June 2003 New Horizons

Yea, Hath God Said ...

by Larry Wilson

The first recorded words of the devil constitute a challenge to God's word: "Yea, hath God said ...?" (Gen. 3:1, KJV). To this day, he hasn't dropped that challenge. It's the heart of his strategy. Both outside and inside the church, the devil works to impugn the word of God as we find it today in the Bible. Has God really said this? Is the Bible really the word of God? The Bible Claims to Be God's Word When you receive a letter, how do you know whom it's from? It's signed by its sender. The Bible is likewise "signed by its sender," God. In the Old Testament alone, the expression "thus saith the Lord" or its equivalent occurs over two thousand times. Moreover, our Lord Jesus Christ insisted that the Old Testament is the very word of God. He submitted to its authority himself. Read Matthew 4:3-10. Jesus warded off each temptation of the devil with an appeal to the Bible: "It is written ... It is written ... It is written...." Jesus believed that the Bible spoke about him and was fulfilled in ... Read more

Bible Breaking, Bible Bending, and Bible Believing

by J. G. Vos

Today in our Western culture, the Bible is generally praised. It is praised by many who have not the slightest intention of living by it. It is praised by many who have never even read it, except perhaps casually. It is praised by critics who have torn it to shreds and who hold that it has only human authority. But formal commendation of the Bible as something good, and really taking the Bible seriously, are two different things. In Christianity, the Bible has a double function. It is, first of all, the standard of truth and duty; and secondly, it is a means of grace in the Christian life. Many who admit the latter are nevertheless intent upon denying the former. The Bible as a help to right living, yes; the Bible as a revelation of absolute truth, no—such is the common reaction to the Bible among intellectual people today. We shall consider in this article (1) Bible breaking, or overt denial of the Bible's authority as truth; (2) Bible bending, or covert denial of the Bible's authority as truth; ... Read more

Enjoy Your Bible

by John Blanchard

"Enjoy your Bible." To almost everybody outside of the Christian church, and to not a few inside it, those words constitute at worst an absurdity and at best a mild contradiction in terms. To many non-Christians, especially to those with no particular religious beliefs, the Bible is no more than an antiquated collection of myths and fables. To others, it seems to be some kind of moral rule-book, dark, forbidding, even sinister. Others will regard it as no more than a jumbled collection of men's religious thoughts, while some might be prepared to concede that, like the proverbial curate's egg, it is good in parts. To be perfectly realistic, these reactions are totally predictable; we should expect unbelievers to think like that. The greater tragedy is when professing Christians, while presumably approaching the Bible with greater piety, seem to do so with little more pleasure. For many of them, the Bible is something they seem to endure rather than enjoy. They appear to recognize that in some mysterious way ... Read more