“Thy word is true from the beginning, and every one of thy righteous judgements endureth forever.” Psalm 119:160
I have recently become aware that there is a growing number of young people partially identifying themselves as Christians, but denying that the Bible should be taken literally. They also hold to the idea that all religions lead to heaven or are at least as valid as Christianity.
My heart breaks for them because—if the Bible isn’t true—then we have no foundation of truth to rely on, or to base our faith on. Everything becomes an opinion—human opinion at that—which has been proven time and time again to be unreliable. It calls into question the claim of Jesus Christ that he is the Son of God and the only one who can bridge the gap between God and man. If we deny who Jesus says He is, then we deny everything and can’t be called Christians at all.
Jesus, on several occasions in Scripture, validated the accuracy of the Bible. There are over 300 prophecies proclaiming when, how, and where the Savior of the world would be born. It is mathematically impossible for all of these prophecies to have been fulfilled outside of the miraculous will of God. If the claims of Jesus are not true, then He was either a liar or a lunatic. If Jesus didn’t sacrifice himself on the cross as the God/man prophesied in the Bible, then we have no hope of life after this life, or help through the challenges of our life on earth.
It has been argued that the Bible is violent and cruel, and that so-called Christians have created wars to spread the gospel. There have been wars for many reasons, but they have all been man-made on the basis of power, greed or misguided ideologies.This is human nature in action and is still in operation today. Many wars have been started to protect a group of persecuted people or to break the yoke of tyranny.
The forces of evil are present—determined to perpetuate man’s inhumanity to man. Also, they promote the lie that we are captains of our own fate and God really didn’t mean what He said in the Bible about obedience.The obedience part, in reality, is a loving father caring enough to lay down boundaries and guidelines to protect His children. He also gave us free will to stay within His protection or wander off to meet a fate that He warns is devastating.
“For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw His majestic splendor with our own eyes when He received honor and glory from God the Father. The voice from the majestic glory of God said to Him, ‘This is My dearly loved Son, who brings Me great joy.’ We ourselves heard that voice from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place—until the day dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines in your hearts. Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.” 2 Peter 1:16-21
By Suzanne Krugh