“The Bible was written not to satisfy your
curiosity but to help you conform to Christ’s image. Not to make you a smarter
sinner but to make you like the Savior. Not to fill your head with a collection
of biblical facts but to transform your life.” -Dr. Howard G. Hendricks
As a
Christian, I have at times been pressed with the most torturing of all
questions – is the Bible authentic? As a teenager I had often squirmed at this
question when asked by peers of different faiths; especially, Muslims. Why were Muslims a greater
threat? I shall elaborate on that in just a bit. They were often well armed with a
trove of facts and information, excavated right from the time of King Solomon’s temple of Jerusalem. My faith was no match for
their scientific and archaeological cannon of facts with which they choose to
swing at my feeble words of faith like a battering ram, or so I thought. You
see what I am writing here, and this is just so I am clear, is not conclusive
evidence of anything and especially not regarding the authenticity of the Bible
(that is just something you are going to have to take up on faith and your
interaction with God). Instead this is just a meek effort on my part to
describe what the Bible means to me and of the struggles that I and many other
Christians, in the early stages of forging our faith have experienced.
Having
been born into a Christian family and raised by
my grandparents during the early years of my life, I was almost
aware of the Bible and its contents, although not in its entirety but at least
in parts pertaining to significant events that mould the Christian beliefs, in
the form of bedtime stories recited by granny over and over each night. And
when I started learning the Bible at Sunday school, it was no great surprise. I
have always wondered what it would be like for a convert to Christianity. How
would it feel like to him/her, being able to experience the Bible for the first
time, but through the eyes and experience of a grown up person, not subjected
to any obligation to believe what is laid before him/her, but having the
freedom to question the rationale behind anything and everything?
I
realize that ever so often, this is exactly what all of us want, or at least
look forward to, being able to find answers and proofs to quench the
intellectual thirst for the ultimate truth; much like being able to understand
the intricacies of the derivatives market from an article in the wall street
journal, or, perhaps the complexities of the ‘god’ particle that scientists
have observed in the Large Hadron Collider through some science publication.
But even from these, we are not able to wholly satisfy this lust for conviction;
are we? Even these phenomenons are drenched in quandary and paradoxes. How
audacious then, to think that we can fathom the truths of the infinite by
academically studying the Bible from an intellectual standpoint?
During
my later teenage years and in particular after I got into college, I was under
the conviction that one’s belief is only worth so much as that which can be
proved. But here lies a paradox in itself. Proved to the satisfaction of whom?
For any statement or fact to be considered as proof, it has to be accepted to
the satisfaction of the highest mind; and the highest mind in question here is no
doubt the human mind. Now you will all agree that the human mind is a finite
one, I mean we can’t even assert with credence about the idiosyncrasies of a 4th
dimension. Our world and our experiences in it are confined to the finite 3
dimensional universe we reside in. Then how on earth can we even begin to
comprehend the involutions of the infinite mind. This is of course, only
applicable if you are a theist in the first place and acknowledge the presence
of God. For the atheist however, everything is left to chance and theories of
random selection. They seem quite content at that, so let’s leave them
undisturbed.
Now
back to the conflict at hand, which is being able to find answers in the Bible
that our mortal minds desire so that we can believe with a deep conviction devoid
of any incertitude at having found the ultimate truth. As humans we want to
perceive this summate and all embracing, infinite wisdom of God, here and in
the now. This very quest had led man to some of the greatest discoveries and
findings in the field of science, astronomy, physics, mathematics and more
recently, the field of particulate sciences. Those questions that even these
incredible breakthroughs could not answer were taken on by scientific freaks
through string theories. I doubt if even they fully understand the profoundness
of such claims.
Let
me put it this way, The worst sin that man could possibly commit is to
objectify God from a rational, scientific and academic standpoint under the
cliché banner of 'quest for the truth' and eventually arrive at the conclusion
that God doesn't exist. What they fail to realize however is that a finite
medium can only reveal so much finite truths. Trying to confine the infinite
within the limits of out finiteness is stark; yeah that's right 'foolishness'.
The bible is not your everyday ‘pick it off the shelf’ reference book and yet
it is your daily guide. This might seem self contradicting. Much has to do with
the fact that we tend to view the book as any other book, with a single
contributing and compiling authority- an author. Let me tell you this, the
Bible in its present form was not written by any individual human being. Then
who wrote it? In its physical form it is the result of a number of great
prophets and apostles; and in essence, it is the work of God’s spirit.
Taking
the above into consideration it is very easy to question the authenticity of
the Bible. In fact even a preschooler can throw muck at the Bible and stand
outright convinced at the effort. If facts and information were what it took,
then it is much easier to convince someone about the illegitimacy of the Bible
than its legitimacy. Which is where my earlier statement comes into picture: Why
were Muslims a greater threat? If you were to put an average Christian teenager
and an average Muslim teenager into a room and asked the Muslim to prove the
Bible illegitimate and the Christian to save the Bible from the allegations,
the Muslim would win hands down. This is because in no other religion or
religious literature is there a more teeming treasure trove of information all
of which is calculated, proposed and directed at proving Christianity to be a
desolated and god forsaken cult of disbelievers. Like I said, their facts and
entropy of data is irrefutable. Not that there is no such evidence in support
of the Bible and its authenticity, but that for every piece of work on the
Bible’s legitimacy, there is two regarding its bar sinister in the Muslim
religious literature. The most horrific claim they make is that ‘Jesus was never crucified in the first place
and that it was a look alike that died on the cross. That in this matter there
is no confusion and anyone who believes otherwise is full of doubts, having no
real knowledge and following mere conjecture, for surely, they killed him not’. AYAT an-Nisa`4:157- (wama qataloohu wama salaboohu walakin
shubbiha lahum wa-inna allatheena ikhtalafoo feehi lafee shakkin minhu ma
lahum bihi min AAilmin illa ittibaAAa alththanni wama qataloohu
yaqeenan).
This is to say that the Christian’s are full of doubts. The acute and ultimate
design of such a claim is to undermine the very foundation of the Christian
faith, ‘that Jesus, God’s only begotten son, Died on the cross for our sins,
and through his resurrection paid the price for our sins, so
that anyone who believes in his name might be
eligible for eternal life’. John3:16
“For God so loved the world, that he gave
his only begotten son, so that whosoever believes in him should not perish but
have eternal life”. Once you take out Christ and his death, then the very
foundation of
Christianity
is mislaid. As the apostle Paul rightly says in 1 Cor 15:14 “and if Christ has not been raised, then our
preaching is vain, your faith also is vain”. To me
personally, there couldn’t be a better joke than this!
Which
now brings me to the conclusion of my dilemma in this matter and how ‘by faith’
and not ‘by sight’ I am resting assured on divine knowledge that surpasses
human understanding. I took it upon myself then, to read up on as much
materials as I could get my hands on,
regarding the Bible and in particular the events of the New Testament. Only to
realize that my Muslim brother was right! There was no way I could win an
argument on the Bible’s authenticity. Maybe if I were a Christian scholar I
would have a better chance, or, perhaps maybe not. But the pivotal aspect is
this, that I have felt the constant and empowering presence of the almighty in
my life. And like Dr. Hendricks rightly puts it, the Bible was written to help
me conform to Christ’s image, not to make me a smarter sinner or a hypocrite
with a brain full of facts and biblical quotes and definitely not to help me
win an argument. For all things will be revealed in time. Whatever is hidden
will be brought to light. Matthew 10:26
“So do not be afraid of
them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that
will not be made known.”
The only thing that comes to my mind is Psalms 34:8 "O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes
refuge in him."
Wonderful articles..looking forward to similar posts.
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