The Bible Only as Literature?There is, of course, only one truth. That one truth came to us from God, in the form of His Son, Jesus Christ. He fulfilled the Old Testament prophesies, He changed the course of history, He has impacted this world in a big way. We are asked to accept scientific truth as fact, and yet does it have such an incredible track record? Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the renowned “prince of preachers,” in 1877 said:
"We are invited, brethren, most earnestly to go away from the old-fashioned belief of our forefathers because of the supposed discoveries of science. What is science? The method by which man tries to conceal his ignorance. It should not be so, but so it is. You are not to be dogmatical in theology, my brethren, it is wicked; but for scientific men it is the correct thing. You are never to assert anything very strongly; but scientists may boldly assert what they cannot prove, and may demand a faith far more credulous than any we possess. Forsooth, you and I are to take our Bibles and shape and mould our belief according to the evershifting teachings of so-called scientific men. What folly is this! Why, the march of science, falsely so called, through the world may be traced by exploded fallacies and abandoned theories. Former explorers once adored are now ridiculed; the continual wreckings of false hypotheses is a matter of universal notoriety. You may tell where the learned have encamped by the debris left behind of suppositions and theories as plentiful as broken bottles."Jesus warned there would be problems when we choose to be Christians. He did not say it would be an easy path. In the early years of Christianity, horrible things were done to Christians (like feeding them to the lions, putting them on poles, pouring tar on them and burning them as human torches). Being a true and fully committed Christian can lead to horrible persecution! Today in America, we do not have much persecution (beyond verbal) going on and we have gotten lazy because of this. Of course, we don't have much FULL commitment to Christ going on, either. We aren't enough of a threat to the devil to stir his wrath. The trouble is when the pressure is off, the natural tendency is to rest on our laurels and just figure we've got all our religious ducks in a neat row. We are ready to fly away to heaven, when that time comes, but, as I've stated, many Christians just live their lives the same way they lived them before they were saved. Is this what Jesus commanded us to do? Jesus says He won't know many of the people who call to Him, "Lord, Lord." Christians, do you really know Him and trust Him, and love Him enough to fully commit your life to Him and allow Him to be the Lord of your life? Do you love Him enough to follow His commands? Do you even know what those commands are?15 I have found that when I am in trouble, God responds to my prayers, which are calls from my aching and yearning heart, to Him. When there is no trouble, I do not have the motivation to go deep and pray hard. In China and other foreign lands, persecution from the atheistic governments is routine. Bibles are treasured and worth more than gold and missionaries are regularly tortured and killed. When they pray, they go deep and pray hard. They storm heaven. Why would they go through all of this, if they did not know with all their hearts that there is a God? Jesus tells us how we are to think about our lives is, "He who tries to save his life, will lose it, but he who will lose his life, for My sake, will preserve it (or save it)." There are many Christians who try to have the best of both worlds. They want the true religion, Christianity, but they are unwilling to let go of their previous ways of living. It is at this crossroads that they become less helpful in the Lord's plan of salvation for the world. These Christians have decided to remain comfortable and are unwilling to give up the trappings of the world, the goodies, if you will. They are unwilling to give up their personal lives and work tirelessly and sacrificially, giving their all for the Lord. Their personal plans take precedent. The result of this type of behavior is that they become almost hopelessly lukewarm (which, as you'll recall, is distasteful to the Lord). They flock to churches whose pastors feed their congregation diluted messages from God's Word, making it as easy as they can on their ears, so they don't have to hear uncomfortable truths, but only positive thinking and success stories. Consequently, people are not encouraged to rely totally on the Lord God with all their hearts in tough times, but instead rely only on their own power. Where is the prayer, the deep prayer, the prayer that comes from a penitent and trusting heart, a soul weeping to the Lord for help? It is not considered, but a surfacy quick prayer will be offered leading to a self-sufficiency, which takes over. Is this approach going to bring down the power of heaven on earth? Dear God, please put a heart in me that yearns to know You, not just enough to get by, but enough that I would commit my life to serving You. Though I will probably not be fed to the lions, nor stuck on a pole and made into a nightlight for someone, I may be asked to go places that are uncomfortable, love people that are unlovable, be helpful to people who do not give me even a thankful nod. But, Lord, You are real to me! I love you, God. Amen.
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