Knowledge: Nothing to Fear

For a long time, the church has been in the business of suppressing and denying truth as revealed by science. It's time for something different.

Here is at great example. In the 17th century Galileo lived the last years of his life under House arrest for advancing the "hypothesis" that the Earth moved around the Sun, because it contradicted their strict literal interpretation of Scripture (Chronicles 16:30, Psalm 104:5, Ecclesiastes 1:5). In fact, the church actively opposed heliocentric "theory" well into the 18th century, and it wasn't until the early 19th century (1822) that the Roman Catholic Church allowed the printing of heliocentric books in Rome.

Fear always supports the goals of the enemy; this is especially so when it comes to fear of knowledge. If the Church acts as if knowledge as something to fear, the non-believer will reason that Christianity is just like other religions--a set of superstitions, eventually to be undermined by the onslaught of ever-increasing knowledge.

Contrast this to the believer who, through humility and faith experiences a powerful and personal relationship with the Creator on a daily basis. He knows that God cannot be undermined. He knows that what may appear to contradictory to God's word can be reconciled by the power of the Holy Spirit. When faced with new truths that seem contrary to established doctrine, he will respond with utter fearlessness.

When the non-believer sees that response, he will be intrigued. He might even start seeing Christ as somebody worth knowing.

Scripture, Revelation, and the Trap of Bibliolatry

For Christians, scripture is text inspired by God. But how can scripture be distinguished from other written words? God doesn’t speak Aramaic, Hebrew, or Greek; it is doubtful that even the original texts of the Bible can begin to capture the simplest idea that resides in the mind of God. The words alone are not enough; before a Christian can gain knowledge of God’s message through scripture, inspiration must be obtained from the Holy Spirit. This is referred to as being "in the Spirit". When such inspiration is found, it may reveal a different or even contrary meaning to what the scripture seems to mean on the surface, but the inspired interpretation will always fit into the context of the passage and of the Word of God as a whole. Many Christians understand this very well, but far too many tend to quote scripture out of context and outside the Spirit to justify their own ideology.

There is a word for the practice of worshipping a book, as opposed to worshipping God Himself. It is "Bibliolatry", and I think it is a growing practice among many proud, well-meaning, conservative people that think of themselves as good Christians. God is unchanging, but people aren't, and what the Holy Spirit reveals to us through scripture changes with us, even as the scripture remains constant. God doesn't contradict himself, but without divine inspiration to understand His Word from one's own perspective at the moment, it can seem that way, and this fact is a dangerous and potent tool of evil.

The Bible, Powerfullest Book EVER!

One thing's for sure about the Bible: it's old. You can be pretty sure its authors are not trying to trick you or scam you. Granted, they could have been trying to scam somebody thousands of years ago, but whatever their agenda, be it political or personal, you can rest assured that it doesn't apply to you, and besides, it would probably be lost on you anyway.

God can speak to you through any means he chooses; why would he speak through an ancient book translated by human beings and printed on an ordinary man-made machine? Well, I say he does speak through other means, but it's hard to filter him out from all the other noise in our world. The Bible at least remains relatively constant; even the translations have hardly changed in the last 400 years or so (since King James). That amount of time tends to filter out the ulterior motives of unscrupulous individuals.

Today we have the New International Version, which is certainly more comprehensible, but the language is strikingly similar to the King James Version when you put them side by side. This translation is done by a committee of scholars, which in my mind makes it more accurate, so I find the NIV translation most trustworthy.

The Bible doesn't have to be the word of God in your mind for you to acknowledge that the ideas it contains are powerful--just look at its legacy--but it's all the more powerful if you're actually perceiving the voice of God communicating with you through those words. That's the whole deal with the Bible, really. Once you start thinking that maybe God really is behind the Bible, even just for the most part, its power starts to really come through, and it's hard to deny. Without that thought, it's still easy to see the results of its power, but you can't really taste it.