Higher criticism, like the ape-people story, is a fabrication patched together by rebels.
The “potent cause of modern unbelief” (Herbert) is not belief in Biblical infallibility, but a century of disbelieving it.
Dissatisfaction with the traditional view of revelation was not created by the rise of Biblical criticism. Criticism was born out of its denial. Continue reading
by Colin Phelps
There can be few people who know anything about missions in the 20th Century who have not heard the story of the five young men who died, January 8th, 1956, in their attempt to reach the Woarani [1] Indians of Ecuador. Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Pete Fleming, and Roger Youderian were cut down in the prime of their lives as they waited on a sand bar in the Ecuadorian jungle; waited for further contact with a people unreached with the Gospel and hostile to anyone from the outside world. The Christian world, particularly in the West reeled as it tried to make sense of this incredible tragedy. “Why would God allow such potential to be destroyed?” Even the secular press couldn’t ignore this tale. LIFE magazine ran a 10 page article featuring journal entries from the men themselves. Their headline? … “‘Go Ye and Preach the Gospel’ – Five Do and Die.”
“For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.” 1 Chron. 16:9
The Bible was written to be understood by word-search software, or by believers who think that way. There are many expressions and phrases that are used repeatedly—very deliberately—so that the reader makes connections.
This beautiful gem from Paul Huxley (reposted here with his permission):
A man finds some treasure in a field, he covers it up, joyfully buys the field and gets the treasure. Does that sound familiar? That’s right. It’s the plot of the book Ruth.
“Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
—Genesis 15:5-6
Abraham didn’t sleep in on the day he was to take his beloved son, his only son, to Moriah, kill him and offer him as an ascension. He got up early. By this stage in the narrative, Abraham had been tried and tested many times, but this seems just a little too keen.
“…that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world” Phil. 2:15
So, acacia wood is at the heart of the Holy furniture. The Tabernacle is a wilderness world glorified by Spirit-filled men and brought into the tent of God,[1] under the wing of Boaz, under the friendly firmament of a new Covenant, under the great tree that grows to shelter the nations.
“The Bible is not a history of poor people struggling under oppression. Nor does the Bible ever give any example of poor people rising up and overthrowing established order. Deliverance, when it comes, comes from people who are not poor helping those who are. The Bible history is a history of wealthy and royal people, giving us an example of how we are to think and live now that we are all wealthy and royal in Christ as members of His Kingdom Body.”
James B. Jordan, Getting Real with the Patriarchs, Biblical Horizons No. 202. Subscribe at www.biblicalhorizons.com
“Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.” 1 Cor. 13:8-10
I remember hearing a Southern Baptist pastor many years ago teaching that “that which is perfect” was the completed New Testament. He was forced to find some point in first century history that would justify his belief in the cessation of miraculous gifts like tongues. Well, to a point, I think he was right.
“Faith, without trouble or fighting, is a suspicious faith;
for true faith is a fighting, wrestling faith.”
—Ralph Erskine
Once upon a time, not far from here, there was a graphic designer who busted a gut for five years teaching the Bible in a local high school. He was committed to building a biblical worldview through the communication of the exciting, terrifying, comforting narratives of the Old Testament as a foundation for the gospel, to a generation starving for this stuff and filling the gap with movies and novels like Harry Potter and Twilight. After all, postmoderns love narrative.
Bible Matrix blog
