***
Life's
Long Term vs. Short Term Issues?
Introduction: What's this all about?
Well, consider
investors. They, fairly, regularly consider
whether the property they hold, (be it real
estate, stocks or bonds etc.), should be classed
as short term or long term holdings. Then they
plan accordingly.
One could say that
a bet on a horse race or a lottery ticket would
be "extremely short term" investment
and in contrast, the usual family residence would
be "extremely long term" investment. Or
the "day trader" vs the 30 year bond
holder, would represent extreme short and long
term investment conditions.
But we are
now discussing conditions that are much more
extreme than that! And they deserve far more
attention than real estate, stocks, bonds etc.
You see, every
thoughtful person knows as the years roll by,
(I'm crowding 80 as we speak!), that our short
life span is over very quickly and most of us
have a hope for a pleasant "after-life"
which falls into an "Extremely Long
Term" condition!
Even our
frustration and confusion regarding the problems
enveloping our planet become relatively
"Extremely Short Term" compared to the
extent of our after-life. Polution, neuclear
waste, vanishing species, strip mining, vanishing
rain forests etc. all fall into the Extremely
Short Term catagory.
In this, we are on
"firm ground" as far as an after-life
is concerned. It's built into us to have a belief
in God (or gods), or a "Force" etc. I
know there are some exceptions who are claimed
athiests, but when "push comes to
shove" most of these give up their
"faith" in "no God"! So, if
we hold to a belief in the existance of God, it
goes without saying that we probably
believe in an "after-life" of some
sort.
Usually we think
of that after-life as an on-going, probably,
forever, condition. So, that being the case, we
are conparing a life time, at the most of 100
years or so against an after-life of
"forever"! It doesn't get more
"extreme" than that! Perhaps 100 years
seem very long to you. However if you were to
take a sharp knife and "slice" 100
years out of eternity, (forever, infinity), you
will have a thin slice indeed!
Now, if a smart
investor, ranks his investment holdings as short
or long term and plans accordingly, how much
smarter would it be to give some serious thought
to the exterme short term of this life
vs. the extreme long term of the after-life!?
So,
what is your opinion regarding an
"after-life"?
----Heaven?
-----Hell? ---or simply---
-----------------------------------------"Non-existance"?
According to a survey by Barna Research
Group of
Oxnard, California,
7 out of 10 persons in
America believe in the existance of hell!
Of course, probably only some tiny 1/2 of 1 %
think they, themselves, are bound for hell! (In
addition, the survey, found that 7 out of
10 Americans also believe there is a Heaven).
Does one's opinion on this, (or on many
other subjects, for that matter), really make any
difference? In
one sense, it makes no difference at all!
You see, the existance, or non-existance
of Heaven or Hell is not in the least
impacted by what you believe. Either
they do exist or they don't. Your opinion makes
no difference.
For instance, one may hold the opioion that the
earth is flat. Hundreds of years ago most persons
believed just that! Columbus' voyage in 1492,
proved them wrong. You see their opinion didn't
keep the earth from being a globe, rather than
flat! So, in this, the majority opinion didn't
make the earth flat!
Some, even today, continue to hold the opinion
that the earth is flat, arguing that photos of
the globe are a product of Hollywood etc. and
they continue holding their membership in
"The Flat Earth Society"! Yes, such
persons exist today! You can view evidence on
their Internet, home page The
Flat Earth Society. Read about the President
of the Flat Earth Research, for chuckles! So,
neither majority or minority opinion makes the
earth flat!
However, your opinion could make all
the difference about the
impact Heaven or Hell's,
existance, (or non-existance), will have on you.
For, you see, if Heaven and Hell do exist,
there could be a reason for their existance, and
that "reason" could have a real impact
on you.
Here's a key question to consider
regarding any opinion one
may hold: If what you
believe, (your opinion on a subject), is wrong,
would you want to know it?
If your answer is "NO",
you probably won't have much interest in the
balance of this e-book.
Chapter 1. Does it
Make any Difference?
So, for the sake of this discussion, let's say
that hell does exist, and the important
thing would then be to avoid ever going there! (Later,
we will discuss how one may be certain their
opinion on such a topic, is valid and effective
for them).
So, avoiding Hell, should direct our attention to
the possibility that Heaven, too, may exist. And,
possibly, one could have Heaven as their destiny
to avoid Hell. Again, the existance, (or
non-existance), of Heaven is not based upon our
opinion.
Heaven, the Alternative to
Hell!
Now, over the years, having taking hundreds of
"one on one" surveys, the writer and
his associates have asked this question,
"On a scale of zero to one hundred, if you
were to die tonight, how sure are you, that you
would go to heaven?" Only a very
small percentage would answer with confidence,
that, "they were sure they would go to
heaven!" Often, they will say that there is
no way to know, as if they had exhaustivly
studied the subject!
One would hope that this would be one question
that the vast majority would want to have
settled, with certainty! But, only a
small percentage, would suggest that they were
more than 70% sure!
These are the same people who would likely say
that, "Death and taxes are for sure!"
They would be 100% accurate on that! For, we may
not like it, or behave like it were true, but
death is 100% in every generation!
(Later we, will see that there are those from one
generation that will be the exception regarding
death!)
Think of "life" as an airplane
flight - - Suppose you were flying
across the country from L.A. to New York, and as
you were boarding the plane, the pilot walked
alongside you and to your amazement, he was
obviously intending to fly while significantly
liquor impaired! And he told you, in confidence,
that he could surely fly okay, but the co-pilot
would have to handle the take-offs and landings!
Then you go another few steps and the Maintenance
Crew Chief tells the pilot, in your hearing,
that, "the number 4 engine would only
operate at 1/4 power during the run-up!" The
pilot, responds. "What the hell! I can fly
this sucker on 3 engines! Let's go!"
Now, while you are absorbing this, the co-pilot
joins you and you see that he is frantically
flipping through his flight manual(s), saying
under his breath, "I wish I had some 4
engine flight time!"
You are giving all this some serious
thought! Do you think you will have even
a 70% chance of seeing New York if you commit
yourself to this flight?? Unless, you are crazy,
you are NOT going
to board that plane! Wisdom simply
dictates that you stand aside and take another
flight. After all, you do have a choice!
Compare your "life destination" to that
airplane trip. That flight, as bad as it appeared
to be, might make it to New York. But you,
wisely, didn't take a chance on it.
On the other hand, the after-life is an issue far
more important than a trip from L.A. to New York.
For, everyone is on a "life destination
flight", that is certain to end in physical
death, (and, according to God), is followed by an
eternal spiritual destination! And all
but a tiny percentage are unsure about which
"flight" they are on. A flight, which,
(again, according to God), ends up in Heaven or
Hell!
While you can't be absolutely certain that the
"sorry plane and crew" in the story,
will crash, you can, (according to God),
and be certain to spend your eternity in Heaven! And
you can know that this is your destiny.
So, essentially, death is 100%! And, 70%
indicate they are pretty sure there is an
eternity awaiting them. But, only a tiny percent
are sure where they are headed! Think about it!
This can't be very smart, can it?
According to God, man was created
in the image of God, meaning that we have a life
that in some ways is "like" His. Among
other of our attributes, we were created to exist
forever. Yes, according to God, we will all be
around a thousand years from now, 10.000 years,
1.000,000 years etc.! No question about it!
However, we get to choose where we will be
spending the "time"!
Yes, the good news is that you can choose,
and be sure, that, now, and at your death, you
are bound for Heaven!
You may say that no-one can know for sure
that they are bound for heaven. So you
hope that God is some sort of a "tolerant
good guy" and that He will take you into His
heaven, if you have enough "good works"
to out-weigh the "bad" that you have
done in your life. If this is your
approach, and you are living your life
with this as your "belief" then you are
taking a far bigger risk than if you took
that "sorry flight to New York"!
You see, from what may be really
"known" about God, He is the ultimate
"good". "Good" even to the
extent that He cannot tolerate evil in any form
in His final kingdom. Hopefully, you will
continue with the discussion to see why one can
"know" these things about God!
Click here to return to
the Index
Chapter
2. Establishing a Valid Opinion.
Again, here's the question for you to answer:
"If what you believe is wrong, would you
want to know it"? Yes or No! If
your answer is really "No" then forget
the rest of this article! If "Yes",
then read on and see if it doesn't make sense.
Now, you may ask, "How
can anyone know for a certainty that they are
going to God's heaven, when this physical life is
over?"
The answer is simple! God has given us a clear
road map. He has given us a remarkable book, the
Bible.
At this point, some readers will
"tune out" the balance of this article,
willing to take a chance that what they presently
believe, might be right! They simply
"believe about" and reject the Bible
and it's truths based on some skimpy
"evidence" passed on to them by others
who also are working with skimpy, invalid,
evidence.
Now, I know you've been told that the Bible is
just a fable or a legend. And while Christians
believe it is "God's Word", any
"knowledgable" person will
"know" it was just written by some men
trying to establish a religion. Sadly,
many accept and furnish such claims about the
Bible, without any serious investigation, usually
without even reading it!
Such claims against the Bible often
come from persons with considerable knowledge in
other areas but with almost no knowledge of the
Bible.
This is an example
of a dubious opinion held by persons who are on
the "wrong" life destination flight!
They didn't have the advantage of hearing from
the "pilot, co-pilot and crew chief",
getting a true picture of the danger existing on
the "sorry flight"! Or hearing the same
information, just choose "go along"
with the risk. This is the situation with many
today!
Really, there are many opinions
on these topics, held by many persons! How are
you to know which one of the hundreds
out there is the correct opinion?
The truth is, that you can't know.
They will be in conflict with each other, and if
you choose one or more of them, you will continue
to be unsure of your destiny.
A long time ago, I came to the conclusion that,
regarding my destiny, I didn't care what
"man's" opinions are. I'm
interested in God's opinion!
Of course, this assumes that we can
discover what God's opinion is. We can
look at the creation of the earth and the entire
universe and marvel at it's design and wonder,
confirming to us that God exists and is a
remarkable being.
But we can't even guess,
with any certainty, how He made it all happen.
(One of the latest "guesses" is the
"Big Bang" theory). To know with
assurance the details about God and His creation
we need "special revelation" and we
find it in the Bible. We see that He, being God,
simply created the entire universe by speaking,
speaking a word! Psalm 33:6 "By the word of the
Lord the heavens were made - - - v9, For He
spoke, and it was done;"
No, the only way we can discover God's opinion(s)
is to find some special revelation that He has
given, telling us specifically what His
opinion is regarding "this or
that"!
Click here to return to
the Index
Chapter
3. God Declares & Proves His Opinion!
If God has any concern for us as His special
creation, He would surely have given us such a
revelation! He wouldn't have gone to so much
initial trouble, creating us, and then leave us
to "guess" our way through life and on
into His eternity!
Thankfully, that is just what He did!
He put together a complete road map for us, loaded
with hundreds of proofs that it is in His
"word". His word, even though
He produced it, interacting with human authors,
each reflecting their personal writing styles!
For instance, God gave the detail of His Law to
Moses, (which Moses later documented). At the
giving of the Law, God furnished a summary, The
Ten Commandments, which God wrote Himself on
stone tablets, in Moses' presence. Exodus 31:18
and 34:1. But for all the detail, He chose to
write through human authors.
God had His Reasons for
using human authors
He could have done it the "easy,
magic" way, actually writing us a
"magic" book in His own hand, perhaps
written on some golden tablets, furnishing an
additional "magic" lense through which
the reader would get the translation. And, being
the all powerful Creator, He could have had it
delivered by an angel with instructions that here
is My latest word on the whole "thing".
I wrote it Myself, and you'd better believe it
"or else"! (Some of you will recognise
a certain cult that gives us such an account of
how God furnished His "updated"
opinion(s) to us).
Of course if He'd actually done it this way the
book would have been as perfect as any of His
creation, complete, without contradiction from
beginning to end. It would deliver His critical
opinion(s) with great consistancy.
The "magic"
writings of the cult mentioned, (as described by
the cult founder), which surfaced some 1900 years
after the Holy Bible, is laced with
inconsistancies, has required their practices to
adapt with the times. Rather than complimenting
the Holy Bible, it contradicts it in many ways.
No, for our benefit, God did it the
"hard" way. He inspired over
40 different writers, having varied backgrounds,
ranging from farmers and fishermen to kings and
prophets, scattered over 1500 years of history,
most with no contact with the other 39, to write
His road map made up of 66 different
"books" for us!
He left them, all 40 authors, to write within
their own different personalities and within
their own different writing styles, documenting
material on the most difficult subject
known to man. The nature of God and His eternal
plan for man and His universe!
Now, such a book, authored by men,
inspired by the Creator God, should have very
remarkable content! And it does! It has
literally hundreds of prophecies, many documented
as fulfilled within itself as the 1500 years of
authorship progressed. Others are yet to be
fulfilled and give detailed and graphic
descriptions of what is in store for us today! It
tells us of the great love the Creator God has
for us and what He has in store for those who
trust Him and also what is in store for those who
don't!
One reason God did it the "hard
way" was to have personal
interaction with the human authors, developing
leadership qualities needed at the human level.
Also we see our faith grow as we discover
all the evidences that God has
given us just what He wants in His chosen way. He
gives us the pleasure of discovery and
acceptance.
He could have made his "book" so
"easy" that belief would be virtually
"forced" upon us. But He
didn't! If it could be demonstrated that
God had produced some sort of a true
"magic" book, it would require small
faith to accept it.
The Bible is the most published,
most read, most studied,
most analysed, most translated,
most loved, most honored
and yet most hated, and
most reviled, most destroyed
and yet the most preserved, most
authenticated by archeology,
book on the planet!
Let's expand on some of these qualities
that demonstrate that the Bible truly furnishes
God's opinions and can be trusted!
1. Fulfilled Prophecies:
There are literally hundreds
of them that have been given in great detail and
have been fulfilled to the letter. Not vague,
rambling as is almost always true of the supposed
extra-biblical prophecies of Mother Shipton,
Nostradamus and others. Rather they deal with
places, people and events.
Henry M. Morris' The
Bible and Modern Science, discusses a
particular prophecy given in ancient times and
fulfilled in remarkable detail, years later. It
is regarding the city of Tyre of the Phoenicians
found in Ezekiel 26. It describes the coming
capture of the city by Nebuchadnezzar (vv 7-11).
This was quite literally fulfilled. However the
judgment forecast in verses 4-5; "They
shall destroy the walls of Tyrus and break down
her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her,
and make her like the top of a rock. It shall be
a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of
the sea," seemed
unfulfilled, at that time.
History tells us that most
of the people of Tyre escaped with their
valuables to an island 1/2 mile from the shore,
where they built a new Tyre which was still great
and powerful for 250 years.
But finally, Alexander the
Great finished what Nebuchadnezzar had begun. He
built a causeway from the remains of the old
city, literally scraping up the dust and stones
and timbers. He sacked the new island city. The
mainland city against which the prophecy was
directed, was never rebuilt. There are not even
ruins or mounds to mark the spot! The causeway
and island are now a desolate peninsula, which is
used by fishermen to dry their nets!
On the other hand, Tyre's
sister city of Sidon had the following prophecy
uttered against her: "Behold,
I am against thee, O Sidon . . . For I will send
pestilence into her, and blood into her streets;
and the wounded shall fall in the midst of her
with the sword upon her on every side."
Ezek. 28:22-23.
No fate of extinction was
foretold for Sidon and even today it is a city of
about 20,000. However, it has had one of the
bloodiest histories any city ever had.
Two sister cities,
close together and of equal importance, were
subject to two very different prophecies. Each
was fulfilled to the letter. That would be
impossible except as directed by God, who knows
the end from the beginning.
The book of Daniel foretells
the rise of the great Gentile kingdoms hundreds
of years in advance. From Nebuchadnezzar of
Babylonia to the end! Medo-Persia, Greece, Egypt,
Syria and Rome are described with such wealth of
detail that all who study history recognize them.
Daniel wrote about 500 to 600 years before Christ
Critics try unsuccessfully
to move the authorship of Daniel forward in time
to negate the prophecy, saying it was written
after the fact. Even if they were able to prove
it was written later, it would not overcome
others of his prophetic utterances that told of
the exact time of the coming of the Messiah
(Jesus) to Israel!
Here are a few
specific prophecies regarding the coming of
Christ as Savior;
Isa. 7:14 His virgin
birth.
Micah 5:2 His
birthplace, Bethlehem.
Zech. 9:9-10 Describes
His public entry into Jerusalem on the
foal of an ass.
Zech. 11:12-13 His
betrayal, including even the price of 30
pieces of silver!
Psalm 22 Gives a graphic
description of His crucifixion.
(This was written by David about 800 years before
Christ at a time when offenders were stoned. The
Romans invented crucifixion much later).
Isa. 53 Tells the purpose of
His death, some details of His
suffering and trial.
There
are more than 300 prophecies in the Old Testament
that were fulfilled at Christ's first coming!
To illistrate how
remarkable it is to have accurate prophecies,
the following probabilities are taken from Peter
Stoner in Science Speaks (Moody Press 1963), to
show that coincidence is ruled out by the science
of probability.
Stoner says that by using
the modern science of probability in reference to
just 8 prophecies, (8 of the 300 fullfilled in
the life of Christ), "we find that the
chance that any man might have lived down to the
present time and fulfilled all eight prophecies
is 1 in 10 to the 17th power."
That would be 1 in
100,000,000,000,000,0000. In order to
help us comprehend this staggering probability,
Stoner illustrates it by supposing we take 10 to
the 17th power silver dollars and lay them on the
face of Texas. They would cover all of the state
two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver
dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all
over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that
he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must
pick up one silver dollar and say that this is
the right one. What chance would he have of
getting the right one? Just the same chance that
the prophets would have had of writing these 8
prophecies and having them all come true in any
one man, from their day to the present time,
providing they wrote them in their own wisdom.
Stoner continues and
presents an illustration to help us understand
the probabilities of 48 prophecies, (not 300!),
coming true in the life of one man. This raises
the ratio to 1 in 10 to the 157 power! He uses
the tiniest item he could think of, the electron,
to illustrate the number of items to pile up and
mix for the test. He does a great job developing
this. It is too much for us to include here.
You can read
all the detail in, "Evidence That Demands a
Verdict" By Josh McDowell, Published by
Campus Crusade for Christ International.
Persons who reject this
level of authentication are similar to the
membership of the Flat Earth Society! They chose
to reject the solid, fulfilled prophetic evidence
of God's authorship of His Bible, much as the
Flat Earthers reject much solid evidence of the
"globe", to say nothing of the evidence
of our moon shots!
2.
The Declarations of Scripture Itself:
II Tim. 3:16 "All Scripture
is inspired by God and profitable for teaching,
for reproof, for correction, for training in
righteousness; that the man of God may be
adequate, equipped for every good work".
I Thess. 2:13b "...you accepted
it for what it really is, the word of God, which
also performs its work in you who believe".
II Pet. 1:20 "But know this
first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a
matter of one's own interpretation, for no
prophecy was ever made by an act of human will,
but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from
God".
Psalm 119:160 "The sum of Thy
word is truth, and every one of Thy righteous
ordinances is everlasting".
Now, we know that
there are objections to using internal proofs of
a document's authenticity.
But think about it for a
minute. By having 40 different authors over a
span of 1500 years write the inspired book, by
establishing "tons" of fulfilled
prophecy, by sending His only begotten Son, God
has gone to a lot of trouble to communicate His
plan to mankind.
Having done this, why
shouldn't He also have some of the different
authors declare its authenticity. In fact what
else could He do. If He is God, (and He is!), He
should remind us with written documents that His
word is really from Him. He would be negligent to
do otherwise. What better place to have such
declarations of it's authenticity than to embed
them in the book He is determined to preserve
forever!
And having declared it for
what it is, we should be happy to accept His word
on it!
Reject this proof of
His Word only after you have rejected all the
other things He has done to get your attention!
3.
Multiple Human Authors Wrote Over a Long Time
Span:
If you have ever worked on a
committee, you know how difficult it is for a few
persons to agree on a course of action and then
to record it accurately, without contradicting
each other.
This is a challenge when you
are working in the same room at the same exact
time, conferring together! So, what would be
impossible for men to do on their own, with God's
inspiration, the book is strengthened by having a
large variety of human authors.
Or, if you are a writer,
pick anything you wrote about 5 years ago and
tell me you are satisfied with it today! It is
humbling! Writers keep editors busy and neither
are satisfied.
4.
The Ancient Bible Remains Timely Today:
How about timeliness. What
Doctor is working from a medical manual that is
50 years old. (Not mine, I hope!). As an
engineer, try reading a text book that is 10
years old! Do it for chuckles! 50 years? Totally
obsolete! But the Bible continues to tell
the truth after 3500 years.
5.
The Bible is Free of Contradictions:
You hear it said that the
Bible is riddled with contradictions. I've not
had one real one presented to me. There are
"apparent contradictions", but they
collapse when reviewed in their context.
Dr. Harry Rimmer, for years
had a standing offer of $1000, (this was back in
the 1920's when $1000 was worth something!), for
the person who could make one contradiction stand
up in a court of law! Never claimed!
6.
Archeology Authenticates the Bible:
Certainly, no book has
received more attacks from critics, claiming it
to be full of fables and legends, rather that
being truthful. Liberal theologins and critics
have been most active in archeological digs,
often attempting to discredit the Bible. It is
amusing. They decide to prove the non-existance
of a city or a king etc.that is mentioned in the
Bible. They have declared, because they can't
find evidence of it in secular writings, it never
happened! So, they decide to dig in areas
expected to be fruitful in discrediting the
Biblical account. Not having location data of
their own, they go to the most reliable source to
locate the start of a dig. You guessed
it! They go to the Bible!
Then as they dig away, they,
at their expense, discover proof that the topic
under question actually did exist or occur as
stated in the Bible! The believer has been
comfortable awaiting their findings. The skeptic
becomes quiet about that challenge and goes to
another. Over the past hundred years this has
repeated numerous times! Archeology is
the Bible and the believer's friend!
7.
God, Providentially, Surfaces Proof of Biblical
Manuscripts:
Of course, manuscripts that
were written 3000 years ago, pass away with age.
However, God designated a tribe of Old Testament
priests, in the Nation Israel, giving them the
responsibility to faithfully re-copy the original
Biblical documents. These priests, (and also the
Monks following in the New Testament period),
were extremely careful in this work. When they
detected errors on a finished "page",
they would re-copy an entire new
"page"! They treated this material as
holy, precious writings. They feared for their
souls as they worked! Extreme rigid rules were
followed. As a result, when multiple manuscripts
are compared they prove to be of the highest
quality. And as a result of the continuity of the
Nation of Israel, as Old Testament manuscripts
were produced and handed down, there is little
doubt that they are authentic.
Then with the establishment
of the powerful state church of Rome in 325 A.D,
and later the Greek Orthodox Church, monks from
these churches dedicated their lives copying all
the original writings of the New Testament
preserving them with extreme care. As a result we
have literally thousands of these New Testament
manuscripts. (This compares to the relative few
manuscripts we have of ancient secular writings).
Certainly, God has been at work
preserving our Bible!
The Dead Sea
Scrolls:
In addition, God has
surfaced startling proof of the accuracy of these
manuscripts. In 1947, quite by
"accident", a Bedouin shepard boy was
searching for a lost goat. He threw a stone into
a cave on the west side of the Dead Sea. He was
surprised to hear the sound of shattering
pottery. He found several jars of leather
scrolls, wrapped in linen cloth. Because the jars
were carefully sealed, the scrolls had been
preserved in excellant condition for nearly 1900
years. They were placed there in A.D. 86. The
Isaiah Text, of these, was determined to have
been written B.C. 125. Isaiah lived between 740
and 681 B.C.
The Dead Sea Scrolls are
proving that our manuscripts have been copied and
preserved with remarkable accurracy. The 53
chapter of Isiah, for instance, of the Dead Sea
Scrolls, compares with near perfection to the
oldest manuscript of Isaiah 53, that we had
before this discovery. This manuscript is dated
916 B.C. So, with a time gap of 1000 years,
during which many copies of the text were made
and passed along, the first and the last ones in
the gap compare with near perfection.
The scrolls are made up of
40,000 fragments. From these more than 500 books
have been reconstructed. Dedicated scholars are
eagerly analysing and studying them.
This data,
regarding the Dead Sea Scrolls has been drawn
from "Evidence That Demands a Verdict",
pp 59-60 Authored bt Josh McDowell, Published by
Campus Crusade for Chtist International.
8.
The Translation Process Insures Accurracy:
The manuscripts are written
in the original languages of Hebrew and Greek.
Translations into Latin, German and English
developed during the "Dark Ages". With
the advent of the printing press, literally
dozens of translations have surfaced. It is
commonly claimed that with so many translations
there can be no assurance that we have a valid
book in hand. (This conclusion comes from the
erroneus conclusion that each translation
depended for it's source the previous
translation. If that were the case, one would
expect errors to develop as translations were
built from each other. However this is not how
they were built).
All serious translations go
directly back to the original Hebrew and/or Greek
language manuscripts for their source.The
scholars doing the translation work, weither
liberal or conservative of persuasion, realize
that their work will be closely scrutinized and
therefore they are careful to avoid injecting
personal bias in their work. (There is one common
exception; The Jehovah Witnesses have their own
version which contains several deliberate
"twistings" to support their doctrine
denying the diety of Jesus).
There are several
"paraphrase" versions that are not
considered "translations" since they
have openly re-phrased the English text to read
as fluently as possible, while retaining the
original meaning. The most popular of these is
'The Living Bible", by Tyndale House
Publishers. I personally have had a copy for
years, that I cherish, having spent considerable
time in it. Certainly, it attenpts to be faithful
to the English texts and clearly carries forward
the essential truths of Christianity, while
making it an "easier" read.
9.
The Divine Preservation of the Bible:
No book has been under
attack like the Bible! Kings and rulers from
Roman times to Communist dominated countries
today, have attempted to totally destroy it. It
is prohibited in much of the Muslim world and
Muslim converts to Christianity frequently give
their lives for their belief and possession of
it. Some athiests have such a hatred for it that
they go to great lengths to destroy it.
Voltaire, the noted French
infidel who died in 1778, said that in one
hundred years from his time Christianity would be
swept from existance and passed into history - -
- only 50 years after his death, the Geneva Bible
Society used his press and house to produce
stacks of Bibles!
(In the small town where my
children grew up, Silverton Oregon, the
management of the large lumber mill located there
in the early days, wanted their children to be
"spared the Bible". (Remember it was a
school text book in those days!) They founded
what was locally called, "The Infidel's
School". The management and the lumber mill
have passed away and a Catholic Church sits on
the site of that failed school!)
Translators have given their
lives for it.
Yet, for all this the Bible
is the most widely published book, a best seller
every year. Teams of Missionaries are all around
the world translating it into tribal languages.
It is loved by Christians and respected by many
Non-christians as they recall their heritage.
Many discover their Saviour
and grasp eternal life simply by reading it. The
Gideon Society regularly report such
"victories" as people stumble across
the Bible in a hotel drawer. Convicts too find
eternal life in prison cells by reading the book!
Gideons furnish millions of Bibles, without
charge, worldwide, each year.
10.
Finally, The Resurrected Christ Authenticates The
Bible:
I've saved the best
till last! All the above demonstrates
that the Bible is a remarkable book. The Almighty
God has used the previous 9 features to assure us
that He means business with His Book! Now since
we are dealing with Almighty God, it is foolish
to think that He is limited in His powers and
abilities. So, a thinking person, having gotten
this far, should be able to grasp that Almighty
God can, has, and does work miracles when He
desires to.
His greatest miracle was not
"parting the Red Sea", "walking on
water", "feeding the 5000",
"raising Lazarus from the dead" or any
of the dozens and dozens recorded in His Bible.
God's greatest
miracle was the resurrection of His Son, Jesus
Christ from the grave! For Jesus'
resurrection, acomplished the hardest assignment
that God has placed upon Himself. The hardest,
the worst and yet the best assignment of the
whole universe!
For, you see, God, the
Father and Holy Spirit and Jesus the Son agreed
in eternity past that Jesus would take ALL
the sins of the whole world, (from the
beginning of time until the New Heaven and New
Earth of Revelation chapter 21-22), upon Himself,
as He suffered, bled and died on the cross.
When He rose from the grave,
that whole load of sin, (sin which He, God, could
not even look upon), was dealt with. And when you
and I accept His free gift of salvation and
believe in Jesus, trust Him, realizing that He
loves you enough to do that for you or me, our
sin is completely paid for, forgiven and removed.
So, as we aknowledge Him as
our Lord and Saviour we will never face Him as
our Judge. He is our Saviour! It's a choice! We
are Heaven bound! Those who choose to reject His
free gift of salvation will face Him as their
judge and are Hell bound!
But how does that
also authenticate the Bible? Well, the
unbeliever and skeptic have a few specific Bible
accounts they consider ARE real faith
"killers". You know them: Noah and the
ark, Jonah and the big fish and the destruction
of Sodom and Gomorrah. These are the biggies! The
skeptic thinks he has us on these for sure! They
have to be fables. So, all the rest of the Bible
that they don't want to deal with or believe can
also be relegated to myth and fiction.
However, Jesus, in
His teaching, deliberately and carefully
authenticated each of these, referring
to them as the historical events they truly are!
Since the Resurrected Christ accepts these I can
too! Easily!
Well, I hope this
gives you the assurance that God has furnished
valid, reliable documentation of His
"opinions". And, I hope that you are
now interested in His opinions rather than the
conglomeration of opinions held by men. Of
course, it's logical that, God being God, His
opinion will over-rule all other opinions.
Naturally, too, you would expect His opinion to
reflect certainty and precision.
Now, here is the "heart"
of God's plan (His opinion!), for you! He stated
it shortly before He left the planet, ascending
to Heaven: Then Jesus said, "I
am the way, and the truth and the life; no one
comes to the Father but through Me".
John 14:6. When you have this clear
statement from God, settled in your mind and
agree with Him, it becomes "easy" to
discard all other "opinions" and trust
God's!
Click here to return to
the Index
Chapter
4. We Get to Choose to Agree with God
If you "skimmed
by" the question I've posed a couple times
before, here it is again for your consideration:
Here's the question, for you
to address; "If what you believe is
wrong, would you want to know it?" Yes
or No! If your answer is "Yes", please
review the following brief steps to be in a
position to choose
God's salvation, as seen in the Bible, and have
your eternal destiny to be, Heaven rather than
Hell! And you can also have the best life, here
on Planet Earth, in the meantime!
What one believes is
"wrong" only if it opposes God's
belief. It is not "wrong"
because it differs from my belief or any other
person's belief. For, you see, I could be wrong
too!
So, you need to check the
"wrongness" of your belief against what
God believes. At this point, you would be smart
to ask, "How can I know what God
believes?"
Well, you've read this far
and received much evidence that the Bible tells
us accurrately what God believes. You may agree
with that, but be thinking, "The Bible is
such a big book. Do I have to "master"
all of it to know what God believes?" Good
Question!
No one completely
"masters" the Bible! Neither would one
know all that God believes if they did master it!
Think on it a bit - - God is all knowing! He
knows all about the stars of the heavens and He
knows all about the tiny microbes that are a part
of the fruit fly! But, you can know what He
believes about your eternal destiny, which is the
most important thing in the whole universe as far
as you are concerned!
You may also be thinking,
"How will I know when the Bible is dealing
with the answer to my eternal destiny? Will I
need someone to interpert the meaning of those
sections pretaining to my eternal destiny? If so,
how will I know if I'm getting the correct
interpertation?" More good
questions!
Click here to return to
the Index
Chapter
5. God Has Made His Most Important Opinion Very
Clear!
Happily, while some or even
much of the Bible may seem to be difficult to
understand, God in His wisdom has made the
sections that tell what He thinks about
your eternal destiny fairly straight forward, and
they don't really need interperting by experts!
They are passages
that you can understand. You simply accept or
reject them. The theme of your eternal
destiny is found throughout the Bible, and by
simply listing passages that support the theme,
you can be looking at and progressively coming
into agreement with God's opinion on the subject.
So, I'm simply going
to show these passages to you, one at a
time, in a reasonable order, suggesting that when
you have seriously reviewed them, you will know
what God's opinion is and be in
a position to agree with Him:
As I list them, I'll furnish
an introductory phrase or statement:
1. Man is sinful,
therefore, is at odds with the Holy God.
Romans 3:23a, "For all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God-
-" Habukkuk 1:13, "Thine
(God's) eyes are too pure to approve evil"
2. God's holiness
requires sin to be "paid for".
Romans 6:23a, "For
the wages of sin is death -"
3. Non of us can
save ourselves or others. Psalm 49:7a "No man can by
any means redeem his brother". We are
helpless.
4. But God loves us
and CAN save us. John 3:16 "For God so
loved the world, that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whoever believes in Him should not
perish but have eternal life".John 5:24
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he that hears
My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has
eternal life, and does not come into judgment,
but is passed out of death into life".
5. It is your faith,
(belief, trust), in Jesus, not your works that
saves you. Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace
you are saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a
result of works, that no one should boast".
You cannot work for a gift! It's a gift!
You either receive it or reject it!
6. You simply
receive and believe in Him. John 1:12 "But as many as
received Him, to them He gave the right to become
children of God, even to those who believe in His
name".
7. Salvation,
(eternal life), is God's gift to you! Romans
6:23b "-
-but the free gift of God is eternal life in
Christ Jesus".
8. We must be honest
with God regarding our sin. We must
aknowledge our sin and repent of, (turn away
from), our sin. Proverbs 28:13 "He who conceals
his transgressions will not prosper, but he who
confesses and forsakes them will find
compassion". 1st John 1:9, "If we
confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness".
9. Jesus is asking
you to receive Him. Revelation 3:20, "Behold, I stand
at the door and knock; if any one hears My voice
and opens the door, I will come in to him, and
will dine with him, and he with Me".
As we said earlier,
here is the "key" to God's opinion:
John 14:6 Jesus
said to him, "I am the way, and the truth
and the life; no one comes to the Father, but
through Me".
10. When we receive
a gift, it is appropriate to thank the giver - -
here is a simple prayer you can pray to thank Him
and confirm that you are in total agreement with
Him regarding your eternal destiny. Praying is
simple "talking to God". He knows your
thoughts, so when you are in agreement with Him,
it helps to confirm your decision to speak aloud
to Him. You can say something like this,:
"Lord Jesus, I need
You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my
sins. I open the door of my life and receive You
as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my
sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of
my life and make me the kind of person You want
me to be."
Now, don't you agree that
these 10 points are very clear, not
needing interpertation. They simply
demand acceptance or rejection? When you
receive Him, you make the greatest
"trade" of the universe! He
takes your sin and gives you His righteousness!
2nd Corinthians 5:21 "He made Him who
knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we
might become the righteoisness of God in
Him".
And, all your sins
are gone! Our past, present and future sins. All
gone! Psalm 102:1,
3, 11 and 12, "Bless
the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me,
bless His holy name - - - who pardons all your
iniquities - - For high as the heavens are above
the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward
those whofear Him. As far as the east is from the
west, so far has He removed our transgressions
from us."
Click here to return to
the Index
Chapter 6. Conclusion, It is
Your Choice!
So, it is your
choice! Make the wise choice, accepting
His free gift, having your eternal destiny with
Him in heaven. Or foolishly, reject His
gift and have an eternity away from Him
under His wrath. Think about it! Consider
the folly of rejecting the GREATEST GIFT of all
the universe! John 3:36 "He who believes
in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not
obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of
God abides on him".
And when you are serious
with God, you can know for certain that you have
heaven as your eternal destiny!
Read my written
contract from God! It can be yours too! 1st John 5:11-13 "And the witness
is this, that God has given us eternal life, and
this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has
the life; he who does not have the Son of God
does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe
in the name of the Son of God, in order that you
may know that you have
eternal life."
This passage, like all the
ones you've been reading, is crystal clear. There
are just two kinds of people, having two
different destinies. Having real life
now and an eternity in Heaven with God depends
upon your Choice!
Incidentally, most
people make the wrong choice! Jesus
said, in Matthew 7:13-14, "Enter
at the narrow gate; for the gate is wide, and the
way is broad that leads to destruction, and many
are those who enter by it. For the gate
is small and the way is narrow that leads to
life, and few are those who find it". Surely,you
should want to agree with God's opinion and enter
through the narrow gate!
Again,
recall that Jesus said, "I am
the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to
the Father but through Me". John
14.6
Our
great hope! The Christain's "hope" is the
sure return of Jesus Christ! "Hope" in
the Bible is not as we currently use it. We say,
"we hope it will not rain" etc. But in
Scripture it is used as a certainty. Yes, He is
returning! There are several promises in the
Bible that Jesus is coming back to gather the
Christains, living at that time, to go to Heaven
with Him, without seeing death. As a result,
Christians have always had the expextation that
they might be in that particular generation. Paul
speaks of this in 1st Thess. 4:13-18, He
concludes in v17, saying, "Then
we who are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord
in the air, and thus we shall ever be with the
Lord".
This
return of Jesus Christ to gather the belivers, of
that particular generation, is the next
thing on His agenda. We can't know the
exact time this will happen, but we can know it
is next and probably soon! We are to be ready!
This gathering
is known as "the rapture of the
church". This great event will introduce all
He has planned to judge the world in just 7 years
and then bring about His own righteous rule, to
last 1000 years. Then, finally, He will deal with
Satan and evil with total success, creating a New
Heaven and New Earth! Clues to all this are
scattered throughout the Bible. Jesus gave much
of the detail in the close of His ministry here
on earth. Then all this is spelled out with
considerable detail in the last book of the
Bible, The Revelation of John.
So, you can have eternal
life now and know that you have it - - - or - - -
you can go with the crowd, possibly saying or
thinking something like, "Oh, What the Hell!" and continue on, simply
clinging to your own opinion, favoring
your opinion over God's.
Click here to return to
the Index
Duane Gilchrist, ablesoftex@comcast.net
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