creation story. Certainly the God of all creation is able to do all things; He could assuredly create all things in the six solar days, or less time than that if He chose to do it. Our God did not bring human life into the world by any such process as organic evolution. To accept such a theory is to deny the infallible Word of God. THE BIBLE'S RELIABILITY Q. What proof have we that the Bi ble is the Word o f God? A. Whole volumes have been written on this subject. Space here will per mit only a brief statement of some of the reasons why we know that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, authentic, authoritative, infallible, and divine. Some of the external evidences of these truths are: 1. The ancient manuscripts in the great libraries of the world go back to a very early date. Some of the manuscripts of the New Testament were written as early as the fourth century A.D. We have copies of the Greek translation of the Old Testa ment which Christ used when He was on earth. His word concerning it is sufficient! It was translated not later than 250 B.C., and is called The Septuagint Version. 2. The versions, or translations, of the Bible into the many languages of the earth, are manifold. Some of these are older than the authentic manuscripts. It is a well known fact that the men who made some of these translations could easily have known the apostles, all of which means that they had apostolic authority for their versions. 3. About fifty of the early church fathers quoted the New Testament so freely in their writings that all of the New Testament could be put together, with the exception of a few passages. These writings of the church fathers are still available to scholars today. When these manuscripts, versions, and quotations from the church fa thers are compared, verse by verse,
line by line, they are found to verify the fact that our English Bible is authentic. 4. Archaeology has proved many facts of Bible history. Monuments and tablets have been discovered which prove beyond all doubt the story of creation, the fall, the flood, and other events of Bible history. Abraham’s early home, the city of Ur of Chaldea, has been discovered. These are but a few of the silent testimonies from the monuments to the eternal truth of the Word of God. 5. History has borne out t h e prophecies foretold in the Bible. What could be more striking and more convincing than the way proph ecy has been and is being fulfilled concerning the Jews and the land of Israel, once more an independent na tion and homeland for God’s ancient people? 6. The attacks o f Satan upon the Word of God prove its divine origin. These attacks have been unceasing, unmitigated, violent. Any other book so assailed would have been utterly obliterated long ago. But God has miraculously preserved the Bible against the open attacks of fire, wa ter, and sword, and against the more subtle attacks of skeptic, critic, and “ scientist” falsely so called. What could furnish more abundant proof of its divine origin and author ity than its miraculous preservation throughout the ages? 7. The universal appeal of the Bi ble proves its divine origin. Trans lated into more than 900 languages and dialects, it meets the need of the human heart, of whatever color or race, of whatever degree of educa tion, of whatever social level. This is not true of any other book. It is the world’s best seller, and has been so for generations. 8. The power of the living Word of God to regenerate the heart and change the life is unmistakable evi dence of its divine inspiration. These are but a few of the external evi dences of the inspiration of the Bible. There are innumerable inter nal proofs as well.
DAVID'S SIN Q.. It troubles me that David’s sin was treated so lightly in the Bible. How do you explain that? A. I don’t explain it because it is not true. The Lord was greatly dis pleased with David and punished him severely by not allowing him to build a temple for His worship since his was not a peaceful reign, by al lowing him to be disgraced publicly by his own sons, and by taking the life of the child of Bathsheba. Read it in II Samuel 12:7-14, one of the most terrible indictments the Lord ever pronounced against any one. It was deserved because the Lord had raised up David from be ing a shepherd boy to rule His peo ple. We are dealt with according to the blessings and the light we have received. The sword never, departed from him from that time to his death. Note also I Kings 15:5, indi cating that the stigma of his sin re mained forever. DAYS OF CREATION Q. Were the six days o f creation solar days o f twenty-four hours each, or were they longer periods of time? A. We believe they were solar days of twenty-four hours each. However, there are those who think that II Peter 3:8 implies that they may have been longer periods of time: “ One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day.” The insurmountable difficulty in believing that the Genesis days were ages is that the Word says that each of the “ day’s” creation was divided into two parts: the light was called “ day,” and the darkness was called “ night.” If the night had consisted of thousands of years, all vegetation would have died, which must have light in order to survive. The motive of certain critics in estimating these six days of creation as longer periods of time likely is to apply the theory of evolution to the
AUGUST, 1966
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