Monday, June 4, 2007

The Bible – Part IV

An addendum to my earlier posting “The Bible- Part III” regarding my comments on science: Science, as we all know, is constantly making new discoveries and developing new theories based on new evidence. That’s what makes science so exciting, but we have to be careful not to put our faith in the latest theory. Today’s “scientific fact” is tomorrow’s discredited theory.

Now, let’s now take a look at the miracles in the Bible, which present problems for some people and causes some to doubt the validity and credibility of the Bible (see my earlier postings for more on the Bible).

Because of our knowledge of how nature works, sometimes people have trouble believing some of the supernatural events recorded in the Bible. For example, because we know how conception takes place, some have trouble believing in the virgin birth of Christ. Some have trouble with the large fish swallowing Jonah, and him actually surviving for three days inside the fish. Some doubt the flood of Noah’s time, Jericho’s walls falling down, the Israelites crossing the Red Sea and later the Jordan River on dry land, time standing still, a talking donkey, and many other supernatural events in the Bible.

The problem is, when we disbelieve, we are putting God in a box. Because of our own knowledge (which is still limited), we either try to figure out how something in the Bible could have happened, or we just do not believe it, dismissing it as impossible. When we do not believe, we are limiting God and not acknowledging that the Creator of the universe can suspend the laws of nature whenever he wants.

Moreover, getting hung up on the details means you are focusing on trivia and not the big picture. God is telling us important things in the Bible, so we should concentrate on the message, not on irrelevant details or unanswerable questions. If you have trouble believing biblical events, a future posting will give you two things you can do to possibly help you with this.

I just read something recently that ties in nicely with this dilemma of supernatural events in the Bible:

“We must be careful that we do not become over-concerned with the ‘how’ and ‘reduce the mystery to manageable proportions,’ as the Christian psychologist and spiritual director Dr. Larry Crabb puts it. Asking ‘how’ is sometimes (though not always) a foolish question when it comes to the things of God.” From “Every Day with Jesus” by Selwyn Hughes, May/June 2007, © CWR 2007.

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