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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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Believing the Bible |
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Twenty-fourth Sunday
after Trinity November 2, 2008 If there is no word from God that is always true, then we can never know truth. If there is no word from God which gives us absolute standards of morality and ethics, then all ideas of right and wrong are relative. Now the word, “relative” as used by the secularists today, is a code word meaning, “arbitrary.” If there is no absolute standard for truth and morality, then all views of truth arbitrary. Furthermore, all rules are arbitrary. In fact, this is especially important in the area of rules, or, law. If there is no absolute standard of right and wrong, then all rules are arbitrary. The rule of law, then is simply a set of arbitrary rules forced upon others by whatever group is in power at a given moment, and even the manner in which the rules are enforced is arbitrary, favoring some at the expense of others. Think, for example, of the “teacher’s pet.” Christians believe there is truth. Truth exists both in reality and in morality. When I say truth exists in reality I mean truth is real. Truth is more than simply objective facts, it is truth in the sense of reality that is the foundation of existence. Truth exists in morality. “Thou shalt not steal” is moral truth that is not subject to variation or interpretation. It is always true. Truth exists only if there is a truth giver, and Christians believe the truth giver is God. We believe God is, and that He has spoken in an understandable way which reveals absolute truth, and that His truth is recorded for us in the Bible. To be specific, God spoke the truth through the prophets and events of the Old Testament. He spoke the truth through Jesus Christ, the Living Word, in the New Testament. Christ taught the truth to the Apostles. The Apostles recorded the truth in the New Testament, where we find it preserved for us today. That is what we mean when we say the Bible is the word of God. But this leads us to another question; what does it mean to believe the Bible? Of course it means that we believe the Bible is the word of God. It was given by God. It was inspired by God in a way that is unique to itself. The Bible describes that process as being, “out of the mouth of God,” 2 Tim 3:16. It is a bold statement saying the Bible is the word of God as if it came out of the very mouth of God. To believe the Bible is the word of God is to say the Bible is the authority in all areas of faith and practice. The Bible is the authority above all bishops, all governors, or kings, above all laws, creeds, and people. It is our authority in all things of doctrine. I refer here primarily to religious doctrine, but of course, it is also our authority in the foundational philosophy of life. What is God like? What is our duty to God and to one another? Who is man? What is the meaning of life? What happens after death? What does it mean to be in a right relationship with God? How do we find a right relationship to God? All of these questions, and many more are answered in the Bible. To say, “I believe the Bible,” is to say “I accept the Bible’s answers to these questions. To Believe the Bible is to believe all the Bible. . This is where many “Christians” begin to have problems. To say “this part of Scripture is the word of God, but this part is not,” puts us right back in the realm of the arbitrary. On what basis do we decide what parts of the Bible are and what parts are not the word of God? How do we make that decision? It always comes down to personal preference. We choose to believe what we like. What we don’t like, obviously, is not the word of God. Today we have people who reject the Biblical teachings on sexuality, the value of human life, and the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith, yet they still claim to be Christians. They pick and choose parts of the Bible they like, and they call them the word of God. Well, sometimes they just call them “enlightened ideas” or even just “nice ideas” making no claim that they come from God. But they choose or reject Scripture based on nothing but their own arbitrary ideas of what God ought to be like. This is the idea behind the statement that the Christian faith must change and evolve to maintain its appeal to post modern, secularized people. It is to say we must arbitrarily choose what parts of the Bible we will keep, and what parts we will discard, in order to make the faith more appealing. In fact, it is to say we will let the non-believers choose what parts we will believe and what parts we will not. We will let the non-believers define the Christian faith for us, in order to make it more appealing to them, to make them more comfortable with church. I believe that is a mistake. If following God were that easy there would have been no reason for Christ to die on the cross. He would never have opposed the Pharisees. He would never have told Nicodemus that he must be born again. He would have simply blessed everyone, and said everything is fine. God loves you. Instead He said from the very beginning of His ministry, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” In this age of moral/cultural/religious arbitrariness, there is a desperate need for people to stand firm for the faith once for all delivered unto the saints, and the Saviour who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, as revealed in the Bible. Equally important is the desperate need for a solid foundation on which to build our lives and our faith. We need to know that our foundation is truth, not an arbitrary, which is to say, imaginary, foundation. When we stand before God we want to know we are dressed in the righteousness of Christ, not the “Emperor’s New Clothes.” Either God has spoken, or He has not. Either the Bible is His word, or it is not. If it is not, let us treat it as the words of men. If indeed it is the Word of the Living God, let us believe and do it. Amen. The Rev. Dr. R. Dennis Campbell, Vicar, Holy Trinity Anglican Church,
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