Part 1 covered a position of belief the Bible can’t be considered reliable in its entirety due to the same ages old arguments. Believing God is the almighty, omnipotent, merciful and loving God He proclaims to be, how could we simultaneously believe He left us with a flawed and dysfunctional instruction manual? Searching for the wisdoms and glory of God within the pages of Scripture over ignoring the verses we are uncomfortable with honors Him. Holding to excuses that reduce God’s divinely inspired and protected words dishonors God.
How do we determine what are the most important verses of the Bible? Timothy’s proclamation (2 Tim. 3:16) all Scripture is God breathed should be examined closely. Using the term of God’s breath is not the same as saying God spoke. In New Testament Times God spoke through the person of Jesus Christ so it is of utmost importance to know what Jesus said about the Old Testament and the law: ‘The Scripture cannot be broken’ (John 10:35); ‘the commandment of God’ (Matthew 15:3) and the ‘Word of God’ (Mark 7:13). *He also indicated that it was indestructible: ‘Until Heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the law, until all is accomplished’ (Matthew 5:18).
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Words God actually spoke, whether from His invisible self or when walking the earth in the flesh should be given highest priority for absolute truths, instructions for living and most importantly, how we are to go about being in a relationship with Him. God created us for His pleasure, not the other way around. The Ten Commandments should immediately come to mind as God SPOKE these words to Moses as His finger (of fire) etched them into stone tablets. The FIRST THREE are about our relationship with Him, THE FOURTH is about the protection of a day to do this and the balance of them are laws regarding our relationships with others. I believe Timothy’s words are credible in the sense he is saying God breathed life into all of Scripture, but I am also mindful each author had their own unique history and personality.
An Apostle’s words, meaning those men chosen by Jesus in the flesh, should be given elevated status over Paul’s, whose self proclaimed Apostleship was by a vision on the Damascus Road. This angle of approach with Scripture honors God a great deal more than a held belief to not trust all of the Bible as divinely inspired when there appears to be an authorship conflict. We should be mindful of the times these ancient words were penned as we engage in biblical studies. The truths of God are not subject to change over time, but many denominations beliefs have ‘evolved’ as Christians by the millions have embraced popular movements that are diametrically opposed to Scripture. We can choose to believe the words of God and worship the triune God He proclaims to be or we can re-create Him in our own image. God also gave us free will and the choice is ours.
*courtesy of Bethinking.org
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