As to understanding the message of the Bible, an illiterate person who is born again, having received the Holy Spirit, only needs to have the key portions of the Old and New Testaments read to them.
The difficulty for most people, error is so much a part of a human being’s fallible nature. Unless a person recognizes some basic truths and faces them, there is no hope for enlightenment when it comes to understanding the Bible. These are truths such as:
- I did not ask to be born, so why am I here?
- I will die, so were is the purpose in being born only to die?
- I did not ask to be born, I will die, I also experience suffering, so where is the justice in being born to die and having to suffer?
Any atheist who genuinely desires to disprove the Bible will actually go into the field to do so, just as many archaeologists have done, who have attempted to disprove its historical accuracy. Failing in their efforts, these archaeologists have acknowledged the Bible’s historical reliability. Consequently they have sought God and found Him. There are other tests available—if a person is genuine.
Most atheists read the Bible like I have read numerous books—fast. This is because much of the information is filler. Like one book I read of late, where the author, a Harvard award-winning writer, takes about four paragraphs to express a point. Yet, because of his ability to have much to say about nothing, he is heralded a great writer by the person who recommended the book.
Once I enjoyed reading fiction. I no longer read fiction. When I did, I would read slowly and allow the story to unfold in my imagination. This way I enjoyed the book. One day a woman (a television celebrity and columnist) and I were staying as guests at a friend’s holiday house over the Easter holidays. We both read the same book. I took six hours. She took one hour. But when discussing the book afterwards, she demonstrated a paucity of understanding, whereas, much to her amazement, I recalled minute detail vividly.
Since atheists regard the Bible as fiction when they read it, maybe they ought to read it slowly and enjoy the read, rather than read so they can find apparent contradictions or recorded events that they can use to justify their beliefs. In fact, while reading slow, they ought to even add a little bit more spice to the experience and call out to the One in Whom we live and move and have our being, the Creator of the Universe, and issue a challenge along the lines of:
- If you are real, God of the Bible, I am going to take my time reading this book, and if you do not convince me that you are the author by the time I finish, then I know that you do not exist.
A truly meaningful reading of the Bible should take at least 1000 hours. Do you think any atheist would be willing to give 1000 hours of his or her time to meaningfully read fiction? Probably. However, I would doubt that they would do that reading the Bible. Maybe I am just a skeptic at heart.
Atheists cannot understand the Bible if they reject that it is true before they begin to read it. For when they begin reading the Bible with an erroneous assumption, they have no way of understanding the truth.
No comments:
Post a Comment