You Can Know You Have Eternal Life
#651
Man's Search for Inner Peace (65)
Can you trust the Bible for your eternal life?
by Jim Mettenbrink
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A year ago in this series, we considered
whether the Bible was a reliable document, i.e., whether the
Bible we have, has been transmitted to us as originally written,
without edit. We also
considered whether the Bible is credible, i.e., are its contents
true. The historical,
scientific, medical, meteorological, etc., facts set forth are
true and accurate. The
basic question following this evaluation was, How could
the biblical writers have known these facts, which would not
be empirically discovered by mankind up to thousands of years
later? For example
we did not discover the importance of circumcising a boy on the
8th day of life until 1935. Yet
Moses commanded it of Israelites 3300 years earlier. How did he know the 8th day was
medically vital? One
might speculate that previous knowledge was lost. However, there is no evidence to
support that notion.
The evidences we set forth in those
articles indicate knowledge from a source other than man
a supremely knowledgeable being Jehovah, the God of heaven.
The meticulous transmission
of the Bible and accuracy of its contents indicate His direct
involvement and protection of His word. Not
only that, the Bible exclaims it is inspired by God Himself.
What does that mean?
About 40 years ago, during a discussion
about divine inspiration, a man asserted the hymn books we used
were inspired by God. Recently
Bill O'Reilly (Fox News) said he was inspired by God to write
the book, Killing Jesus. Both
misunderstand divine inspiration. The
usual understanding of inspiration in our common vernacular is
like a person sitting by a white water stream, enjoying a slight
breeze on a brilliant blue sky-warm sunny day, with wild flowers
in full bloom, birds singing and deer grazing nearby.
At that moment he is inspired
(motivated) to write a poem about the beauty of nature.
This is radically different
from divine inspiration as set forth in the Bible.
Over 1500 Bible verses declare,
Thus says the Lord, or God said,
etc, which serve as reminders the Bible is God's word.
He alone is the sole source!
However, one passage reveals
the depth of meaning of inspiration All Scripture is given
by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof,
for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man
of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16).
The word inspiration of God in the original New Testament
Greek is literally God breathed.
The meaning is the Bible comes
from the very inner being of God Himself and no one else.
Later, the apostle Peter expounded
the sense of God breathed knowing this first, that
no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for
prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke
as they were moved by the Holy Spirit
(2 Peter 1:20-21). Thus
knowing the Bible is Gods word, directly from Him, why
do folks insist on creating faiths contrary to His clear commands?
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