TLEM
True Light Educational Ministry
Then
you will
know the Truth and the Truth will set you free ( John
8:32)
|
|
|
THE
BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD
The
Scriptures are the inspired Word of God. I must point out right way some facts
about the Bible. Most study Bibles have two or more sections on each page The
main body is the Scripture. There are often cross references to the various
Scriptures and then comments from the translator. Please be aware that only
the Scriptures are inspired. All the rest of the writing is that of the
translator, designed to help you understand the phrases etc. Never consider
the footnotes, introductions, and comments of the translator to be inspired.
Also remember that the translations are just that. Some translations are what
they call paraphrased. Here the translators are really authors of the book and
are rewriting the Scripture into a story-type modern language to try to show
the passages better. Other translations are how the translator interpreted the
original language of the Scriptures.
For
example, today some words have totally different meanings then used only a few
years ago. Cool back several years ago referred to the temperature. Hip was
part of the anatomy. Gay was happy. Another problem is simply that one word
does have more than one meaning or translation in even our dictionaries.
Another problem is that in the original Greek there were no small letters.
That is all the letters were capital. There was no separation between words,
nor punctuation's and even the whole book may have only a couple of paragraph
separations. Thus, the translator had to divide the letters into words. Let me
show you an example of this problem.
GODISNOWHERE
What
does it say? Does it read God is no where or does it say God is now here?
It is
important to realize there were very few chapters and no verses in the
original Scriptures. The division of chapters and verses did not occur in both
the Old and New Testaments simultaneously. For example, the first five books
of the Old Testament consisted of only 54 sections before 536 B.C. The
Scriptures later were further subdivided into 669 sections for reference
purposes. Today we have 31,102 verses of Scriptures. The division of the
Scriptures into verses took place around the 1500s. The function of the verses
is to help in memorization of the Bible. Therefore, we must read the verses in
relationship to those around them. Most of the cults that use the Bible often
take verses out of context. They do this to make the Bible say what they want
it to.
It took
more than 40 authors from all different walks of life to write the Bible. They
vary from King (David) to a poor fisherman (Peter), from Prime minister
(Daniel) to a housewife (Ruth). The authors wrote in different places such as
the wilderness (Moses), prison (Paul), and in three different languages,
Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. The writers also lived and wrote from three
different continents: Asia, Africa, and Europe. It took over 1,500 years to
complete the Scriptures. Yet with all those authors from different continents,
speaking different languages, there are no mistakes in the Scriptures.
The
Bible has been the most critically-reviewed writing in the world and one has
yet to find a mistake. The Scriptures we have today are based on over 5,000
manuscripts recovered from early periods. The last of the writing of the
Scriptures took place between 64 A.D. and 95 A.D. The earliest fragments of
the manuscripts of the New Testament are dated about 120 A.D. In addition, we
have the writings of the early church fathers who frequently quoted the
Scriptures. On top of that we have the secular history and writings that
support the Scriptures. Then, we also have the findings of the archaeologists
to further prove the writings of the Scripture. Finally and most important to
us, God tells us the Scriptures are His words and inspired.
Before
we look at the Scriptures, where God directly says that these are His inspired
words, let us examine a few facts.
Many
prophets wrote about things that would happen hundreds and thousands of years
later. Unlike other writers, the things they wrote about have occurred as
written. The birth of our Lord Jesus is just one classic example. Talk about
predictions. Parts of Jesus' autobiography were written thousands of years
before his birth.
For
centuries people believed the world was flat and it was possible to fall off
the edge. Yet Isaiah wrote back around 740 B.C. that the earth was round.
Isaiah 40:22 states "He sits enthroned above the circle of the
earth."
In Job
26:7 it says that the earth is suspended in space. Then, and for centuries
after, one of the top theories concerning the earth was that our planet was
flat and rested securely upon the back of a gigantic turtle who was slowly
plodding through a cosmic sea of some sort. The world did not know of the
earth's suspension until Sir Isaac Newton revealed the facts to the world
scientists in 1687 A.D.
How many
stars are there? Nearly twenty centuries before Christ's birth, God spoke to
Abraham one night and told him. This is in Genesis 15:5: "Look now toward
the heaven, and tell the stars if thou be able to number them: and he said
unto him. So shall thy seed be." There are a little under 1,200 stars
visible to the naked eye. Yet in a previous conversation God said, "And I
will make them seed as the dust of the earth: so that if man can number the
dust of the earth, then shall they seed also be numbered." Astronomers,
up until 150 A.D., declared the number of stars to be 1,056. Today, scientists
tell us there are probably as many stars in the heavens as there are grains of
sand.
As
recent as a century or so ago, the ocean's volume and size were viewed as a
watery bowl, which sloped from the coastline gently downward until the middle,
where it was deepest. Then it was thought to proceed upward to the other side.
Yet today we know that some of the highest mountains and deepest canyons are
located on the floor of the Pacific Ocean. Interestingly enough, again the
Bible has some facts for us. In 2 Samuel 22:16 David spoke of the canyons of
the sea. A prophet described the submerged mountains during what might be
called the world's first submarine trip (see Jonah 2:6).
There
are other examples of scientific facts revealed in the Scriptures hundreds or
thousands of years before being actually discovered by those not reading the
Bible first. A very interesting project is to discover many other scientific
facts revealed in the Scriptures. Answers to questions such as, did man and
the dinosaurs live on earth simultaneously, are found in the book of Job.
Moses introduced the names, preventions, and cures for many diseases known
today. Often the preventions, symptoms, and even cures are still being taught
in medical schools. This could be an interesting project. How many other
scientific facts can you find in the Scriptures before they were generally
known to the world?
The most
important fact that we should believe from the Scriptures is that God tells us
it is His word. In 2 Timothy 3:16-17 we read, "All Scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be
perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." Matthew 4:4, Jesus
tells us, "It is written. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by the
very word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Peter tells us that
all Old Testament Scriptures were given by the Holy Spirit as He moved upon
men (2 Peter 1:21).
A quick
and very brief list of verses covering this area includes the following:
1 Cor.
2:13; John 17:8; John 6:63; Gal 1:11-12; 2 Pet. 3:2; 2 Pet. 3:15-15; Rev 22
18-19
For
Additional Information Contact
True
Light Educational Ministry
P.O. Box
310
Shirley,
NY 11967
Telephone
(631) 395-4646
|
|
Send mail to webmaster@tlem.net with
questions or comments about this web site.
|