8/21/15
Martha about 30
Where did the
Bible come from? Who chose what books
should be in it? Should we add, say, the Quran or the Book of Mormon to the
Bible? Of course not! But if certain religious factions said we
should add these books, it would be understandable to say they have no place
within what Christians know to be sacred scripture. So it was when the “Canon” of the books of
the Bible was recognized. It became
necessary to formally affirm what books are included in the Holy Bible in order
to protect against what books are not included, such as those with heretical
teachings that began to creep in as the church grew and spread in its first few
centuries.
Yet for many
people today, the focus has shifted from what books are included in the Bible
to what books were rejected! People who
have read enough of the Bible to think they know all about it, but who have not
read enough to recognize the miracle of the harmony between its various books,
are often attracted to the “secret” books that didn’t get included.
This is part of a
common fallacy about the Bible that I heard recently from a young lady named
Martha in a sidewalk outreach conversation.
She thinks that the Bible was put together by the Roman Emperor
Constantine to consolidate his power and that he rejected other books that
didn’t help him. She hadn’t really
studied its history, but had heard this conspiracy theory somewhere and for
this reason doesn’t trust the Bible and really hasn’t read it since her
teens. She admitted that her view of the
Bible is now based on the opinions of others, who promote fallacies such as
this and see the Bible as a tool of oppression by those in positions of
power.
This is far from
the truth, however. The Bible has a
solid history behind it and can withstand the honest questions and
investigation of those who want to know about its formation. But the best way to remove your doubts about
whether it truly is the Word of God?
Read it for yourself!
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