What We Believe
The vast majority of theology (study of god) departments in colleges and universities include all revered objects of worship in their courses. The studies list the various gods and idols by name and domain, including all the different responsibilities of each. There are gods for all definable emotions, seasons, weather, mountains, rivers, animals, and the list goes on through too many books to count. The schools include the God of Heaven described in the Bible but deny Him the attributes of infinite knowledge and power related in the Bible. They teach about their concept of deity, which does not include the miracles and knowledge of future events.
When we read of the God of Heaven and study His abilities, we find one dominant feature – His ability to enumerate past and future events. To Moses, He gave the accounts of creation and the histories of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for the book of Genesis. To Job He asked, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding” (Job 38:4). In Job 38-41, God points out His marvelous deeds. In Isaiah, God challenges the false gods of the nations, “Declare the things that are going to come afterward, That we may know that you are gods; Indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together” (Isaiah 41:23). Then God states His ability this way, “Behold, the former things have come to pass, Now I declare new things; Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you” (Isaiah 42:9). Jesus, as the Son of God, said, “Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe” (John 14:29).
The design of the University Theology Departments is to study gods and not The One True God. Therefore, they do not believe in or teach the abilities claimed by the God who spoke to Moses, Job, Isaiah, and the disciples of Jesus. To explain the early books of Moses and the prophecies of Isaiah and Daniel, they teach that they were written around 400 B.C. or some date after they occurred. As for the inspiration of scripture, they view it as the same kind of inspiration as an author writing a novel or an artist painting a picture. They describe the events of Genesis, Exodus, and other Old Testament books as myths, stories to teach a moral lesson.
Everyone must answer one question: “Which is to be trusted, the books of people or the Bible?” Over time, we each read many books. Some read a few; others read dozens every year. The one thing that books written by people have in common is errors and contradictions. The writing of a book, either technical, biographical, or fiction, is a process of writing, editing, and proofing. Several people are involved in the process, each looking for and correcting spelling, grammar, omission, and correlation errors. Professionals get paid to perform these tasks and are surprised that mistakes slip through. A date in one chapter is different in another. Or the word sounds the same but is the wrong spelling for context. Today, theologians are trying to convince us that The Bible contains these kinds of mistakes, arguing that it is a work of fiction not written by an infallible God.
Many papers, articles, and books list supposed errors found in the Bible. But each quoted example can be explained by examining the scripture and the context. Sometimes, the published copies of the Bible contain “typos” that the publisher corrects as soon as it is noticed. One of the most blatant was when one version by Robert Barker and Martin Lucas was released in 1631 with the word “not” omitted from (Exodus 20:14). Most copies were collected and burned. But this served as a lesson to Bible publishers since then.
Another complaint, over the years, concerns the Bible’s accuracy in citing names unknown to history. Historians claimed that the Hittites named in the Old Testament never existed. A discovery made of a multi-language listing showed the Hittites were a people known by another name in the historical records of the time. Still, other “historical” problems occur due to a changing language. Some words used in the 1611 King James Version have changed meaning through the centuries. Jesus giving up the “ghost” caused misunderstandings when moderns understood the term to mean a ghost, like Dickens described in his novels. And the Holy Ghost was viewed as a phantom apparition by many. Modern translations use Spirit when translating “pneuma” and (Luke 23:46) now reads, “And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit My spirit. Having said this, He breathed His last.”
Those who only want to argue will point out that even the name Jesus is wrong. His Hebrew name is a version of Joshua, Yeshua. Yeshua transliterates into the Greek Iesous. Finally, Iesous translates into English as Jesus. But these confusing arguments are used to shake the faith of Christians and prevent belief in non-Christians.
What do you believe? Is the Bible the Word of God?
