't even be entirely relavent now, would it?
The same can be said with textbooks to a point. How can we be certain about Napolean's life? The people who remember those things are long dead and we have no real way to know if what's written in textbooks is the way things went down. Our great-grandchildren may feel the same way when they read about Hitler and the Nazis ... except that there are pictures and video evidence of that so it will be different when they can see it for themselves.
I think the main difference between the Bible and current textbooks is the they don't have to do with incredibly improbable things (i.e. walking on water, turning water into wine, parting an entire ocean, healing the sick by a simple touch, etc.). People have a tendancy not to put a lot of trust into things that are impossible to do. (Now I'm not saying that they didn't happen, I'm just saying that they are incredibly unbelievable when you look at each individual act.)
It all comes down to faith in the unknown though. What can you accept and believe in without proof or even without probability? If you have faith in something so powerful without any *real*, *solid* reason to believe in it other than your trust than kudos to you and I hope its all true. If you don't believe in something so great simply because you cannot accept or believe that a greater power created the earth you walk on because there is no solid proof ... then that's your own problem and I wish you luck with whoever or whatever you answer to when you pass on.
All I'm saying is that there is always and will always be an argument for the other side, no matter how much something makes sense to you. We were given free will and the ability to think for a reason, right?
Devin, the difference between a "textbook" (or any other book) and The Bible, is that the bible, while written by MAN, was God breathed. So yes, the man put pen to paper, but it was God's inspired word that he was writing.
ReplyDeleteAnd you're right, it does all come down to faith. And not everyone has faith that those things in the Bible could have happened - but that's what we as believers are called to do... have that Faith. Cause you're right, there will ALWAYS be MANY arguments for the other side.
Anna, I've learned SO much from reading straight through the bible (I'm doing a "Bible in 90 Days" schedule)! I've loved it and have learned things in the past 50some days that I didn't learn/realize in all my years growing up in a Bible-believing, church-going, God-teaching house. It's a great foundation for all the other in depth bible studies out there!
Devin- I totally agree that some of the things that the bible says Jesus did (walk on water, part the Red Sea, etc.) is so crazy that someone was actually able to do, BUT like Mandi said it's all on faith. But shoot there are still things that happen to people now that others can't believe happened. Like people dying 3 times and then being revived again, or someone making out of an impossible tragedy alive with only a broken arm. That kind of stuff is crazy to me, but we're here to see it, but so were those people who wrote the bible too. We can't really doubt someones story unless were have proof it wasn't true, and so far there's no proof that stuff DIDN'T happen, so why not believe it? I guess my real point was that we never questioned what textbooks, or other books said about all other leaders, regardless of what they did and their stories weren't recorded until 1000 of years later. I think I'd be able to believe something written 20 years later than I would 750 years ago. There will always be debate when it comes to it and I'm totally not dissing you for the way you think when it comes to all of it, I still heart you, but for me I had never really looked at the reality of the "stories" being told until it was in my face just how long ago everything was told.
ReplyDeleteDevin I get where your coming from, its true there will always be the other persons opinion that Christians can only explain as "having Faith". One of the things that the pastor mentioned during the service was also that some people don't even believe that Jesus lived and that it was all just a fictitious story. But even if you don't see the Bible as a creditable source there are other early authors who wrote about a Jewish man healing people and stirring things up. Believing that Jesus didn't live is silly for anyone to believe. There are too many supporting texts about his life and death. Where the faith comes in is with the miracles and resurrection. P.S. Anna I recommend you read Case for Christ by Lee Stroble, a little dry at times but man will it strengthen your belief in the validity of the Bible. Anna I'm glad you enjoyed the service. Keep the Faith.
ReplyDeleteI will definitly check out the book! I've been wanting some kind of devotion book to start reading so I'll have to check that one out! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI just want to reitterate that I never said any of that was my opinion, which is why I started my comment with "Here's a little devil's advocate for you ... without disclosing what I currently believe or do not believe." As I said, I was raised Catholic so I completely understand having faith in what cannot be proven ... but I was just giving you an argument for why the textbook reason is not iron-clad. Please read the second to last paragraph that I wrote again, where I said it all comes down to faith.
ReplyDeleteYou know, in MY sect of Christianity, we only use ONE version of the bible, the King James Version. And, we believe that when our first modern day prophet revealed MORE past written texts that testify of Christ, he was also able to receive revelation to correct any errors in the bible (well, until he died so he didn't get super far). Usually it wasn't anything big, maybe just a mistranslation of a word here and there or something, and sometimes books/chapters were flat out missing several verses.
ReplyDeleteThat said, before I joined this church, I actually had the same questions that your guest pastor addressed. How can we trust the validity, mainly. Now, though, I don't have a single question. I don't believe it's up for interpretation, either. It's just nice to have questions like those answered by your religion.
I should send you a copy of our scriptures sometime. It has the standard KJV and then in the back, it has the "updates" plus a lot of helps along the way (such as when you read something important in one verse, the notes at the bottom of the page will direct you to where it's said again in other parts of the scriptures, or it'll give a brief overview before each book and chapter, very convenient). If you want, send me your address and I'll send you one!!
Oh, and in my sect of Christianity, what we tell to people who question the scriptures is: PRAY ABOUT IT. Ask of God if the scriptures are true, and He WILL answer you. Guess that doesn't do a lot for people who don't believe in God, but when a believer begins to question the scriptures, just PRAY about it and you'll get your answer.
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