Re: Well we can agree on one thing
Submitted by Cat Daddy on August 23 2001 01:26:44
In reply to Well we can agree on one thing submitted by Collin on August 22 2001 05:18:49
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You alluded to the fact that I quoted a paraphrase in one of my references. I assume you are referring to The Living Bible (TLB) which is indeed a paraphrase. However, I was quoting the New Living Bible (NLB) which is a relatively new translation. You ask why I believe the Bible is God's authority? Okay, here we go. There are 30 or 40 books in the various world religions, each one claiming to be a superior revelation. Jesus said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words shall not pass away." (Matt. 24:35) How important do you think the earth is? Well, Jesus says, "Heaven and earth will pass away..." The Bible does not attempt to defend its inspiration. But here is an interesting thing. Genesis opens with the words, "God said," nine times in the first chapter. The statement, "Thus says the Lord" appears 23 times in the last Old Testament book - Malachi. So you have "God says" from Genesis to Malachi. "The Lord spoke" appears 560 times in the first five books of the Bible alone. Isaiah claims at least 40 times, his message came directly from the Lord; Ezekiel, 60 times, and Jeremiah, 100 times! And at least 3800 times in the Old Testament, "The Lord spoke" appears. And the Lord Jesus quoted from at least 24 different Old Testament books - that's right, He just quoted. Say you were going to write a book, and this was how you had to write it: take 40 different writers for a start, totally different writers - some highly educated, even doctors. Then get some farmers. Go and dig a guy out of a ranch and say, "I would like you to help me write a book." Then you find some fishermen - you go down to the whart - a couple of guys from San Francisco, and say, "Hey, listen, help us write a book." And they say, "Sure, fine... we will help you." And then you get them to write on the following things: religious themes, poetry, ethics, science, philosophy, the creation of the universe, and where it's going (throw in a few things about where they think it will all end.) You collect all that, and then...oh, by the way, you have to separate these people so they can't communicate by phone or telegram or e-mail...only possibly by word of mouth, passed down over the years. Qh yes, years...you collect all this stuff over a period of about one and a half thousand years, and compile the whole thing in one book. What would you have? I suggest you take a biology textbook from 60 years ago, and compare it with one today. And that is just 60 years! I know what you would have, you would have the most motley junk you have ever seen in your whole life - with people totally contradicting each other! But that is not what you have when you read your Bible. The more you read this book, the more incredible the unity of it. Because the more you get into it, the more incredibly detailed it is, and you find there are not 40 people who wrote it, but one person. |
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