Articles - The Bible

At some point, you know that you are going to die unless the Lord comes first. How will you die? From an accidental death, a horrible disease, being murdered, war, or natural attrition of old age? No one knows the answer. Some do not want to talk about their death, the death of loved ones, the death of friends, or even talk about death. A larger and more troubling question is:

 “When do you expect to die?” That stings, doesn’t it? Perhaps, everyone that is old enough to think is conscious of the fact that he was ‘not put here to stay’; but still, he isn’t willing to admit that his departure may be soon. It is not a comforting thought to many to engage in the consideration of life’s exit ]. (McInteer 199)

The topic assigned is one of the great passages from the pen of the great and aged apostle Paul just prior to his martyrdom from 2 Timothy 4:6-8. It reads:

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.

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.

After examining the Setting of 2 Timothy 3:14-17, we approach this pericope of Scripture as follows: (1) The Surety of powerful Revelation (2 Timothy 3:14), (2) The Scope of powerful Revelation (2 Timothy 3:15), (3) The Source of powerful revelation (2 Timothy 3:16a), (4) The Supply of powerful revelation (2 Timothy 3:16b), and (5) The Sufficiency of powerful revelation (2 Timothy 3:17). [These five points of alliteration were suggested by Charles C. Pugh III].

The first book of the Bible is aptly named, Genesis. The late Rex A. Turner says that “Genesis defies the imagination and mental capacity of any mere uninspired man” (101).

The late James D. Bales summarizes the value and importance of the book of “Genesis as an ancient book which sets forth truths and events which are far more ancient than the book itself. If the truths, which include the events and their meaning, are out of date, man is out of date. If Genesis is not relevant, man is irrelevant, since with the destruction of Genesis and its truths, man destroys his own birthright as a human being with dignity and value. (Bales 1977 13)

Life is filled with fallacies; i.e. things not true. These untruths may be in the realm of education, parenting, religion, God, etc. Consider some fallacies relating to the will of God.