Articles - The Bible

We can know some things:
1)      . . . that I exist (Psalm 139:1-24)
2)      . . . that external objects exist (Psalm 8:3-9)
3)      . . . that other minds exist (Mark 2:6-8; Romans 14:3)
4)      . . . that cause and effect occurs (Hebrews 3:4)
5)      . . . that I can know some very crucial things (Luke 1:4; John 8:32)

Prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991, I read an extremely interesting article about the delivery of 50,000 free copies of the New Testament to the USSR. This mass distribution of the Scriptures included 10,000 copies made available at the Moscow Book Fair. People, standing in long lines, waited for as long as two hours to receive a free copy of the New Testament. When the people saw that only a couple thousand copies remained, the crowd went out of control. Policemen had to be utilized to settle the crowd. Finally, when all the New Testaments had been taken, and several thousand people were left standing without a copy, addresses of those people were requested. In two days, 26,000 addresses were submitted, and all received by mail their New Testament!

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.

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

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.

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.