Introduction to Bible Study: Why Should We Study the Bible?

-

(This article was originally written for my local newspaper.)
 
Have you ever heard the story of Admiral Cloudesley Shovell?  Shovell was a famous admiral in the British Navy.  He fought in many important battles in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and he was a popular British hero.  But he is infamous for a disaster that occurred in 1707.

Shovell was leading a fleet of four ships into the English Channel during a strong storm, and he navigated the four ships directly into the rocks of the Isles of Scilly.  The exact number of sailors killed is unknown, but it is said that the bodies washed ashore for many days after the incident. 

The problem was that sailors at the time were unable to accurately measure longitude, the position of their ships.  In a real sense, sailors in Shovell’s day did not know where they were or where they were going.  They had no standard to determine their exact location and course.
The way we view and react to the world around us sets the course of our lives.  We all have a basis for our view of how things work, a set of assumptions we make about the world that enables us to make our way.  If these assumptions are flawed, if we use the wrong standard to determine our course, our lives will end in disaster.

The words of the Bible are the only adequate standard to use while navigating life.  The Bible’s truths are the only assumptions we can make that allow us to really think (See: The Defense of the Faith by Cornelius Van Til and The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Timothy Keller).

We have abundant evidence to prove that the Bible is God’s Word given to us.  We have the testimony of the church that the books of the New Testament were written by eyewitnesses of the events they wrote about and that their message has been communicated to us through the centuries.  (See: Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony by Richard Bauckham and The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? by F. F. Bruce) 

Those eyewitness testimonies tell us about Jesus’ teaching that the Old Testament was true (Matthew 4:4, John 17:17) and His teaching that the New Testament would be true (John 14:25-30, 16:12-15).  They also tell of Jesus’ many miracles, which testified to the truth of what He taught (John 10:38, 14:11). 

We also have evidence that anyone can see who just gives the Bible a fair reading.  The 66 books of the Bible, written over thousands of years by authors many miles apart, do not contradict each other.   The truths given in the Bible are obvious to an intelligent person who is familiar with ‘the ways things work.’ The Bible’s words themselves are so majestic and powerful that they overcome resistance (Psalm 36:9, 119:105).

Above all, we have the testimony of God’s Holy Spirit that the Bible is true.  He speaks to us in our hearts with the words of the Bible, and we are firmly and finally convinced of the truth of Scripture.  God moves us in our hearts and minds.  We are convinced that the Bible is the ultimate authority over us because God, the Ultimate King, gave it to us. 
 
Everything we need to be saved from our sins and to live for God’s glory is clearly stated in the Bible or can be reasonably understood from those things stated in the Bible.  We can understand the Bible because what we need to know is said in one part of the Scripture or another so clearly that even those of us who are not theologians or experts in biblical languages can understand. 
 
The truths of the Bible ‘trump’ any opinions of the church.  They overcome the opinions of ancient writers.  They overwhelm the teachings of mere men.  They ‘ride rough-shot’ over the intuitions and feelings men have in their hearts. 

Since these things are true, how can we ignore the Bible?  How can Bibles collect dust on the shelves in our homes?  Why do we not pick up the book and read it?

This is hermeneutics (/hÉ™rməˈn(y)o͞otiks/), the science and practice of understanding what Scripture says.  These are the practical rules used to understand the Bible, and we should look at them in detail so that we do not make mistakes.  They are the guide to the life-guiding truths of the Bible.

 (The author is indebted too Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't by Jim Collins for the story of Admiral Shovell.  Parts of this article are paraphrases of parts of the First Chapter of The Westminster Confession of Faith.)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Face of Terror

-
Osama Bin laden is dead. Since the rest of the internet is buzzing with opinions on that death, I thought I would weigh in. First, this is not the end of global terrorism. Like the Hydra of old, when one head is chopped off, two more take its place. We still need diligence in our fight against global terror. U. S. and allied Armed Forces still need our prayers. We still need a strong military and intelligence community. We have not yet cut off the Hydra’s immortal head. Second, the way to get to the ‘heart of the matter’ is with Christian missionary efforts. We must reach the people who make up those societies and population segments that produce terrorists . To tell a story I have told here before : Early in the twentieth century, Baptist evangelists preached through rural Mississippi and Alabama with such effectiveness that moonshiners could no longer sell their whiskey: All their customers were getting converted! In desperation, the whiskey sellers hired two men to murder on
Read more

The Canons of Dort

-
I believe that the Canons of Dort are true. This is a statement that came out the Synod of Dort, held from 1618-1619. The Canons of Dort outline the system of theology known today as the “five points of Calvinism.” The problem I have with most “five-point Calvinists” is that the Canons of Dort contain much more than five points. Many explanations of the TULIP (total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace and the perseverance of the saints) are gross simplifications of the Canons of Dort. [This is especially true of explanations given by those who oppose Calvinism. It is easier to knock down a straw man than it is to knock down a real man, and so it is easier to criticize an oversimplified Calvinism that the more robust form.] Some of those who teach the “five points” leave out some of the quotes below: This death of God's Son is the only and entirely complete sacrifice and satisfaction for sins; it is of infinite value and worth, more than
Read more

Intelligent Design

-
The Intelligent Design (ID) movement makes much of the argument from irreducible complexity. Dr. Michael Behe has become famous for a simple example, the mousetrap. He points out that the mousetrap will not perform its function without all of its parts. The wooden base, the metal hammer, a spring, a catch and a metal bar to hold back the hammer are all necessary parts. One component by itself will not catch a mouse. Mainstream evolutionary science has a counter-argument. To paraphrase Dr. Kenneth Miller, if you disassemble the mousetrap, each component can serve as something useful on its own. If we take away the catch and metal bar, we have something left that can serve as a paper clip. The spring could make a simple two-section key chain. The wooden base makes a paperweight. Evolutionary processes like random mutation and natural selection can combine and retain the useful parts as the complicated evolves to perform the complex function. The useful parts are combined into the mousetr
Read more