St. John Studies

During a political season a few years ago, I was having a discussion with one of my best friends. A man that was running for mayor in his community was considered “rich” and that subject was brought up repeatedly in the news media. Reporters questioned the man’s ability to speak for the common man since he had so much money.

I will never forget what my friend said when I questioned him about this criticism: “God does not say that we must be poor to follow Him.”

That is true.

Many misquote the Bible when they say “money is the root of all evil.” The correct reference is from Paul in 1 Timothy 6:10 when he says “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

Notice the omission of “for the love of” in the misquoted “money is the root of all evil.”

I bring this up because Pastor John Bevere uses the story of the rich young ruler to make a point in the book of Mark. Bevere really drills into this scripture to mine as much meaning from it as possible. In the process, his focus is not on money as much as lifestyle. He quips that today’s rich young ruler would be “getting out of his Rolls-Royce chariot, wearing an Armani cloak, sporting a Rolex sundial. Several personal assistants would follow him as he saunters up to Jesus.”

That’s not how I read Mark. The rich young ruler is going down the road and runs up to Jesus, kneeling before him asking “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life.” Bevere said in all his years of ministry he has never had a seeker run up to him and kneel and ask that question, yet that was the attitude of this rich young man. I am not sure that the young ruler was expecting what he got from Jesus.

Jesus responds “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is God” [Mark 10:18].

The young man was possibly trying to curry favor; maybe that is why he called Jesus “Good Teacher.”

But his flattery did not affect Jesus. He was poised to tell the young ruler the truth.

Jesus quizzed him on the last six commandments. The young ruler said “I have kept all those commandments since my youth.” Jesus saved the first four, especially the one about other gods or idols before almighty God. Jesus discerned that this young man would have trouble with that one so he “cut to the chase.”

“One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up your cross, and follow me” [Mark 10:21].

Jesus did not do this in a hateful way; he looked at him, “loved him” and then said what he said. He loved this young man enough to tell him the truth, which was “your money will cause you to not be obedient to Me or obedient to my Father”.

It was the “love of money” that would get in the way of his love for God and Jesus knew it.

What is the point? The young ruler had a passion for following Jesus; he just did not have the readiness of heart and mind to obey Jesus, no matter the cost. The young ruler must have known the truth also because here is how he responded: “at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property” [Mark 10:22].

Like my friend said about the politician running for mayor in his community. God does not say that we must be poor to follow Him. But if God asks that we part ways with our possessions, what will we say? What is your stumbling block? Sports? Shopping? Education? Food? Power? Gossip?

Too often today when we are confronted with the truth, we compartmentalize it. We may say amen to the preacher who reminds us that we may have other gods and idols before almighty God. That sermon may not suit us so we will disregard it. We will put that in a compartment and we will not let it get us upset.

Jesus does not do that to the rich young ruler. He speaks truth and the young man responds like most of us would respond “he was saddened, and he went away grieving…”

Human relationships are our context. They have to be; they are all we know. I can hear my wife now; “I have a relationship with our kitty cats.” That is not the same as a relationship with another human. The reason I bring this up is that one of the most common sentences a new Christian will hear as they make their faith commitment is “you are starting your relationship with God.”

Naturally, we see the word relationship through human lens.

In relationships we think of sharing our deepest thoughts and feelings with another. We think of spending time with another. We think of being honest. We think of being trustworthy.

But what about a relationship with God?

Often this type of relationship is referred to as a covenant relationship and even though that term is tossed around a lot, what does it mean? “A covenant is a formal alliance or agreement made by God with a religious community or with humanity in general. It is central to the Abrahamic religions and derived from the biblical covenants, notably the Abrahamic covenant.” For the Christian we are under the “new covenant” which means “a new relationship between God and humans mediated by Jesus which necessarily includes all people, both Jews and Gentiles, upon sincere declaration that one believes in Jesus Christ as Lord and God.”*

This may sound a bit easy?

Just declare that you believe in Jesus and that is it. You probably will do this in church which means that you will go to the altar. If you are a brand new convert, you may be baptized.

You are saved, all your sins are wiped away and you are on the road to a “new relationship with Jesus Christ.”

Many say that is it. It stops right there, but does it? Does Jesus really require more?

Yes He does.

For some, they think like John Bevere** as he writes about human relationships: we “know it would be the right thing to do, and on some level, [we] desire it, but the reality is [we are too attracted to our lifestyle]. It is one thing to desire [a relationship with God]; it’s another thing to actually do [what God wants us to do]” [brackets indicate my editing]. . . . “To enter a covenant relationship with the most wonderful Person in the universe, you have to give yourself fully to Him, which includes all aspects of His leadership” [Bevere, 61].

Our churches are probably full of people who don’t know that Jesus wants more than just a declaration. Pastors will quickly point to several areas of Christian growth in the convert who wants more. One sign is a determination to read the Word of God. There are a thousand of reasons to not read the Bible but a growing Christian will find the time to do it and the reading will be a serious reading. Often a reader will pray for enlightenment about The Word because they know they are in the presence of God when they open the Book. Another indicator is the growing ability to forgive others and understand others and their conditions. Judgement decreases and empathy and love for others increases. Faith living is common among growing Christians. Times get tough and when they do, growing Christians can stand on their faith and trust God to get them through the hard times. Worldly temptations are easier to deal with because the growing Christian can dodge the traps of this world. Satan is all over the place; in the car we think we just have to have, the young woman or man we want to lust after when we are already committed in marriage or the food we overeat when we are really full and don’t need any more. You know the list of sins can be endless and we live in world that lures us to sin. The growing Christian has an honest concern for the spiritual welfare of others. When an opportunity arises, the growing Christian will talk about God [plant a seed]. They will allow God to work through them to grow His Kingdom.

In short, the growing Christian has a willingness to obey God.

They know the altar call is not the end.

They know that baptism is just the beginning.

God expects more of us and they know it. Bevere says that the church may be taking in converts under false pretenses. There is very little talk of what happens after the initial commitment. People don’t want to hear about changes to their lifestyle but that is what is called for in the Christian life. The message is “you are saved, your sins have been forgiven and you are on the road to heaven!” That my friends is a recipe for a stagnant Christian life.

What many think is that between the declaration of our love for Jesus and going to heaven, nothing is required.

We certainly do look through a human lens when we hear the word relationship, but when you go to any couple who has a long-term relationship and ask them what has allowed them to be committed to each other for so long, you won’t hear them say “nothing is required.”

They will probably say something like they have worked hard to make their relationship last.

With our relationship with God, it is work well worth it…

*definitions from Wikipedia
**author of Good or God?

“The golden rule of understanding spiritually is not intellect, but obedience”. (Oswald Chambers)

Like many Christian books, Good or God! has its share of what I call stories. It is just a way to catch attention and keep the reader interested and involved. Pastor Bevere could just have a theological discussion and take on the role of an apologist* but he chooses to use illustrations to make his point.

He begins Chapter 5 with the story of a young man who is proposing to a simply beautiful young woman, the type of woman who can do it all, except one thing: she admits that she can’t be totally faithful to him. She says that one day a week she would like to spend time with other boyfriends [the young man says NO!]. Then she bargains down for spending time with other boyfriends on one day a year, and after a resounding NO from the young man, she says “how about 20 minutes a year with another boyfriend?” The young man can’t believe his ears and after his last no she says “I just have to be honest; I think you are asking too much. I want to enjoy a full life.” They decide to go their separate ways.

In the context of this book, you know what this story means. Bevere is asking the reader how willing are you to give up your life to follow Jesus? Put yourselves in the shoes of the young man who wants the young woman dedicated only to him.

We are back to the “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross” scripture from Mark that I wrote about in a previous posts.

Pastor Bevere won’t let it go: God doesn’t want part of us. He wants all of us.

In Ephesians 5: 31-32 Paul writes about the marriage relationship [appropriate with our opening story]. “A man leaves his father and mother to get married, and he becomes like one person with his wife. This is a great mystery, but I understand it to mean Christ and His church.” This commitment really is meant to illustrate the relationship we are supposed to have with Jesus.

Like the young man in the story, no one would want to begin a relationship with a woman knowing she was going to violate the marriage covenant with other men.

Yet this type of relationship happens a lot among Christians and their relationship with God.

We like our lifestyle so much we can’t give our lives to God. God wants a relationship with us, but He has demands that must be met. We have to obey Him.

Many of us want to be saved, we want to go to heaven but we don’t want it enough to change. Again Pastor Bevere includes a story about a young man who has it all and he wants to have a relationship with Jesus but he just can’t commit. He says to Pastor Bevere “I know there is a price to pay. I know that you have to give Jesus your life and submit to Him, and I’m not willing to give up my lifestyle.”

At least he is honest.

Too often we are not honest about our desire to be in this world. It may be extreme but when the young man who is honest reports to Pastor Bevere about another convert’s behavior, the other person’s behavior may just be too typical. He says that another young man has talked to many people about being a born again Christian but behind the scenes he is far from leading a disciplined life. He is a frequent drug user and has a “loose” sexual attitude [let’s leave it at that].

Being honest is better than being a hypocrite; the honest young man says “I’d rather enjoy my life…and the accompanying perks than put on a façade.”

This is hard news for many of us Christians but it is right in line with James 4:4: “You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.”

You may have seen this coming; Pastor Bevere won’t let it go. When people say I am born again but don’t change their lives to follow God, are they really a convert to Christianity?

Pastor Bevere won’t let it go…

In Matthew 7, Jesus declares “Depart from Me, I never knew you.”

Are they really a convert to Christianity?

You know the truth and it is a hard truth: the answer is no.

*apologists defend the faith…

In my adult Sunday school class yesterday, we had a pretty lively discussion of following the commandments and laws along with the ideas of legalism and grace. These ideas are difficult for Christians to parse out. Many strict religious laws can be off-putting and can lead to self-righteousness, especially man-made laws. Yet sin is an ever-present factor in life and we all need to repent of our sins. We depend on forgiveness and grace to feel that we have moved toward some sense of absolution. None of us can claim perfection. We all have that natural bent toward sinning [thanks to Adam and Eve].

We have discussed in previous posts on this blog our need for a Savior and even more, our need for a Lord.

But when we go beyond needing a Savior and admit that we need a Lord, Pastor John Bevere says we have to give up our will. Admitting that we need a Lord means that God begins to control us.

Bevere quotes Tim Keller, pastor, theologian and apologist who says “if you really have God in your life, you have to give up your own will, and that shows us the difference between someone who actually is trying to use God [to get to heaven] and someone who is trying to serve God.”

We did not discuss it much in class yesterday but the subject of “grace abuse” came up, the tendency we have to justify our sins with the idea that “Oh well, God will extend grace to me. He will forgive my sin” and then what do we do–we sin again. God never intended grace to be a license to sin; He wanted it to be a way to overcome sin.

In the Old Testament, the Israelites tried unsuccessfully to follow the strict guidelines that God provided. They failed over and over again. We needed Jesus to come and model for us how to operate as sinners in this imperfect world. God did not change between the Old and New Testaments. The same God who gave the law also gave us Jesus. His grace was demonstrated through the Law by providing the sacrificial system to cover sin. Jesus said “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to reveal them” [Matthew 5:17].

Here is the catch.

If we declare a love for the Lord, we must live as if He is our Lord. James says “Show me how anyone can have faith without actions. I will show you my faith by my actions” [James 2:18]. We can’t cherry pick the way we want to live. The Lord tells us what He expects of us.

If we get selective, we may be practicing “grace abuse.”

“When we obey God, we are sure that we know Him. But if we claim to know Him and don’t obey Him, we are lying and the truth isn’t in our hearts” [1 John 2:3-4].

As Pastor Bevere concludes Chapter 4, he summarizes his thoughts about the “foundation” of Christian good [remember his book’s title is Good or God]. God is clear. Jesus is clear. We are to deny ourselves, we are to take up our cross, we are to follow Him. He is our Lord. We need to be obedient to His words. He began his book with an explication of the Garden of Eden, the idea that Adam and Eve evaluated their life according to the tree of good and evil [the wrong tree]. They took the serpent’s words as more truthful that God’s.

“It’s sobering to think that the same folly still repeats itself, from the garden to the present day. It takes on a different form, but it’s the same root. Again it comes down to this: do we think we know best about how to live, or do we believe that God knows best” [Bevere, 58].

If we don’t get this straight, if we don’t have a strong foundation, there may come a day when we may have words similar to those Jesus spoke in Matthew “And then I declare to them,, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” [7:23].

Wow, “I never knew you”… Words I don’t want to hear.

Mark 8: 34-35 “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.”

Well Mark 8 does not say: Whoever would like to come after Me, may deny himself if he wants to, may take up his cross if that is ok. That passage about losing your life for Jesus and that loss is what will save your life is pretty hardcore. Could we please take a vote on that????

John Bevere, in his book Good or God?, has written some difficult pages in Chapter 4, in a little section of his book entitled “Deny Yourself.”

I usually try to post every other day but this section is so basic to his message and it is so difficult to write about that I have had to take extra time to think about today’s post. It may offend some readers but this is not a democracy…or is it?

It is.

At least our world in America is supposed to be a democracy.

Let’s stop and highlight a word in the previous sentence.

World.

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But My kingdom is not from the world” [John 18: 36].

Then Bevere says this “I’ve discovered this [commitment to God’s kingdom] is a difficult concept for westerners to grasp. I believe the reason for this is that we are a people trying to understand Kingdom principles with a democratic mindset.”

What does he mean?

When Jesus says you have to deny your worldly desires to be a true follower, that is what He means.

Take up your cross; no ifs, ands or buts. You cannot partially take up your cross or take it up and then put it down when it gets too heavy.

You have to lose your life to follow Jesus, meaning that you do not have to literally lose your life but you have to lose the trappings of the life you lead.

You see, our Lord is a dictator, a benevolent dictator, but a dictator none the less.

And democracy is a government by the people, a government in which the voting public has the power. We elect people who are supposed to exercise power at the highest level on our behalf. They are our “elected agents.”

If we don’t like something, what do we do? We can discuss it and try to change it. You know we have “inalienable” rights and a right to express our beliefs [our freedom of speech].

Jesus says in His Father’s Kingdom, we cannot serve two masters. You have to choose, either my Kingdom or your world. When our earthly desires begin to direct us and the Word of God says otherwise, what are we going to do? Being independent and putting it to a vote does not work in God’s Kingdom.

In Luke 6:46, Jesus says “Why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say.” I think what Luke is saying is why don’t we refer to Jesus as the great teacher, the great ideas person or the guy with the good suggestions if we choose to not follow His directions.

We are human and capable of great sin born of the desire to be in the driver’s seat, deciding what is best for our lives. Too often we find ourselves just mouthing the words of the believer but we don’t really want to change. We don’t want to follow new directives, thank you very much.

Bevere says “If we carry our democratic mindset into our walk with God, we’ll have nothing more than a make believe relationship [with God]”. He comments further: “This form of government [democracy] has been successful in the United States because it’s a system designed for mortal people living in a pluralistic society” [51].

People who are not believers struggle with this Kingdom of God concept and the idea that Christians are not of this world. Christians struggle with the idea that God demands we live by His rules and not the rules of this world.

Yes, when Jesus says deny yourself, that is what He means.

When He says take up your cross, he means take up your cross.

When He says lose the ways of this world [lose your life], He means lose your life.

For the true believer, this world is not our true home. It never will be.

The good news, when you lose your life, pay attention to the last part of Mark above…

You save it…

Teachable moments…

Times when the mind is receptive and the information is presented in a way that makes perfect sense…

A teachable moment is also defined as an unplanned opportunity that arises where a learner has an ideal chance to gain insight. It is not something that you can plan for; rather, it is a fleeting opportunity that must be sensed and seized by the learner and the teacher.

In John Bevere’s Chapter 4, he uses a story about “your family.” It seems “your family” is being imprisoned on an island. They are being threatened with death because an evil lord is in control of the island and he insists on causing total corruption and debauchery, but a good king has come to defeat the evil lord and he is offering an escape from the prison cell that holds all of your family.

All of your family can now escape prison but there is a catch.

When everyone leaves their cell, they must submit to the good king’s lordship. They must be one of the good king’s subjects and live by the laws of his country.

Sounds like a good deal huh?

It’s a choice.

Life is full of choices and this choice means you must submit.

Wow, submit! That is a hard word for many people. They are proud. They have things they want to do. They have their own desires. Yet submission is defined as the action or fact of accepting or yielding to a superior force or to the will or authority of another person [of course in this instance, God].

The good king does not want to make his “new subjects” submit. That would be merely substituting one system of tyranny for another. The proper thing to do is to offer a free-will choice. If you choose to go with the new king, you must also choose to submit.

Bevere points out that many pastors don’t like to use the word submit in their sermons. The connotation is so negative for folks who are new seekers for God. In the story, the new king could be seen as a “savior” and that is also a preferred common term used by pastors: “All you have to do is confess Jesus as your Savior,” “Why don’t you make Jesus your Savior today?” or prayer that starts “Jesus come into my heart and save me today.”

Savior sounds much friendlier than Lord. Lord denotes ruler, one who is in control, in the case of our God, he is a benevolent dictator. If you follow God, “We must submit to His lordship, ownership and reign….we are confident of His perfect leadership, character and love and that He knows what is best.” If you choose to follow God, you are expected to adhere to certain standards.

In short, you must submit.

Bevere wonders if we are being truthful to people who seek to join the church: “have we abbreviated and edited the true salvation message to come up with one that sounds good and appeals to the desire of seekers? Are we feeding from the tree of our own evaluation?”

Today’s church is shrinking: when you look at the recent Pew Research Center data, the picture is not good [http://www.pewforum.org/2015/11/03/u-s-public-becoming-less-religious/]. Maybe church leaders are so desperate that they are doing anything to get people in the pews. In the process of selling the church, are they being truthful?
Getting out of that cell is still a good deal. Yes, some may say that it will hamper their lifestyle but what is the alternative?

But wait, maybe some would like to be in the cell. In the recent movie “God’s Not Dead”, there is a scene where Dean Cain’s character is talking to his mother who has dementia. He says that he has never followed the Lord and look what it has gotten him: a “perfect life.” He says to his mom, “You have always believed in the Lord and have always been nice and look what you have—dementia.” His mother just listens and in a brief moment of lucidity she responds that sin is like a comfortable jail cell. You enjoy the environment, everything you need is inside. You could get out anytime but it is so nice inside that many think it is better inside than outside. Then one day, you discover it is too late. The door closes and you cannot get out. You have to live with the consequences of your sin.

Maybe some people would rather stay in their cell rather than submit. Maybe some would rather stay in their cell than have a Lord over their lives.

For some reason that scene has stuck with me. Some say it is the most powerful moment in the movie. For me it surely was. Get out of that cell before it is too late.

My teachable moment.

John Bevere makes a good point about foundations in his book Good or God?

As we build a family home or even look at other people’s homes go up, how excited are we about the construction of a home’s foundation?

We are not. Mostly it begins with footing which looks like concrete poured in a hole in the ground and then plain concrete blocks on top of the footing.

My wife and I have watched thousands of episodes of home renovation on HGTV and when there are foundation problems, it is usually a downer. People don’t want to think about what is going on underneath a house. People get excited when the drywall goes in, the kitchen counters and cabinets are installed, and the walls are painted.

The foundation…not too exciting.

But what would a house be without a strong foundation?

A crumbling mess…

Bevere thinks the same about our foundation as Christians, so he lays it all out for us. He references scripture from Romans that says “No one is righteous—not even one…No one does good, not a single one” [from Romans: 3:10-12].

Who is he writing about, this “one” who is incapable of doing good?

He is talking about you and me: we are slaves to sin.

How could this be?

It all goes back to Adam and Eve. When they disobeyed God, they died to God. They did not die in their physical bodies but their spirit nature died. The bad thing about this for you and me is Adam and Eve’s descendants would all be born with their penchant to sinning. The first evidence of this is Adam’s son who was just like him in “spirit and image.”

Don’t get Pastor Bevere wrong, man and woman are capable of doing good but they are also mightily tempted all the time by a new force, the “king of disobedience” i.e. Satan. When Jesus encountered Satan after His baptism, during His forty days of fasting, Satan tempted Jesus by saying he had the authority to give the world to Jesus. Satan was able to say this because this authority was given to him in the garden when Adam and Eve sinned.

Consequently, God could not come to the world to rescue man because earth had been given to humans. God had to come and rescue man in the form of a man—Jesus Christ. He was born of woman so He was 100 percent man and He was conceived by God making Him 100 percent God.

In other words, Jesus was free of the penchant to sin that all of men are burdened with; He was not a slave to sin. He lived a perfect life on earth. He never committed one disobedient act while He was on earth. He came to rescue us from sin by taking the judgement of every sinful man and woman when He died on the cross. He lived a perfect life before God and after three days He was raised from the dead, sitting at the right hand of God almighty.

He is our Savior but Bevere points out that even more than that, He is our Lord. “The word Savior is found 36 times in the Bible. The word Lord occurs over 7,800 times” [Bevere, 46].

Why is this distinction so important? “Lord declares the position He holds in our life, whereas Savior describes the work He’s done for us. We cannot partake of the benefit of His work unless we come under His position as Lord and King” [Bevere, 46].

We have hope.

We can choose to accept Jesus as our Lord. When we do, our sin nature passes away and a brand new person is born. Don’t be confused, the spirit is what is born anew; our physical bodies are still corrupt and will continue to be corrupt until the day we die. This new life comes entirely through the gift of God’s grace and is not associated with our good behavior or our good works. We can’t be good enough or do enough good things to merit this new spirit.

So think of the acceptance of Jesus as our foundation but let’s not react to this like people on HGTV who are dealing with foundations.

Why?

Because this foundation is truly exciting. This is the most exciting thing that will ever happen to you in your life.

Watching a foundation being constructed for a new home?

Not too exciting.

Asking Jesus to come into your life.

Well, words cannot describe the feeling…

I guess we all go through phases and I have been in a phase this year, actually it is a return phase.

When I was recently confined to a chair for three months of recuperation, I used to day-dream about all the things I wanted to do if I was ever given a chance. One of those was I wanted to go fishing.

I used to fish many years ago but I fell out of love with it I guess for about twenty years.

I decided I need to do it again, and have done it; in fact, four times in 2017 already.

I remember the first time I went; I was eager to get to the pond. I was so eager I did not heed warnings about how to prepare. I just rushed to the pond bank because I wanted to catch a fish!

That first trip I did catch about fourteen fish but only one was considered big enough to keep so I put all of them back into the pond.

What I did catch however was a tick infestation on my body.

After finding out how many ticks I had, I then recalled all those newspaper articles, television news segments and internet stories about how bad ticks are this year and what to do to keep from getting bit. It seems that last year’s mild winter never did kill them off the way cold weather usually does.

I did not heed the warnings. I did not prepare for my excursion the way I should. There was a “roadmap” but I ignored it.

John Bevere writes that God provides a roadmap for us in His Word, but do we ignore it in the hustle and bustle of our lives? I am afraid we do. “God looks down from heaven on the entire human race; He looks to see if anyone is truly wise, if anyone seeks God. But no, all have turned away…[Psalms 5:2-3].

You are on a trip over treacherous terrain and Bevere writes: “You’re handed a map that reveals the location of every landmine and sinkhole, as well as clues to look for in avoiding traps, quicksand and poisonous plants. How would you handle this map? Would you stuff it in your backpack with your energy bars and water bottle, but due to the challenges of the trip neglect reading it? Would you consult it only when the opportunity presented itself? Would you view it as casual reading? Would you look it over at the start and then pack it away, confident that you could remember all the information?”

That’s what we do with The Bible.

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip His people” [2 Timothy 3:14].

What should we do with The Bible?

2nd Timothy is pretty clear wouldn’t you say?

Add in this from Deuteronomy 5:32 “You must be careful to obey all the commands of the Lord your God, following His instructions in every detail.”

In case you think this is an Old Testament admonition and we are New Testament people, look in Hebrews “So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it” [Hebrews 2:1].

What Bevere is really saying is that we must “heed” The Word.

Heed is not a word I use every day but it means that we should pay attention to the warning, take notice.

In his book Good or God? he encourages us to think of the Bible as the blue print for our lives. At the end of chapter 3, he is ready for us to move on to building our foundation but we can’t do that without our direction, our guide, our map, our blue print.
I rushed to the pond that day with very little plan other than to throw my line in the pond. I did not think of all the things I needed, certainly I did not consider that I needed tick repellent.

I went to the pond on Monday morning of this week and I was prepared. I sprayed and I was covered up in a proper manner despite the heat. I knew that it would be hot but I also knew that Lyme disease was not on my list of things I wanted to experience.

I heeded the warnings this time.

When I left the pond and went home

No ticks..

“The Bible is not trustworthy; it was written so long ago. It is not relevant for today’s world.”

“Men wrote the Bible and they wrote it for their own purposes. They wanted life to be ruled by men and that ulterior motive negates the value of the Bible.”

“All religions have a spiritual book and Christianity is no different. The Bible is just one of many spiritual books that exist around the world. It is nothing special.”

“The Bible is placed above other spiritual books by Christians; I find that arrogant and offensive.”

“There are all kinds of books that disprove the Bible, take The Divinci Code. When I read that novel, I began to have serious doubts about the Bible.”

There are so many reasons to doubt God’s divine touch on The Bible. Just as there are many reasons to doubt it, there are many reasons to believe it. Pastor John Bevere uses a statistical argument to bolster his case for the divinity of Scripture.*

I am not going to repeat the detailed argument he makes in his book; needless to say it is impressive. Many today find numbers are impressive; that’s probably why he uses them. He points to Biblical prophecies and the statistical probability that they would come true. Chances are they would not…yet they did. One can look at Old Testament prophecies and see that they came true in New Testament Scripture…over a period of 1,500 years in a series of sixty-six books written by forty men on three continents [Africa, Asia and Europe].

Without coordination, you have to ask yourself “How could this happen?”

One thousand five hundred years is a long time for a book to be written, especially when you consider that the unity in The Book is there with no committee assigned to keep all the writers centered on a central theme, yet there is a central theme: “humankind’s sin predicament, the resulting separation from their Creator, their inability to restore relationship with Him and the divine answer of the Messiah” [Bevere, 32].

Using a different approach, one can look at The Bible and how it has been put together. Recently, I was in a group discussion where people questioned the Bible due to its many translations. Inherent in their argument was the idea that fallible human beings took the Bible and recopied it by hand, making many human errors.

There is a problem with that idea. There is evidence that there was amazing accuracy in the copying of the Bible. Let’s take the Old Testament. Someone brought up the idea that we don’t even have the original “Old Testament.” That’s true. All we have are translations but those translations were not constructed in a carefree manner. Take a moment and look in the preface of your Bible translation and if you want to plow through the details of the planning for the construction of your translation; there you will see the serious methods that were used for your translation to be done.

In 1947 the famous Qumran Cave Manuscripts [Dead Sea Scrolls] were discovered. Doubters will still say that those manuscripts are not “The Old Testament.” However, the Qumran manuscripts were very old; they were one thousand years older than the oldest Old Testament manuscript being used in 1947. A miraculous conclusion occurred when Qumran manuscripts were compared to translations being used in 1947. Scholars found 95% accuracy. That does not sound like careless copying to me.

People may wonder why we don’t have more original versions of the Old Testament. The obvious reason is that two or three thousand years is a long time for documents to last. What is amazing is that we have the fragments that we do have and they are so true to Biblical translations that are in use.

The New Testament is another story. That portion of the Bible is not as old as the Old Testament so copies of the New Testament only go back to the time of eyewitness accounts of the times of Jesus. There are so many extant copies of handwritten New Testament manuscripts [5,366 within 100 years of the life of Jesus] that there is less worry about accuracy and much more material to work with. Do we have the actual handwritten copies of the writers of the Gospels and other New Testament authors? No, but we have many different Testaments to compare which can form a baseline for accuracy. Again the serious nature of translation construction can almost guarantee 100% accuracy.

Today, in English alone there are about 900 English versions of the Bible, an overwhelming number when one begins to decide what version to buy.** The version of the Bible I am reading now focuses on the Divine nature of The Book; it is the Amplified Bible. At the end of many verses in the Old Testament there will be brackets which will refer to New Testament connections you can look up. In the New Testament, the same thing occurs. New Testament references have brackets so one can look up the Old Testament connection.

I remember the first time I had the privilege of attending a Disciple Bible Study at my church. I remember how amazed I felt when the Pastor who was leading the study pointed out the prophetic passages of the Old Testament. I was not a very experienced reader of The Bible in those days so this fact “blew me away”, to use a common expression.

Over the years, the evidence for the Divine nature of Scripture has piled up to the point that I have no doubts about the Bible. My proof is based on my personal study of The Book and my experiences as a believer.

When people point to the age of The Bible, criticize it because it was written in patriarchal cultures, or even admit that contemporary literature can raise doubts, I just smile.

If they would just begin to study, all those doubts would begin to slowly go away.

*pp. 33-38 in his book Good or God?

**from The American Bible Society