Pardon the midweek post, but this needs to be done.
The answer is simple: I believe the Bible – in its original writings – is the inspired Word of God. It’s flawless, perfect, and the best way to know how to live life on Earth. Someone will say, “Which version?” There’s the NIV, KJV, and probably hundreds of translations and version. The key phrase above is “in its original writings.” The various forms of the Bible these days are fairly reliable forms of His Word, but do I think “this” or “that” version is flawless? No. There are ways of determining what the original Hebrew (or Greek) writings were. I won’t go into the various forms of scientific rigmarole because it doesn’t add anything here. Suffice it to say, they’re all pretty good representations of what the original texts stated. Having asserted that, the real trick boils down to one word: context. Most people these days don’t understand much about the culture of the day. What was important when the “begats” were written aren’t nearly as important today. So why does it matter that “Bob begat Tim, who begat Brian?” Americans in particular don’t understand. Similarly, what we find important today would never translate well into something the ancient Hebrews could understand. “Verily I say unto you, change your oil every 3,000 miles.” All the WORDS would translate, but the underlying assumption of “in your car” is missing. They wouldn’t even understand what a car was, much less why it’s important. So when the Bible teaches that people would go to war and kill each other because of false gods, Americans are confused because few believe in anything strongly enough to kill. Put a gun to a football fan’s head and tell him to renounce their favorite team, and they will. People in the ancient world put a lot of importance on their faith. Gods were what gave people their identity. In 21st Century America, that’s a fundamental reason for misunderstanding the problems in the Middle East. But his is all a digression. Let’s get back to what I believe. The Bible, when understood in context and not misquoted, has proven more reliable than science. Only a misunderstanding of what the Bible teaches makes things like the Inquisition possible. There’s no evidence that “everything in the heavens must be perfect spheres” that got Galileo in trouble. The Earth is not flat, and nowhere does the Bible say it is. The best archaeologists of the time thought Nineva was a myth. It had been so thoroughly erased (as God had promised) that it was “proof” the Bible was fiction. Same with Sodom and Gomorrah, and all sorts of things. One example of something a bit more contemporary is John’s account of the death of Jesus. When the Roman jabbed a spear into His side, a flow of water and blood spilled out. For fifteen centuries experts tried to find some metaphor for what that meant. Only a lot more recently did science confirm what John could not have known: “Prior to death, the sustained rapid heartbeat caused by hypovolemic shock also causes fluid to gather in the sack around the heart and around the lungs. This gathering of fluid in the membrane around the heart is called pericardial effusion, and the fluid gathering around the lungs is called pleural effusion. This explains why, after Jesus died and a Roman soldier thrust a spear through Jesus’ side, piercing both the lungs and the heart, blood and water came from His side just as John recorded in his Gospel.” There are things we do not know, and many things we will never know this side of eternity. But I’m convinced the “conflict” between science and the Bible are only because people are misreading the evidence on both sides. The big one for now is Evolution vs Creation. One side claims “this,” the other side claims “that,” and I’m in the middle thinking to myself, “You’re both wrong, not interpreting the evidence correctly.” That usually ticks off both sides of that particular issue. The Truth is that the only way to get to Heaven is to understand and follow the Bible’s teachings. I’ve already posted a lot about that, so dig into my blog posts if you want something easier to understand. If there’s a seeming contradiction in the Bible, educate yourself about the topic. For hundreds of years the church hierarchy thrived on telling people what to think. That’s short-sighted. Learn what’s there, and how to apply it to your life. Don’t take someone’s word for it. They could be as wrong as Torquemada.
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