Bible Thoughts May 16, 1999
"For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any
two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and
spirit, or both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts
and intents of the heart"(Hebrews 4:12).
Is the book we call the Bible worthy of our belief? Is it free of error? It is creditable? Just why should anyone accept the Bible as the word of God? Perhaps you have wondered about one or all of these questions at times. While these are not unusual among men, there are valid reasons for accepting the Bible as the book of truth in religious matters.
No book can equal the moral principles set forth in the Bible. While other books have been written in the past, and many are being produced in the present, none can compare with the instructions found in the Bible. Examples: Can you think of any moral principle that is not dealt with in the Sermon on the Mount? Was there a code of morality comparable to the Law of Moses before it was given to the children of Israel? When Jesus spoke the "golden rule," it took a form not conceived in the human mind. Others had stated the principle in a negative way, but Jesus made it a positive force that would influence men toward righteousness.
As men write books concerning deity, they present their gods in their own image. The Bible describes God as the great I AM. Such as idea is not, nor can it be, the product of finite minds. While men may look upon our great universe, realizing there is a higher power, only a revelation from that power can identify the one God to all of mankind.
Historical findings strengthen the claims of the Bible. Many discoveries have been made by relying upon the information set forth in the word of God. Unless the books of the Bible had been written at the specified time, how could it be so accurate? In the past, when skeptics doubted the existence of men mentioned in the Bible, there would be a discovery that gave secular proof to the truth of the Bible. True historical findings are in complete agreement with the Bible.
Over the years, infidels and agnostics have attacked the book that came from Jehovah. In all of the skirmishes, God's truth shines forth as bright as ever. Many men who scoffed at her pages are sleeping in death, but the book of books is still around. Such men, who attacked the Bible, will find in eternity that the book of life lived on.
Sometimes Christians fail, but the Bible is right and continues to exist. When we refuse to follow the precepts of God's book, such does not disprove its truth. Christians may stumble, infidels may attack the scriptures, and unbelievers may mock its message, but the book of books still stands the tests of men and of time.
Why then, is it so difficult to persuade those who claim they believe it is God's book, to follow what it teaches? The majority of those who read the Bible, even on a daily basis, do not follow what is revealed therein. They approve doctrines and positions that can not be found in the book of the Lord. They reason away the plain statements of scripture, yielding to positions and teachings that are perversions of what the Lord revealed. Is one not made to wonder what God will do to those who ignore his commands and alter his word?
James revealed, "But he that looketh into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and so continueth, being not a hearer that forgetteth but a doer that worketh, this man shall be blessed in his doing"(1:25). Let us always find what God expects of us as we follow his word in all that we do and say.