Friday, April 08, 2005
The Perfect Gift
Why is it so difficult to take God at His Word?! Sometimes, the Truth isn’t convenient so we make excuses like, “It was just men like me who wrote the words down." "Sometimes the Word doesn’t fit with our culture today. After all, the gospel was written in a different context of time and place!" So we pick it to pieces. But if we don’t stand on “the gift” of Truth according to God, commonly referred to as the Bible, then we are certainly standing on shaky ground. Any actuality is truth according to me. As an aside, this same mistake is why freedom is in jeopardy as well. Our source of human rights is God because of His absolute Law and Truth. The source becomes mere men when God and the objective Truth He bestowed on His creation are obliterated. The courts, the State, government can make it up as they go. God’s Higher Law is crucial to the survival of Western Civilization. Many (I wish it were many) will read this and not even recognize the audacity of trumping God. What measure do finite, limited and heavily influenced humans have for deciding what is true? (Or what is Law?) Then you ask, “How could the finite, limited and heavily influenced men author God’s book?” Or do as I am doing, vouching for it? 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “the Word is God-breathed”…not inspired, not suggested. God did not allow mistakes and earthly influence to interfere with His Gift of Truth and Revelation to His children. That is what makes it so precious a gift, so Holy, so Divine. It is not to be toyed and tampered with. There have been negligible mistakes made by monks and scribes in copying the books by hand. They were virtually perfect…God’s doing. You know that’s not man-like! God works miracles to perfection using men of little consequence where and when His plan is in force.
I am finite, limited and heavily influenced and I have decided what is true. (Go ahead, punch me!) You are invited to keep an open mind to explore God’s revelation. The Schaeffers’ discernment arises from reality checks, the fit with human history and experience, internal and external evidence. Lee Strobel's books are amazing too. Now we are getting into epistemology…can we know? This is the dilemma of the Christian. We claim to know while we impugn men’s ability to know. It must be understood that all claimed knowledge comes from Scripture, Creation, and the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is not our own. No room for insolence. The gift is for every one.
I am finite, limited and heavily influenced and I have decided what is true. (Go ahead, punch me!) You are invited to keep an open mind to explore God’s revelation. The Schaeffers’ discernment arises from reality checks, the fit with human history and experience, internal and external evidence. Lee Strobel's books are amazing too. Now we are getting into epistemology…can we know? This is the dilemma of the Christian. We claim to know while we impugn men’s ability to know. It must be understood that all claimed knowledge comes from Scripture, Creation, and the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is not our own. No room for insolence. The gift is for every one.
