Christianity Explained Information
Find Christian Unity in Biblical Explanations of the Doctrines That Count!
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or you can determine for yourself what the Bible says by studying it.
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Topics
What Is Christianity Explained Information?What Is Religion and Where Did It Originate?
What Is the Bible, and How Relative Is It to My Life?
What Are Messianic Prophecies?
Who Was Jesus of Nazareth, Really?
Why Are There So Many World Religions?
Why Are There So Many Christian Denominations?
What Is the Law and How Does It Apply to Me?
What's All This About the End of the World and End-time Prophecies?
Isn't the Book of Daniel a Closed Book?
Revelation: How can anyone understand all that symbolism?
Who or What Was Jesus' Mother, Mary?
Didn't Darwin Disprove Creation?
What's the Truth About Faith and Works?
Christian E-mails: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Complete Directory of Articles/Studies
Title Abbreviations for Books of the Bible
Genesis
- Ge
Exodus - Ex
Leviticus - Le
Numbers - Nu
Deuteronomy - De
Joshua - Jos
Judges - Jud
Ruth - Ru
I Samuel - 1sa
II Samuel - 2sa
I Kings - 1ki
II Kings - 2ki
I Chronicles - 1ch
II Chronicles - 2ch
Ezra - Ezr
Nehemiah - Ne
Esther - Es
Job - Job
Psalm - Ps
Proverbs - Pr
Ecclesiastes - Ec
Song of Solomon - So
Isaiah - Isa
Jeremiah - Jer
Lamentations - La
Ezekiel - Eze
Daniel - Da
Hosea - Ho
Joel - Joe
Amos - Am
Obadiah - Ob
Johah - Jon
Micah - Mic
Nahum - Na
Habakuk - Hab
Zephaniah - Zep
Haggai - Hag
Zechariah - Zec
Malachi - Mal
Matthew - Mt
Mark - Mr
Luke - Lu
John - Joh
Acts - Ac
Romans - Ro
I Corinthians - 1co
II Corinthians - 2co
Galatians - Ga
Ephesians - Eph
Philippians - Php
Colossians - Col
I Thessalonians - 1th
II Thessalonians - 2th
I Timothy - 1ti
II Timothy - 2ti
Titus - Tit
Philemon - Phm
Hebrews - Heb
James - Jas
I Peter - 1pe
II Peter - 2pe
I John - 1jo
II John - 2jo
III John - 3jo
Jude - Jude
Revelation - Re
What Is the Bible, and How Relative Is It to My Life?
In light of the recent hubub about Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code, A Novel, it is more important than ever to understand where the Bible came from and why it is relevant to everyone. The DaVinci Code containes proven lies--that's why it's called "A Novel"--about the authenticity of scripture, among other things, but Dan Brown isn't the problem. What really makes explanations necessary is that, when discussing Christian beliefs, people tend to overlook the words "A Novel" and say things like, "Well, The Davinci Code says . . ., and maybe that's true!". In light of statements like those, which reveal how little the average "Christian" knows about scripture and what Christians should believe, I am compelled to explain to others why I believe in Scripture and which Scriptures I believe in. Thus I'll continue to revise this study and others. For more information about Bible critics, click here.
Definition and History
Bi·ble 
(b#ÆbÃl), n.
1. the collection of sacred writings of the Christian religion, comprising the Old and New Testaments.
2. Also called Hebrew Scriptures. the collection of sacred writings of the Jewish religion: known to Christians as the Old Testament.
3. (often l.c.) the sacred writings of any religion.
4. (l.c.) any book, reference work, periodical, etc., accepted as authoritative, informative, or reliable: He regarded that particular bird book as the birdwatchers' bible.
Probably the most enigmatic book of all time, the Christian Bible, known as The Holy Bible or just The Bible, is also the number-one selling book of all times. Through the ages it has sold more copies than any other book ever sold. While books come and go, important books that should be read, none has become so popular that it can out-sell the Bible over its lifetime.
"That's not surprising," you may say. "After all, the Bible is the first book ever printed at the invention of the printing press."
How true! But here's something else to consider: "168,000 new Bibles are sold, given away, or otherwise distributed in the United States PER DAY." [International Bible Society, Society of Gideons, Wycliffe International (emphasis added)] That's NEW Bibles, not second-hand.
What is it that keeps this giant on top of the heap?
That's easy: The hope it offers the world!
Written between 1500 B.C. and 100 A.D., it contains history, both fulfilled and unfulfilled prophecy, poetry, theology, and earnest urgent admonitions (one of which, I would like to add early on, is the repeated warning not to be deceived). It is commonly referred to as the greatest book ever written; however, it is actually a compilation of 66 books: 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New. Of course, by today's standards, many of these would be considered little more than pamphlets or the letters that some of them actually were, not books. A couple are only one page long, depending on the dimensions of the page and the size of the type (grin).
Jesus announced that he was the culmination of the Old Covenant and that his blood would seal (put into effect) a New Covenant that had been prophesied in Jeremiah 31:31-40. Thus, when the New Testament scriptures were written and gathered together (about the fulfillment of past prophecies in Jesus and where the world was headed in the future), the Hebrew writings were labeled the Old Testament and the writings following Christ's resurrection, possibly in Aramaic (the language of Jesus and his disciples) and definitely in Greek (the language of choice between diverse nations of the day), were labeled the New Testament.
Parts of the Jewish Bible
The Old Testament, or Hebrew Scriptures or Jewish Canon of Scripure, also called Tanak, are divided into three parts:
1. The Torah (also known as the Law of Moses, since God gave it to Him and He gave it to the people, or The Penteteuch since it is comprised of the first 5 books of the Bible)
2. The Neblim (or The Prophets, consisting of all the books that contain important prophecies).
3. The Kethubim (The Writings or Hagiographa, consisting of accounts of the returns of the Israelites from various exiles, God's leading in the nation and in personal lives, and the books of wisdom).
The original languages had no chapters, which were introduced in A.D. 1238 by Cardinal Hugo de S. Caro. Interestingly, they also had no punctuation or capital letters as we know them. These were added by translators. After the printing press was invented and the Scriptures were printed (1551), the system of verse notations was added by Robertus Stephanus.
The Validity of the Bible
The Torah, or the Law of Moses, specifically the ten-commandment law, was viewed as the basis for personal behavior or character development for Jews as well as for Christians during the early centuries of Christianity.
While intellectuals like to argue the validity of scripture along the lines of dates when various scriptures were "accepted", the Dead Sea Scrolls have pretty much confirmed that a Jewish canon of Scripture was in place by, at the very latest, the 2nd century B.C. (exposing one of the lies in The Davinci Code). That's at least 200 years before Jesus was born.
Writings were chosen for their value in revealing God to mankind and explaining, though sometimes in a veiled way, how he deals with us and why.
| For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. |
Parts of the New Testament
Three categories of books are contained in the New Testament: 1.) the narratives include the four Gospels and Acts; 2.) the letters include everything else except Revelation; and 3.) the book of Revelation, sometimes called the Apocalypse. They were written in about 50 years, but the earliest list of accepted books in the New Testament (a Canon of Scripture) outside of the Bible itself is from a 387 A.D. Easter letter by Athanasius, a Christian Bishop.According to the Cambridge History of the Bible, G.W.H. Lampe, ed., the list was not created by any committee or leader trying to force the church into a certain mold, but by the body of believers, a concensus of which determined which books they considered to be "canonical" or on par with the Old Testament in importance to those who wanted to be Children of God. Professor F.F. Bruce, in The Books and the Parchments, says that when the Synod of Hippo in 393 A.D. listed the New Testament books, it was not conferring on them authority; it "simply recorded their previously established canonicity." Sounds to me like one more proof that The Davinci Code is all wet.
Some books were discarded from inclusion in the Bible
Books are in existence that were discarded from the Old Testament. They are called the Apocrypha by Christians aware of them. They contain history and wise sayings. A further group of books, called the Pseudoepigrapha, were writings that had been wrongly attributed to people who didn't write them, and contained a little history and a lot of magic--which is expressly forbidden in Scripture.The books excluded from the New Testament--the New Testament Apocrypha--were also excluded on grounds that they were not in agreement with "the law and the Testimony" (Isaiah 8:20). Further, the death, resurrection, and return of Jesus in like manner as he left the earth is the central theme of Christianity, and books that did not center on this were not considered or were excluded. All three groups of books are often advertised by those trying to sell them as "The Lost Books of the Bible".
The books included in the New Testament were selected because they were accepted as being inspired by God and had proven their ability to help humanity and to reveal Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah. Great care was used to include only authors who had known Jesus personally. Paul's writings could be accepted on the basis of his experience with Jesus on the Damascus road, attested to by Ananias, but if that's not good enough for you, they were recommended by one of Jesus' chief disciples, Peter in 2 Peter Chapter 3, while at the same time warning that some of Paul's writings were hard to understand.
Noted New Testament Scholar William Barclay says, "The ring of sublimity is to be found in the new Testament books. They carry their greatness on their faces. They are self evidencing." However, the real test is the conversion of hearts among those who study Scripture with an open, teachable mind.
Bible Translator J.B. Phillips compared the New Testament books with the writings excluded by the early church fathers and stated that he could only "admire their wisdom." He stated that the apocrypha reflected "a world of magic and make believe, of myth and fancy. In the whole task of translating the New Testament, I never for one moment, however provoked and challenged I might be, felt that I was being swept away into a world of spookiness, witchcraft, and magical powers such as abound in the books rejected from the New Testament." In fact, like the rest of us, he was impressed by the persistent, "down-to-earth", earnest faith of the writers.
God is purposeful, and everything he does is for a reason. He doesn't entertain the troops or tickle the ears; he provides for the needs of his people, either physical or spiritual or both. And Christ, in order to be the perfect sacrifice without spot or blemish, could not use his divine power in his own behalf; that is, selfishly. He had to exemplify complete dependence on the Holy Spirit in order for his example to be valid for all humans.That's what the Garden of Gethsemane was all about. We certainly have no spark of divinity that we can use on our own behalf. But we also need to consider that the entire makeup of God's kingdom is sacrificial living for others, not living for self. How can we expect to be happy there if we have not practiced that "lifestyle" here? It would be like being moved from the mountains of Colorado to the Sahara Desert and expecting to be happy.
Essentially the New Testament and Old Testament books came to be accepted in the same manner. Together, the Bible of the apostles and the Bible the apostles wrote came to represent what Christians accept as the written Word of God if for no other reason than the myriad prophecies that have come true.
Though the stories of the books span 4000+ years, Christ, the bringer of salvation, is the unifying factor throughout--first as promise and then as fact. The origin, authority, and genuineness of the Bible are in Christ, the Incarnate Word. If you don't believe in Christ, you won't believe Scripture, and if you don't believe Scripture, you are not a follower of Christ.
Authors of The Bible
Approximately 40 different authors are believed to have written the Bible. These include Moses, who is said to have written Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy; most of the various prophets of Israel, whose Old Testament Books bear their names; King David, who wrote many of the Psalms; his son King Solomon, who wrote most of the Proverbs as well as Ecclesiastes; Jeremiah, who wrote Lamentations; Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, James, and Jude, all of whose books are named after them except Revelation, written by John but proclaimed by him in its title to be the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which would explain why he didn't want to name it after himself; and Paul, who is believed to have written everything else in the New Testament, except that it is unknown whether he wrote Hebrews, and it is believed by many that he did not. We would have to go into textual criticism to understand all this, which I think, after some study, you will agree is unnecessary. (It becomes apparent that who wrote the book isn't as important as whether what is contained therein lines up with or diverges from previous scripture. See Isaiah 8:20)
There are other books, beside Hebrews, whose authors are unknown or uncertain. Those include Joshua, which was possibly written by himself; Judges, which tradition says was written by Samuel; and Ruth, which may have been written by Solomon. Finally, 1st & 2nd Samuel, 1st & 2nd Kings, 1st & 2nd Chronicles, Nehemiah, Esther, and Job are generally listed as having unknown authors.
Why The Bible was Provided
The early pagan philosophers asserted the world’s eternity and self-existence. Others came to believe in "dumb luck", that the atoms just happened to align themselves a certain way and the universe came into being. And then the "big bang" theory showed up, where for no apparent reason, an event (catalyst) they cannot identify (after all, no one living at the time of the development of the theory was there when the big bang supposedly happened) forced the universe into existence. Kind of like an explosion in a warehouse containing all the parts necessary to produce a particular model of car would actually produce one totally put together functioning correctly.
However, their theories on the immortality of the soul, whether ancestor worship, reincarnation, or immediate transportation to heaven or hell upon death, proved the true desires of the human heart--to live forever, whatever it takes.
Based on their various theories, men and women feel they do not have to answer to a higher power. They either are or can become their own gods, or they can work their ways to a blissful existence rather than depending on a higher power. The developers of these theories not only believed in their own wisdom, (what scripture sometimes calls the imaginations of their own hearts), but they enticed others to believe their theories as well. Sinners (and we have all experienced this at one time or another) love their wickedness and hate that the Bible (and real Christianity) reveals sin for what it is. But for those simple beings who are aware of and "hate" their limitations and sinfulness, God provides a solution.
The Christ, the Messiah is the theme of all scripture.
| For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. | |
| For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; | |
| but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, | |
| but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. |
Since "the world by wisdom knew not God,’’ it did its very best to forget him. It did such a good job that, by Noah's day only a family of 8 acknowledged God's soverignty over their lives and were saved. By the time of Abram, there must have been another falling away, because God accounted Abram's willingness to do what His God asked as righteousness, which implies that beforehand, Abram wasn't considered by God to be righteous. Furthermore, God making such a big deal out of Abram's "righteousness by faith", that is, his willingness to actually do what he felt God was telling him to do rather than just saying he believed in God, implies that others weren't righteous either.
God blessed Abram, renamed him Abraham, and told him that through him all nations of the world would be blessed. Through him, the Israelites came into being, and through the Israelites, the Messiah, and through the Messiah, the Christian movement in Judaism.
However, the religion of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel) had been marred in their descendants by their captivity in Egypt. Before their captivity, they had been able to teach their history to each other as a matter of course in the daily lives of overlapping generations. Family storytelling was the entertainment before TVs and videos and CDs.
This is where "the begats" come in handy. Adam was 130 years old when Eve had Seth, and he lived 800 more years during which Adam and Eve had more sons and daughters.
In those 800 years, these generations were born:
After Seth was
born:
800
Enosh was
born:
135 years later
665
Cainan was
born:
90 years later
575
Mahalalel was
born:
70 years later
505
Jared was
born: 65
years later
440
Enoch was
born: 62
years later
378
Methuselah was
born:
65 years later
313
Lamech was
born:
187 years later
126
Noah was
born:
182 years later or
56 years after Adam's death.
So, according to Scripture, even Noah's father had the opportunity to have known Adam. All of the people (each of the above lived hundreds of years after the births of these sons and "begat" other sons and daughters during those years) who were born, let's say, 66 years before Noah, could have heard the story of Adam and Eve's walk with God and their fall from Eden straight "from the horse's mouth". At the very least, no one would lie about it for fear of being found out by a simple verification process with hundreds or thousands of other people. Chances are that was why it took so long for God to decide that "the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (Genesis 6:5) It simply took that long for the vast majority of people to develop a "don't care" attitude and to lose sight of the truths Adam was teaching.
By the time of God's pronouncement to Noah that there would be a flood, Noah was over 500 years old (556 years following Adam's death), and his wife had given birth to 3 sons named Shem, Ham, and Japeth, who had grown up and married. All of them, including the wives of the sons, entered into the ark when Noah was 600 years old (the boys were 100 +/-), and Noah lived another 350 years after the flood. Shem, with whom the "begats" continue, had a son 2 years after the flood and lived 500 years after that.
Shem lived
through the
flood 502
Arphaxad was
born:
2
500
Salah was
born:
36 years later
465
Eber was
born:
30 years later
435
Peleg was
born:
34 years later
401
Reu was
born:
30 years later
371
Serug was
born:
32 years later
339
Nahor was
born:
30 years
later
309
Terah was
born:
29 years later
280
Abram was
born:
70 years later
110
Isaac was
born:
100 years later
60
Jacob and Esau were
born:
60 years later
0
So here's the deal: We're only talking 3 steps from Adam's live testimony to the "captivity" of the "Israelites" in Egypt. That is,
#1. Since there were, by the time he was born, thousands of people alive who once knew Adam and Eve, Noah must have been told by someone the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden and the fall of mankind. Since Adam was still alive just 56 years before Noah's birth, chances are the story was accurate because of all those people still alive who had the opportunity to know Adam personally and to correct any inaccuracies that emerged in the retelling and learning of the story.
#2. Since Noah was still alive when Abram was born, chances are Abram (renamed Abraham by God) was told a fairly accurate version of The Flood as well as a fairly accurate story of Adam and Eve in the Garden and the fall of mankind, else he wouldn't have been as willing to listen to God as he was.
#3. Since Abraham died around the time Jacob was born, there had to have been hundreds of people still around who once knew Abraham. Therefore, chances are good that Jacob (renamed Israel by God) was told a fairly accurate version of the history of his ancestors before him. There is no reason to believe that Israel didn't relate all he knew to his 12 sons.
[Please remember, they didn't have television and radio and books to occupy their time with fiction. Story time every day was the relating of their family history, stories from the creation to the present.]
The arduous, 430-year Egyptian slavery of the Israelites, however, had made the continuous retelling of God's dealings with mankind much more difficult. By the time of the exodus, the precepts of the laws of nature and the laws of God needed to be revived by unclouded light. The Holy Scriptures were thus given to improve and maintain natural religion and to repair where it had decayed and become defective. Man no longer lived long enough to be known by 6 or 7 or 8 generations, so God told Moses to write it down.
Since Moses visited in person with God for a lot longer time than it took to give him the Ten Commandments and the ceremonial and civil laws, it is assumed that Moses got the "straight truth" of Genesis from "the horse's mouth" (No disrespect intended, God. ;^> Please forgive my humor.).
Does the authorship of scripture have any bearing on it's value to us today?
Yes and no.
If scripture is from a "known and trusted" source, it is easier to get people to listen to you when you quote it. At least I hope that you will pay a lot more attention to what's recorded in the Bible than you'll pay to my little Web site!
If a scripture is from an unknown source, however, that does not negate the truth it contains. Just as error can proceed from the mouths of Prophets (De 18:22), so truth can proceed from the mouths of apparent unknowns (Nu 12:6). God speaks through whomever he chooses, whenever he chooses.
The only reason to stick to "authoratative sources" is when you don't know what truth is supposed to be based upon. The Old Testament tells us what truth is supposed to be based upon, so those of us who read the Old Testament can recognize falsehoods when we hear or read them.
Unfortunately, however, if you are unfamiliar with the basis of truth, you have no way of figuring out whether "new ideas and concepts"--even if they come from "authoratative" sources--are actually departures from truth. So you blithely go through life buying what you're told by "knowledgeable, trustworthy sources". You live in constant danger of being deceived because God says you will find him if you search for him "with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13)--not halfheartedly. In fact, that phrase occurs 21 times in scriptures and applies to belief in Jesus as well (Acts 8:37).
Of interest to Christians, of course, is that Jesus and his disciples quoted OT Scripture. In fact, until the disciples' books were written, over the 50 years following the crucifixion of Christ, there was no New Testament. If the OT scriptures were good enough for Jesus, they should be good enough for us as well! The NT writings--with the exception of Hebrews--were made to spread the Gospel beyond Israel, to share with people who had no background in Judaism. Their focus was on the love of God evident in what he has done for us in giving his son, and their lives were changed by their reciprocal love for God.
In our day, however, dealing with so many religions and even so many different Christian religions, for Christians to know they're having an authentic experience, they must explore the most authoratative source of all, the Old Testament, at least to the extent it was quoted or referred to in the New Testament.
Why?
Because what religion teachers generally don't teach you is that the Bible itself tells us how to figure out which sources are trustworthy and which are not:
| To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. |
In fact, it states that a prophet (a trustworthy source) may give out information that did not come from God.
| when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him. |
Notice it doesn't say the person who gives out information that isn't from God isn't a prophet; it simply says you don't need to be afraid of him. He doesn't deserve the same respect you'd give to a prophet whose predictions have always come true.
These are both Old Testament scriptures. They are not stressed or even mentioned by most religious teachers, because they give students a way of discovering how accurate the doctrines of their teachers are--a scrutiny many religious teachings making the rounds today could not survive!
So it is not the speaker or the writer in whose reputation we are to trust; it is the words spoken and written, and whether they agree with the laws and character of God as he has been revealed in scripture beforehand. When someone tells you the OT is useless or doesn't apply, you need to be doubly vigilant to check his or her teachings with OT scripture. If the teachings do not line up with previous teachings, they are not from the same Spirit that inspired scripture!
| 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. |
New teachings that do not agree with the Old Testament cannot proceed from God because he said:
| "For I am the Lord, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. |
If Jesus said:
| "I and My Father are one." |
and the writer of Hebrews said:
| Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. |
then the central themes and practical lessons of "Holy men of God" will not contradict each other. In order to know whether there is contradiction, we need to be familiar with what has gone before.
Jesus took the pharaisees (who were supposedly the most scripturally learned men in Israel) to task when they tried to trap him with trick questions:
| Jesus answered and said to them, "Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God? |
Christians need to know the whole Bible. It is a book of divine revelations--God's guidance, support, and rules for peace, joy, and love in the world. It rings true for those who seek those outcomes. When some try to stick only to the New Testament, they get in trouble with their interpretations of scripture since they don't know the Old Testament scriptures with which the New must "line up" if they truly come from God. If something could have several "interpretations", they haven't a clue which way to go, because they don't know the OT scriptures that often provide clues to the interpretation.
It's not who you know, it's what you know about who you know!
In every heart, there has at some time been a spark of interest in the possibility that an intelligent life force, supremely powerful, wise, and just or righteous, might be responsible for what we see around us. We start asking questions, and often find people who are willing to share with us what they know about God and religion. The outcome of our exposure to "Christianity", however, is dependent upon whom we ask!
Sometimes despair is aroused by what we are taught by others trying to explain God and the scriptures. Many would-be students of Christianity or Judaism refuse to look more deeply into these religions because of the attitudes that have been expressed to them and because of their perception of hopelessness because of the sin in their own lives. They cite either the hypocritical nature of "religionists", the vindictive nature of God, or their own inability to measure up as reasons for their lack of interest in things Christian.
Had they introduced themselves to the truths of scripture, instead of the opinions of those who were only too happy to teach them, they might have experienced a wholly different outcome. Searching the scriptures in topical Bible studies--to see everything the Bible has to say on a given topic--is the surest way to weed out Bible truth from the various church doctrines out there. It isn't exactly easy and it can be time-consuming, but especially with computers and Bible study software, it's easier than one might think.
See "Can I Understand the Bible?" and rest assured that it doesn't take a rocket scientist to study the scripture profitably.
While some people preach
that only certain church leaders have the ability to understand
scripture,
Luke commended the
studious Bereans who not only listened to what they said, but studied
it:
| Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. | |
| These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. |
Why I Believe in The Holy Bible as the rule by which I live:
As I've indicated elsewhere, in order for the world population to live in harmony, there must be rules to live by. If we live in an "every man for himself" society, there is little if any peace. If there are to be rules that everyone can accept, they have to come from a "central authority."
Now we've seen what "central authority" becomes when it's a man (or woman). Dictators the world over--even Jewish ones--have screwed up more millions of people than we can imagine. The central authority must be holy, righteous, loving . . . a benevolent dictator. There have been some of these in our world, but evil power-mongers seeking self elevation have always managed to take over when these leaders have died, if they didn't manage to take over while they yet lived.
Scripture portrays a benevolent dictator from whom no one can ever take power. Satan tried, but he failed when God sent his son to pay the price of sin. Why should I believe this? Because of fulfilled prophecy.
There are at least 107 general fulfilled prophecies concerning the various trials and errors of the Israelites (Click here for fulfilled prophecy list). Bible critics like to say that these are unproven, or the ones that "seem to be" proven by archaeological findings were written after the fact. They're also unimpressed by the 29 prophecies that appear to be related to and fulfilled in the death and burial of Jesus of Nazareth (see Messiah: Past, Present, or Future).
After Jesus was resurrected, however, he said the Old Testament was about himself.
| Then He said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! | |
| "Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?" | |
| And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. |
And the prophecies of Daniel concerning the timing of the coming of the Messiah, as fulfilled in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus are hard for any logical being to ignore. (See Messiah: Past, Present, or Future?)
We can listen to the interpretations of prophecy given by various men and see that many attempt to interpret prophecy but fail because they're trying to make prophecy fit their limited knowledge instead of searching the Scriptures for clues. Even "learned men" have trouble humbly admitting that no one can know it all.
Peter preached,
| Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; | |
| and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation--as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, | |
| as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. | |
| You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; | |
| but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen. |
warning that the interpretations of others are not to be trusted. Rather, we are to look to fulfilled prophecy as a basis for our faith, which we find by comparing scripture to scripture and to history, not by listening to the preaching of those who think they know how to interpret prophecy.
And
so we have the
prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that
shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises
in your hearts;
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.
To Peter, Old Testament prophecy was very real and very much fulfilled in Christ. For us, Old Testament scriptures are essential in understanding both their fulfillment in Jesus and in understanding unfulfilled prophecy in the New Testament (Revelation). The OT contains many definitions for symbols that appear to have stumped those who would interpret New Testament prophecies. Their interpretations would be ever so much more accurate if they just studied the Old Testament!
But what about all the different versions of the Bible?
It is true that there are many different versions of scripture, and not just recent translations. There are several "ancient" manuscripts from which modern versions take their translations.
Is there any real way to know which is the most reliable?
Not really. One manuscript may be older than all the rest, but that doesn't make it the most accurate. It only makes it the one that survived the ravages of time and man the longest. And just because there are more surviving copies of one manuscript than another doesn't mean anything either, for the same reason.
Where a manuscript is and how it is used determines it's survival rate. If a manuscript is used every Sabbath for corporate worship or every day for personal worship, it's bound to wear out. If it is hidden away, for whatever reason, it is more likely to survive.
The reasons a manuscript has been hidden away seem more likely to relate to its authority, but there is no way of knowing why a particular manuscript was hidden away. It might have been because it is the truth being hidden from those who would destroy it or because it is the false being hidden from those who would destroy it.
The English language has changed immensely over my lifetime, let alone thousands of years, and other languages change as well, though probably not as dramatically. The only way to determine for yourself what the truth of scripture is would be to prayerfully study several versions of scripture at the same time.
You would need to compare what every verse (both OT and NT verses) in each version has to say concerning a particular subject. For instance, in the right margin of this page are all the topical verses I could find that include instructions concerning the use of scripture, places where the NT writers quote the OT, and places where the NT writers refer to the Scriptures. Reading all these verses gives a well-rounded vision of how Scritptures should be used, how they have been used in the past, and how they can help us in the future. Reading all these verses in more than one version may throw even more light on the subject . . . or more haze, depending on the agenda of the person or persons who translated the versions. At the very least, it helps one understand why different people believe different things.
The fact is, however, that I have found it relatively easy to see which versions tend to increase my reverence and love for God and which do not. Some cause confusion and doubt of God's motives or power or his determination to reconcile errant humans to himself.
As you grow in your understanding, you begin to see that the totality of Scritpture points toward God's creation, redemption, and recreation of earth and its inhabitants. The blame for sin is placed on Satan, where it belongs, but each of us must bear the responsibility of choosing whether or not we will follow Satan. Jesus' life shows us that if we want to, we can rely on the Holy Spirit to remain close to God as he did. He even told his disciples that he would send this Holy Spirit to teach and guide us; however, we have free will to choose to listen to that still small voice or ignore it. And it's a use-it or lose-it proposition. If we don't act on the suggestions of the Holy Spirit, he will prod us less and less, until he ceases to strive with our spirits altogether (Genesis 6:3; Psalms 103:9)
God's love for his creation is revealed in his warnings and pleadings with his children to realize that, if only they would follow his lead, they would understand and experience true joy, peace, and fulfillment. And contrary to public belief, his love for his human creation is shown by his destruction of errant peoples throughout the Bible and in the end of time, but that's another study.
After all is said and done, God wants what's best for all of us.
| "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! |
If you desire to get nearer to him, he will answer the earnest prayer, "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief." (Mark 9:24) If you are searching the scriptures for the truth, he promises you will find it (Jeremiah 29:13). When we seek truth instead of vindication of our beliefs, we will find selfless humility and unity of the Spirit, and most of all, we will gain the blessing of peace in our assurance of the vast love our Creator God has for us--every one of us!
| The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. |
Study and see how wonderful God really is.
Related Links
The Truth About Mary Magdalene
Scriptures:
Within Text:
Romans 15:4
I Corinthians 1:21-24
Isaiah 8:20
Deuteronomy 18:22
II Timothy 3:16, 17
Malachi 3:6
John 10:30
Hebrews 13:8
Mark 12:24
John 5:39
Acts 17:10-11
Matthew 7:11
II Peter 3:9
Further Study:
Learn a new attitude about scripture from David in Psalm 119.
NT cites OT
Matthew 1:22-23 (Isa 7:14)
Matthew 15:7-9 (Isa 29:13)
Matthew 19:4-6 (Genesis 2:24)
Mark 1:2-3 (Isa 40:3)
Mark 7:6-9 (Isa 29:13)
Mark 12:10 (Ps 118:22)
Mark 12:36 (Ps 110:1)
Luke 4:16-21 (Isa 61:1-2)
Luke 10:26 (De 6:5)
Luke 20:17 (Ps 118:22)
I Corinthians 9:8-10 (De 25:4)
II Corinthians 4:13 (Ps 116:10)
II Corinthians 8:15 (Ex 16:18)
II Corinthians 9:9 (Ps 112:9)
Hebrews 1:1,2 (Ps 110:1)
Hebrews 4:4-12 (
Hebrews 10:7-10 (Ps 40:8; Ps 143:10 and Ps 51:16-17)
I Timothy 5:18 (De 25:4; Le 19:13; Jer 22:13; Mal 3:5)
Matthew 1:22-23 (Isa 7:14)
NT refers to OT
Matthew 12:39-42
Matthew 16:4
Matthew 16:4
Mark 7:10
Mark 12:26
Luke 11:32
Luke 21:22
Luke 24:25-27
John 3:14
John 5:45-47
Acts 15:15
Acts 24:14
Acts 28:25
II Peter 2:4-9 (Ge 5-10; Ge 13-19)
James 2:21-23
OT used as proof of Jesus' claims to be the Christ
Acts 2:24-31
Acts 17:2
Acts 18:28
Matthew 1:22-23
Study of encouraged and commended
Acts 17:11
Acts 20:32
Satan knows/quotes scripture
Matthew 4:5-6 (Psalm 91:11-12)
Scripture contains Words of God or Christ;
Inspired by the Holy Spirit; written at God's instruction
Exodus 17:14
Exodus 20:1-17, 22
Exodus 24:4, 12
Exodus 31:18
Exodus 34:1, 27, 28
Deuteronomy 10:4
II Samuel 23:1-3
Isaiah 7:3-7, 10
Isaiah 8:1
Isaiah 30:12
Jeremiah 1:1, 2, 9
Jeremiah 22:30
Jeremiah 30:2
Jeremiah 36:1-2, 4, etc
Ezekiel 1:3
Ezekiel 2:2, 4
Ezekiel 24:2, 20
Ezekiel 43:11
Joel 1:1
Jonah 1:1
Habbakuk 2:2, 3
Haggai 1:13
Galatians 1:12
I Peter 1:10-12, 20, 21
Man to live by God's Words
Deuteronomy 6:6-10
Deuteronomy 8:3
Deuteronomy 11:19
Mark 7:13
Ephesians 6:17
Colossians 3:16
Word of God sure, powerful, and eternal
Habbakuk 2:2, 3
John 10:34-36
Hebrews 4:12
I Peter 1:22-25
Jesus called the Word
John 1:1-2
Scripture for our instruction
II Chronicles 36:15-16
John 20:31
Luke 1:1-4
I Corinthians 4:14
I Corinthians 10:6-12
II Timothy 3:14-17
James I:18, 21-25
Jude 1:7
To be followed by Governmental Leaders
Deuteronomy 17:18, 19
Called the Truth--Basis of true doctrine
John 17:17
II Timothy 4:2-4
James 1:18
Isaiah 8:20
John 5:39
Natural mind cannot understand; must be
taught in stages, among the sinning.
Romans 7:14
Romans 8:6
I Corinthians 2:9-14
I Corinthians 3:1
Hebrews 5:12
II Peter 3:15-17
Isaiah 28:10-
Man not to add to or detract from God's
words-- specifically his commandments and the prophecy of Revelation.
Deuteronomy 4:2
Revelation 22:18-19