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"Prove All Things"--The Bible and God’s Law of Rationality

Some Introductory Matters

   The Bible teaches that men should “prove all things,” and “hold fast” to that which is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21). This means simply that men should draw only such conclusions as are warranted by the evidence which the Bible (the word of God, 2 Timothy 3:16-17) provides. This means that men’s conclusions must be the conclusions of sound arguments: that is, men should draw only such conclusions as are a part of arguments which are valid and have true premises.

   There are a number of reasons why students of the Bible should recognize and honor the Law of Rationality: (1) the way the Bible is written demands that such be the case, (2) specific instances of Bible characters u sing the Law of Rationality demand that such be the case, and (3) the specific passages in the Bible (which teach in various ways) demand that such be the case.

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The Bible, Thomas B. WarrenLyn MillerComment
The Convention's Story on Canvas

On September 17, 1787, 39 delegates to the Constitutional Convention meeting in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall stepped forward to put their signatures to a document they had framed during the preceding four months. This defining moment in the life of the new nation has drawn the interest of artists across the centuries who have depicted the scene with varying degrees of success.

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The Bible, Daniel DreisbachLyn MillerComment
Many Infallible Proofs

Most of us are familiar with the 40 days Jesus spent with His disciples before His ascension back to Heaven, to reside at the Father’s “right hand.” During this period of 40 days, He reportedly gave His disciples much in the way of additional evidence for His Deity, which was called many infallible proofs (Acts 1:3), and which was rendered “many convincing proofs” by the NASB, or simply “many proofs” by the ESV. In 1886, Arthur T. Pierson wrote a book (one of his 50 during his lifetime) entitled, Many Infallible Proofs (New York/Chicago: Revell 1886). The book focused on evidences for Christianity, from essentially the Scriptures and the character of Christ.

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The Bible, Dick SztanyoLyn Miller Comment
The Bible Will Never Be Antiquated

The above title was used at the head of a letter recently written to our daily newspaper by Lewis Maiden, . . . who is our Southeastern News Editor, and a professor at David Lipscomb College. We are sharing this letter to the Editor with the Advocate readers because we believe it is so timely. The letter states:

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The Bible, Ira NorthLyn MillerComment
Why I Believe the Bible

Introduction. I believe the Bible because it is the inspired revelation from the Creator of the universe to man (highest of creation besides angels). Notice the various components of this affirmation: (1) the Bible is inspired; (2) the Bible is revelation; (3) there is only one Creator; and (4) that Creator’s greatest concern is man, His highest creation. Furthermore, not only do I believe that the Bible is that one inspired communication from God to man, but that assertion is provable. The honest seeker of truth can logically come to this conclusion without having to take a “leap in the dark”; that is to say, one is not obligated to arrive at conclusions in the absence of sufficient evidence.

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The Bible, Glenn JobeLyn MillerComment
The Bible and America Today

In two major literary publications separated by nearly 35 years, Kenneth L. Woodward, former longtime religion editor of Newsweek, implied the stark reality of the state of America’s culture concerning its present relationship with the Bible. Woodward, who contributed nearly 100 cover stories for Newsweek, wrote one of those stories in 1982 titled “The Bible in America.” More than three decades later (2016) Woodward’s book, Getting Religion: Faith, Culture, and Politics from the Age of Eisenhower to the Era of Obama, was published. Both the Newsweek article and Getting Religion are about the influence of religion in America.

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The Bible, Charles C. Pugh IIILyn Miller Comment
America's Decline Demands the Utterance of God

It is a fact that America’s earliest colleges and universities were established with “the goal of educating students by using Scripture as the foundation for their intellectual and spiritual development” (Thomas, America’s Expiration Date 146).

William F. Buckley’s 1951 book, God and Man at Yale, is a classic critique of the anti-Bible agenda Buckley saw unfolding at Yale during his undergraduate years (1946-1950). The agenda included the subversion of the Bible and the Christian religion, as well as the subversion of economic individualism, all done in exchange for atheism, agnosticism, socialism, and communism.

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The Bible, Charles C. Pugh IIILyn Miller
Back to the Book that Built America

On five consecutive Wednesday nights in the late Summer 1941, former British atheist turned theist, C. S. Lewis, delivered five memorable radio talks broadcast from London. The first talk was broadcast August 6. The last talk was delivered September 3. The fourth talk, delivered August 27, was originally titled, “What Can We Do About It?” It now appears in Lewis’ book, Mere Christianity, under the title “We Have Cause to Be Uneasy.”

The times were dark. Hopelessness was increasing. Britain and France had declared war against Germany September 3, 1939. Large audiences tuned in weekly to hear Lewis’ talks

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The Bible, Charles C. Pugh IIILyn Miller Comments
The Seriousness of the Ridicule, Rejection, and Hatred of Logic

Logic is the science of valid reasoning. It is not mere wishing. It is not mere thinking. It is not mere wrangling. Logic has to do with inference—that is, the inferring of what is implied by explicit statements. It raises the question, "Do the premises of this argument imply the conclusion of this argument?" (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

Some people think very seldom—if at all—specifically about logic; that is, they do not say such things as, "Let me show you the sound argument which proves that Proposition X is true." However, every one who is intelligent enough to be accountable for what he does is a logician. And most people are "pretty good" logicians, even though they have never formally studied logic in any college or university.

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The Bible, Thomas B. WarrenLyn Miller Comments
Used Books, New Books, and THE BOOK

For the last 45 years, this writer has experienced an annual event with a rich history dating much longer than the time he has been influenced by it. For 71 years, since 1949, an annual used book sale has occurred every November in downtown Parkersburg, WV. Unfortunately, like numerous other events scheduled for this year, Trinity Used Book Sale has been cancelled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic that originated in modern China governed by the atheistic Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

It is estimated that 40,000 to 50,000 books are sold annually during this used book sale. Personally, between one and two thousand volumes have been purchased during parts of five decades. Most of these purchased at very meager prices (i.e. 54 volume set of Great Books of the Western World at fifty cents per volume, et al.). Several articles could be written about the book treasures discovered these many years during the first full week of November.

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The Bible, Charles C. Pugh IIILyn MillerComment
Why the Bible Matters

Inspiration guarantees the written records will carry out the purposes for which they were intended. The doctrine of inspiration provides an assurance that divine authority stands behind the words of Scripture. We should be careful that our understanding of inspiration accords with the characteristics of the documents accepted as inspired and does not impose a preconceived idea on them.
The book of Hebrews sets forth the divine chain of authority: “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son” (Heb. 1:1-2; NRSV).

The writer continues, “Therefore we must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. For if the message declared through angels was valid, and every transgression or disobedience received a just penalty, how can we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? It was declared at first through the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him, while God added his testimony by signs and wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to his will” (Heb. 2:1-4).

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The Bible, Everett FergusonWarren ApologeticsComment
IN YOUR SEARCH FOR ANSWERS . . .

These are troublesome, but quickening, times. There is fear, but there is also the faith. There is uncertainty, but there is, as an old song says, “an anchor that keeps the soul steadfast and sure while the billows roll.”

There are questions that remain unanswered and everyone, it seems, is talking about it. Even a sportswriter in the local newspaper made the following comment: “The more I talk with folks about the ongoing implosion of American society and the continued pandemic, there doesn’t appear to be a lot of answers currently available.” Of course, at times it may be the case that some of us are asking the wrong questions. In his little book on grief C. S. Lewis says “half the questions we ask—half our great theological and metaphysical problems” are what Lewis called “nonsense questions.”

Could it be the case that the true answers to the most important questions are available, but many do not know where to go to find the available answers? Nearly fifty years ago I saw a brief message on a bulletin board in the reception/waiting area of a doctor’s office. It was a powerful message then, and it remains powerful. Some may think the message is out of place in our politically correct culture, especially in a doctor’s office.

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Charles C. Pugh III, The BiblePaolo DiLuca Comment
THE BIBLE AND SCIENCE

More and more charges are being made that the Bible is not inherent. Critics accuse various inaccuracies within the Bible. One of the areas in which they do so is in scientific statements. Some of the so-called errors or inaccuracies:

1. THE SPHERICAL EARTH. Historians and scientists generally credit Pythagoras, a Greek who lived in the sixth century B.C., as suggesting a spherical earth. The Greek scientist Eratosthenes, the third century B.C., calculated the size of the earth. The Biblical view of the world as a sphere is set forth by inspiration before either of the above mentioned Greeks lived. Isaiah writes: “It is he (Jehovah) that sitteth above the circle of the earth” (Isaiah 40:22). Solomon spoke of God setting “a circle upon the face of the deep!” (Proverbs 8:27). Job 26:10 speaks of “the confines of light and darkness,” which suggests that where light terminates, darkness begins. It declares both day and night on the spherical earth as well as the rotation of the earth. The words of Jesus suggest the same, when He spoke of “In that day” (Luke 17:31) and “in that night” (Luke 17:34), as occurring at the same time.

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W. Terry Varner, The BiblePaolo DiLuca Comment
THE GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY OF A PUBLISHED ARGUMENT

An anniversary marks the date of a notable event. January 2020 marked the 50th anniversary of the initial publication of the basic logical argument for the inspiration and authority of the Bible as set forth by the late Thomas B. Warren. Dr. Warren provides background concerning the development of this argument in the following statements from his book When Is an Example Binding?

I have given many years to the study of the inspiration and authority of the Bible. I have taught this course in the college classroom both on the undergraduate and on the graduate level for a number of years. I have preached on the subject many, many times. I have studied books by the dozens in which men have sought to prove the inspiration and authority of the Bible. Yet I have been keenly disappointed in all of these books in at least one point; namely the fact no basic logical argument was set out to explain why what the men did actually showed that the Bible was the inspired word of God. Spurred by that failure of these various books, I was motivated to give thought to this matter over a period not only of months, but of years. Already, in The Spiritual Sword of January 1970, the Harding Graduate School Lectures of 1971, and in the Gospel Advocate of July 27, 1972, I have set out the basic argument which proves that the Bible is the word of God. The basic argument is set out in a formal logical way—with premises which are true and an argument which is valid. (vii-viii)

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Charles C. Pugh III, The BiblePaolo DiLucaComment
The National “Tradition” of Belief in the Bible

  The national tradition of belief in God has been affirmed by the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in the book On Faith published posthumously in early 2019. In this article I am affirming a second national tradition that historically manifests public religiousness. It is belief in the Bible.

   The Syntopicon of Great Books of the Western World describes the Bible in the following: “One Book stands out from all the rest because in our tradition it is—as the use of ‘Bible’ for its proper name implies—the book about God and men” (2. 558, emp. added). Additionally, the same source characterizes the Bible as having “unparalleled” influence upon western culture (3. 589). More recently, during this decade, David Berlinski, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute in Seattle, and author of The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions, during an interview said the following: “The Old Testament is the greatest repository of human knowledge and wisdom in the history of civilization, anytime, any place . . . [an] enormously complex, rich, and dramatic piece of work.” Coming from one who claims to be a secular Jew, such a statement is of no little significance. Somewhat parallel to Berlinski’s assessment of the Old Testament is the description of the New Testament by the late McGeorge Bundy. A former Harvard academic dean and special assistant for national affairs to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, Bundy called the New Testament “the most powerful single volume you encounter” (Books that Made the Difference 62).

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Charles C. Pugh III, The BiblePaolo DiLuca Comment
The Bible does Not Contradict Itself!

In a recent article the charge is made that the Bible contradicts itself. As incredible as such may seem to faithful Christians, the writer of that article claims to be a member of the Lord’s church.

   The purposes of this article are: (1) to categorically deny the charge that the Bible contradicts itself, (2) to point out some implications of that charge, and (3) to make an appeal to brethren everywhere to awaken to the insidious danger which is posed to the Lord’s church by men who write such articles (as that referred to in the opening sentence) and by the journals which publish them.

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Thomas B. Warren, The BiblePaolo DiLucaComment
Why We Believe the Bible

No other group of people have exalted the authority of the Bible alone in matters of faith and practice so consistently as churches of Christ, pleading “where the Scriptures speak, we speak: where the scriptures are silent, we are silent.” However, when this plea is made in our modern world, the question is often raised, “Why do you believe the Bible to be God’s word and completely authoritative in religion?” There are many that reject its authority. Modern Protestantism has largely given up its allegiance to the Bible and has spent much of its effort in trying to discount the absolute authority of God’s word. Roman Catholicism has discredited the Bible’s authority while professing to be its friend, by claiming that it is not the complete authority, nor even final, for the final and absolute authority in the Roman Catholic church is the living voice of the church expressed primarily through the pronouncements of the pope.

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Frank Pack, The BiblePaolo DiLucaComment
The Lack of Respect for Authority in Society and in the Church

Man constantly challenges authority in society and in the church. In doing so, he has created great confusion. Civil law is threatened as never before in our lifetime. Riots resulting in destruction of personal property, human life, and national monuments seem to be the in thing. Good teachers leave our educational system because their hands are strapped in dealing with students who have no respect for authority regardless of the gender of the teacher. Society’s rejection of divine authority, helped by the United States Supreme Court, has changed marriage from a man and a woman to same-sex marriage, that is, two men or two women. The Supreme Court’s redefinition of marriage as “same-sex marriage,” rather than upholding God’s definition of marriage—a man and a woman—destroys God’s foundational definition of marriage.

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W. Terry Varner, The BibleMarcus Stenson Comment
An Historic 1965 Response to the Reader's Digest Editorial Staff

On October 14, 1965, I wrote you in protest to Mr. J. D. Ratcliff’s pro-evolution article, “How Man Began,” which appeared in the October issue of The Reader’s Digest. I now have before me your reply of October 22. While I appreciate your response, I am disappointed in that you gave no attention to the contents of my letter, but were content to send me a “form letter.” I was especially anxious to have your answer to the question: “Would you be willing to carry an article in the Digest, written by scientist of unquestioned qualifications, in opposition to the theory of evolution?”

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Roy Deaver, The BibleMarcus StensonComment