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Entry #596714, added on 07-16-08 @ 12:08 am EDT.
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Title:
The Bible outdated
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Once someone said to me, "Don't you think the Bible is outdated and old-fashioned? It doesn't really apply to today; we live in a different world."
I thought I was being gentle with my answer; my tone of voice was quiet and respectful, and I smiled while I spoke. I was trying very hard not to offend but to speak from my heart.
"Oh, no. It does apply to today because it's really about human nature which hasn't changed. History, fashion, customs, they've all changed but people are still the same. We learn from these stories about our own personalities, our weaknesses, and God's love. We just change the circumstances to modern ones that tell us how to get along in the world."
I know it was overly simplistic, but this was just a hit and run conversation. She turned to other things, but very soon after I heard her mumbling out loud about a goody two shoes. So apparently, I did offend her.
Had I spoken harshly, or judgementally, or scowled while speaking, I might concede that these words could sound like an attack. That was not the intent. It must have passed, because when I sought her our later and greeted her, she was her usual friendly self.
I still stand by the words I said to her. Human nature has not changed. Parents still love their children; men still fall for women, business men still want to make a profit. The needy are still all around us, and sometimes the religious can be very haughty rule makers. People still are tempted to lie, cheat, steal, commit adultery, murder, lose their tempers, avoid paying taxes, deceive others, use God's name losely, worship false gods, disrespect their parents, take advantage of their employees, lust (use pornography included), and generally fall short of God's glory.
People in the Bible and the 2000 plus years since get broken hearts, feel despair, confusion, loneliness, fatigue, fear, dread, guilt, and humiliation. They grieve for lost loved ones. They have enemies. They get homesick. They lose all their material possesions. They experience disease and suffering and betrayal. They question God and His will for their lives.
Likewise, they fall in love, they rejoice at the birth of a child, they celebrate special family occasions, they have fellowship and meals together. They make devoted friends. They are happy when someone grows and makes personal progress. They encourage one another. They take on hard tasks. They make music and sing and dance and give God thanks.
Not only humans, but God, too, is the same. He still loves those He has created, still provides comfort and guidance, still rejoices when humans turn to Him. His heart still hurts when people reject Him. He is still our Judge and prosecutor. He still waits patiently for us to find Him and His mercy.
So the Bible isn't out of date, but actually tells us what the world is like now. It tells us how God uses dysfunctional families to accomplish His purpose (Isaac, Jacob, and all their families, for example). He uses little people like Gideon and inept people like Peter to carry out really big jobs. We know from reading the Bible that no matter how "little" or obscure or inefficient or inept we are, God cares for us and can use us. He also uses well-educated people like Moses and Solomon and Paul for big tasks, too. None of us are too famous or too smart or too rich or too powerful for God and His work for us.
A Bible reading or study that treats the book like history or a novel is short-sighted. What can I learn from this? What psychology is being used here? How does this apply to real people in the twenty-first century? These are the questions that should always be used when reading the Bible, the story of God reaching out to man. |
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