Ten Reasons to Believe in the Bible

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Ten Reasons to Believe in the Bible CA208 LESSON 10 of 10 Our Daily Bread Christian University This course was developed by Christian University & Our Daily Bread Ministries.

1 Ten Reasons to Believe in the Bible CA208 LESSON 10 of 10 Our Daily Bread Christian University This course was developed by Christian University & Our Daily Bread Ministries. Critics of the Bible often point to those who claim to believe in the Bible without being changed by it. But history is also marked by those who have been changed and whose lives have been made better by this book. J. P. Moreland: There has never been a book in the history of the world that is even close to the Bible in cultural and in social influence. Darrell Bock: The Scripture reveals a message that is able to transform lives. J. P. Moreland: Think of what would happen if we took the Bible out of the history of the world and played that history out without a holy Scripture. Can you imagine how world history would have been totally and irreparably different if there had not been Scripture given to the human race? Darrell Bock: I don t want to miscommunicate here. I think it s very important to understand that Scripture itself is not like a pill that I take that makes me better. Nor is it something that I bow before to worship. The Scripture contains a message, and the power is in the message of Scripture about the love of God and the provision of God and the ability of God to transform us. And its power is seen in the testimonies that come from the people who try to live by that message. J. P. Moreland: Simply marked by the impact the Bible has had on the subsequent history of this planet, there can be no question that the Bible has had a far greater impact on human history than any book that even closely rivals it. Deuteronomy 5:6 8 (NKJV) I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me. 1 of 5

2 You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. The Ten Commandments have been a source of moral direction to countless numbers of people. Psalm 23 (NKJV) The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever. The psalms of David have offered comfort in times of trouble and loss. Matthew 5:3 8 (NKJV) Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, 2 of 5

3 For they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.... Jesus Sermon on the Mount has given millions an antidote for stubborn pride and proud legalism. 1 Corinthians 13:1 5 (NKJV) Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil.... And Paul s description of love in 1 Corinthians 13 has softened angry hearts. The changed lives of people like the apostle Paul, Augustine, Martin Luther, John Newton, Leo Tolstoy, C. S. Lewis, and countless others illustrate the difference the Bible can make. Even entire nations or tribes, like the Celts of Ireland, the wild Vikings of Norway, and the Auca Indians of Ecuador, have been transformed by the Word of God and the unprecedented life and significance of Jesus Christ. Dr. Walter Russell: A short while back, I met a gentleman named Marty, and Marty was a disturbing fellow. You would look into his eyes, and it was as if nobody was really home there. And there was a presence of evil in his life, and he was disruptive in the groups that I was a part of and he came in; in fact, one time we almost came to blows. I was trying to protect some people from Marty, and he was a bad fellow. I didn t see him for several months. One of my friends was working with Marty and talking to him about the Bible and about knowing God personally. I saw him perhaps a year later, and I didn t recognize him. And he had introduced himself to me, because I hadn t changed in a year s time, but he had. And he said, Do you know who I am? I said, I don t recognize you. He said, I m Marty. And I said, Marty, what happened? And he said, Well, I have come to know God, and I ve been reading the Bible. And I said, Marty you are a changed person. Your 3 of 5

4 eyes are different; there s a whole difference of appearance in you. And he says, I am a changed person. I ve been reading and studying the Bible. I ve come to know God in a personal way, and I m not the same person. I am a radically changed person. The edge was gone from Marty; the evil was gone; this ominous kind of bullying presence was gone; he was a different person, having given himself to knowing God and reading and studying the Bible and being changed by what the Bible has to say to us. Darrell Bock: Not because Scripture is a magical book, but because Scripture is a message from the living God who also lives in the hearts of people who respond to Him in faith. We ve considered the remaining five of ten converging evidences, or reasons to believe in the reliability of the Bible: The evidence of the Bible s unity The evidence of the Bible s endorsement The evidence of the Bible s prophecy The evidence of the Bible s survival The evidence of changed lives Together these converging lines of evidence give us more than reason to trust this Book. They give us reason to believe that by trusting this Book, we can find the One who made us for Himself. Darrell Bock: I didn t grow up in a Christian home. I was not raised on the Bible. The church that I attended debated whether resurrection was necessary for the Christian faith or not, when I was a kid. And I came, as I hit college, to realize that it was important. What happened to me was that I came to have, develop, a respect for Scripture. It wasn t the Word of God for me, but it was something that I needed to listen to. Well, that was one of the ways God used to begin to open it to my heart. And so sometimes if a person has a respect for Scripture, even though they don t feel it s the Word of God, God can use that and work with that and will eventually work on them in such a way that they can come to see over time that the Bible is more than what they thought. And that was one of the means really that God used to save me. Someone gave me a Bible and said, You have all these strange ideas about Jesus Christ. You ve inherited Him from the culture. Why don t you read the Bible and see what it has to say about who Jesus Christ is, rather than hearing all these opinions secondhand? And they gave me a Bible, and they said to me, Now genealogy comes at the start. It s a lot of names; don t get hung up in those. Just keep reading. And as we were reading along, all of a sudden 4 of 5

5 it came clear to me, in reading these portraits of Jesus, that He was the issue. That He wasn t a great religious teacher teaching a lot of good ideas and proverbs about life. He was the issue. And even though I hadn t embraced the Bible as the Word of God yet, I could read it as a document enough to sense there s a portrait in the strength of the character of Jesus here about which I have to make a decision. So sometimes in working with Scripture, and in thinking about Scripture particularly to people who don t have a religious attachment to Scripture, and see it as the Word of God the Scripture can still have power even though it s viewed as something less than that, and that it s God in the process of bringing them along to see who He really is. Christ-Centered Learning Anytime, Anywhere 5 of 5

UNITY IN DIVERSITY II. 1 Corinthians 12

UNITY IN DIVERSITY II. 1 Corinthians 12 UNITY IN DIVERSITY II 1 Corinthians 12 Discover, Develop and Deploy your Spiritual Gift HARMONY AND UNITY Unity in Purpose and Source There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences