"The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:8)
“To be fair, much of the Bible is not systematically evil but just plain weird, as you would expect of a chaotically cobbled-together anthology of disjointed documents, composed, revised, translated, distorted and 'improved' by hundreds of anonymous authors, editors and copyists, unknown to us and mostly unknown to each other, spanning nine centuries” ― Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion
Last week I had the privilege of bringing the chapel message to a local Christian High School. The message I taught was titled “The Bible - True or False?” Why did I feel the need to teach this message? Because I had recently ready a survey of millennials (those born between 1980-2000) that gave some startling statistics.
According to the study, 30% of non-Christian Millennials relegate the Bible to merely a “useful book of moral teachings”, nearly half of those surveyed have a negative characterization of the bible: 19% say the Bible is “an outdated book with no relevance for today.” 27% go so far as to say the Bible is “a dangerous book of religious dogma used for centuries to oppress people."
So which is it? Is the bible just a collection of dogmatic writings used to control people, or is it truly the word of God, breathed by the Holy Spirit, recorded by faithful men? I believe that history is on the side of God on this one… as critics have come and gone, yet the word of our God has endured.
The bible has survived centuries of manual transcription, of persecution, of ever changing philosophies, critics, of neglect both in the pulpit and in the pew, of doubt and disbelief - and still, the word of our God stands forever.
“Written on material that perishes, having to be copied and recopied for hundreds of years before the invention of the printing press, did not diminish its style, correctness, nor existence. The Bible, compared with other ancient writings, has more manuscript evidence than any ten pieces of classical literature combined.” (Josh McDowell, Evidence that Demands a Verdict)
In 303 A.D., the Roman Emperor Diocletian demanded that every copy of the Scriptures in the Roman Empire be burned. He failed, and 25 years later, the Roman Emperor Constantine commissioned a scholar named Eusebius to prepare 50 copies of the Bible at government expense.
Voltaire, the French skeptic and infidel who died in 1778, said that 100 years from his time, Christianity would be swept from existence and passed into history, and that the Bible would be a forgotten book. Only 50 years after his death, the Geneva Bible Society used his press and his house to produce stacks of Bibles.
“Infidels for eighteen hundred years have been refuting and overthrowing this book, and yet it stands today solid as a rock. Its circulation increases, and it is more love and cherished and read today than ever before. Infidels, with all their assaults, make about as much impression on this book as a man with a tack hammer would on the Pyramids of Egypt. When the French monarch proposed a persecution of the Christians in his dominion, an old statesman and warrior said to him, ‘Sire, the Church of God is an anvil that has worn out many hammers.’ So the hammers of the infidels have been pecking away at this book for ages, but the hammers are worn out, and the anvil still endures. If this book had not been the book of God, men would have destroyed it long ago. Emperors and popes, kings and priests, princes and rulers have all tried their hand at it; they die and book still lives.” (John Hastings, Scottish minister and editor of the Hastings Bible Dictionary)
“A thousand times over, the death knell of the Bible has been sounded, the funeral procession formed, the inscription cut on the tombstone, and committal read. But somehow the corpse never stays put.” (Bernard Ramm, Protestant Christian Evidences)
For thousands of years scholars, critics, and theologians have inspected every syllable of the bible. Multitudes of highly educated and intelligent men have attempted to find errors or contradictions, but the bible still stands as a work of bulletproof integrity.
Written over a 1,600 year span, by more than 40 authors from every walk of life (kings, warriors, prophets, a doctor, a fisherman, a Pharisee), the bible addresses hundreds of controversial subjects ranging from marriage, divorce, remarriage, sexual relations in the marriage, adultery, homosexuality, integrity, leadership, parenting. And yet from Genesis to Revelation each of these areas is addressed with harmony.
Many books have been written that speculate on what the future will hold,
some come close, some are just funny. But the bible is unique in that it not only boldly foretells the future, it has the historical accuracy to back up it’s claims.
No other book has had greater affect on the world than the teachings of the bible. The bible presents the highest ideals known to man, and those ideals have shaped our world more than any other book in existence. Morality, law, our own constitution, interpersonal relations, charity, character, leadership, all topics that are covered with wisdom and clarity.
But the one final truth that I would point out to you this: the bible is unique in its ability to change the life of its reader. No other book has the capacity to supernaturally change the mind and heart of the reader than does the word of God.
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)
Pastor Clay
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