Is the Bible the Word of God?

An agnostic sent a question about the word of God to Creation Ministries International. CMI retweeted it here, the full question is here and is answered by CMI rep Jonathan Sarfati. Sarfati approaches it on the basis of valid, internally consistent philosophical systems. But I want to take it in a different direction and answer it evidentially. That is, is there evidence that the Bible is the word of God? So in this article we’ll to take a look at the heart of the question and address the key issue which, as the agnostic puts it, is this:

I’m not denying that the bible is an excellent book, nor that it may be the word of God, but I will question one tenet:

That the Bible must be the word of God, because it says so.

Now, consider me heretic, but it strikes me that this is a ridiculous line of thought to take? If I were to say that my face was made of cucumber, and I’m four hundred years old, would that make it so simply because I said so?
I’m not entirely convinced that it would.

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A Rational Faith vs An Illogical Atheist

Milan - Resurrection of Lazarus from San Giorgio church

Milan – “Resurrection of Lazarus” from the San Giorgio church

Most of the time I do not bother to respond to the online rantings of atheists. That’s because most are not worthy of a response since they tend to be one of the following:

  • Ad hominem attacks that have nothing to do with the question at hand
  • Fiat statements that are not only completely wrong, but have absolutely no backing evidence in science, reality or truth
  • Gross misstatements or misunderstandings of science whose corrections cannot be explained in a single tweet.

In my experience most atheists online are not seeking the truth. They merely want to pour the nonsense and trash of their worldview on everyone and expect everyone to swallow – hook, line and sinker – the lies they themselves have become accustomed to. Amusingly, they consider themselves bastions of reason and science but always seem to miss it when they themselves are spouting irrational, illogical nonsense. Continue Reading

Atheists – Deeper in Denial than Demons

Your continued mocking of God continuall confirms your choice of eternal condemnation

This article started with an observation from scripture that the title describes, but I’ll throw in a couple of other observations while we’re on the topic.

Observation 1: Atheists know who the true God is.

Though atheists deny God exists, they quite clearly know who he is and that he exists. How do I know that? Well, first scripture tells us that God has made his existence plain to all (Rom 1.19) so atheists deny him only by denying what’s obvious. Jehovah’s Witnesses have been characterized as “apostles of denial”[1] by former Watchtower member professor Edmund C. Gruss because of all the Christian doctrines they deny but, compared to atheists, the Witnesses are amateur deniers of the truth.
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Don’t get your Morality from an Atheist

Don't Get your morality from an Atheist!

Worldviews have consequences. Particularly regarding morality. If you understand the concept of a “worldview” that is obvious. For those unfamiliar with the term, here’s a definition by “Purpose Driven Life” author Rick Warren who did a study series on it with the late Chuck Colson called “Wide Angle – Framing Your Worldview.” The concept of worldview is critical to the point made both in the meme above and repeated in this article, so if you’re not familiar with it, please take a look at the link.

Two Points in the Meme 

Take a look at the meme above, and note both the meme and particularly the tweet used to send it actually make two points.

The first point: There is nothing in the atheist worldview that says that murdering innocent children is wrong, or evil or should be avoided. In fact according to the atheist worldview there is no morality, so there is nothing that can be called “evil.”  All actions are equally valid or equally moral. Continue Reading

Don’t get your Theology from an Atheist

The Serpent questions the word of God

There are a lot of falsehoods, misinformation and outright lies on the internet. But there is also truth on the internet so you must be careful to discern the truth from the falsehoods, the fact from the fiction. In this post I want to highlight a good rule of thumb to consider when people start discussing theology or Christianity or religion with you. Here’s the advice: Don’t get your theology from an atheist.

This should be obvious, but to clarify, there’s a saying that has been going around online, at least on Twitter, that imparts a valuable piece of wisdom: “Only a fool would allow his enemies to educate his children.” Continue Reading

Miracles: Impossible or Improbable?

Matthew (writer of the gospel) - upon witnessing the miraculous catch of fish

Matthew – “It’s impossible.” The Chosen Episode. 4 “The Rock On Which it is Built”

In “Evidence is for believers, not mockers” I make the case that miracles, one of the strongest proofs of the truth of the gospels, and a validation of the message and ministry of Jesus, is meant for those who already believe, or are ready to believe. They are not meant for mockers like hardened atheists and agnostics or doubters not really looking for the truth. This is true for a number of reasons which I list in the article, so I won’t repeat them here.  I’ll simply encourage you to read the article for the detailed reasons.

As I watched The Chosen (an excellent series I highly recommend about the life of Jesus starting with the call (the choosing) of the disciples) I noticed that they gave a strong defense for why that thesis is true – that miracles are for believers, not unbelievers and mockers. The difference in the approach between those willing to believe and those unwilling to believe a miracle can be seen in how they answer this question: Was that impossible, or merely improbable? Continue Reading

Star of Bethlehem – Divine Preparation for the Incarnation

A Christmas Meditation

The naiveté  of those who doubt that Jesus is the messiah because they suppose that he arranged to fulfill the requirements and prophecies of the messiah himself always amuses me – particularly at this time of  year when the preparations of God for the arrival of the messiah are so apparent.

It reminds me of the naiveté of the comic character Calvin, of Calvin and Hobbes – an active and curious child who with his stuffed tiger (who is alive to Calvin) always gets into amusing situations.  In one instance Calvin asks his father: Continue Reading

Is the Bible full of fantastic creatures? Part 4: Witches and Ghosts

Some people disbelieve the Bible because they find what I’m calling fantastic creatures – creatures which they believe don’t exist, and thus they conclude the Bible is full of fairy stories and make believe. But nothing could be further from the truth. So in this series we’re looking at the reality behind the creatures which the atheist who tweeted the below finds objectionable:

“He follows a holy book with a jealous & genocidal god, ghosts, zombies, seers, devils, demons, witches, satyrs, unicorns, talking animals, a man who lived in a fish and a 7 headed dragon.”[1]
(Not listed but also covered: The Cockatrice)

And though this is not the season for Halloween, next up we’re looking at witches and ghosts.

Are there Witches in the Bible? 

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Paley’s Watchmaker Argument – Undefeated once Understood

Paley’s watch maker argument – an argument for the existence of God by the clearly apparent design in nature is one of the most powerful arguments for God’s existence. How do I know? One need merely take a look at all the skeptics who try (unsuccessfully) to refute it. From Youtube bloggers to high profile atheists like Richard Dawkins, doubters repeatedly try to show the argument invalid – and fail miserably. Why all the effort? Because it is so clear, so easy to understand, so obvious, that it is a powerful argument for the existence of God.

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Is the Bible full of fantastic creatures? Part 3: Cockatrice

The creature sculpted into the fountain above is the mythical cockatrice. It was not included in the below list from one atheist in his attempt to mock the Bible and the Christian faith for including what he considers unbelievable creatures:

“He follows a holy book with a jealous & genocidal god, ghosts, zombies, seers, devils, demons, witches, satyrs, unicorns, talking animals, a man who lived in a fish and a 7 headed dragon.”[1]

Like many atheists he’s grossly wrong in many of his presumptions. And since I’m sure someone with an anti-Bible axe to grind will point to the cockatrice as an unbelievable creature in the Bible I’ve included it. Though not mentioned in this atheist’s  list, this is a good place to handle it – following an article on the satyr – because a lot of similar dynamics are involved. Of particular note is the use of Hebrew rhyme – the repetition of a single idea. In Is 34.14   we looked at the use of rhyme when a satyr – an idol for a pagan demonic god represented by a goat – was used in the context of judgment. In contrast here we see Hebrew rhyme used with the word the KJV translates as “cockatrice”  in the context of the glorious reign of Christ on earth, in a passage about the effects of the curse being removed. 

So what’s going on here? Is the Bible really referring to the mythical beast, a winged serpent with a rooster’s head and deadly gaze, hatched from a cock’s egg? Or is something else going on? With a little history and some good dictionaries, it’s easy to see both the intent of the word (a poisonous viper such as an asp or Egyptian cobra), and a likely reason why those more common words weren’t used. Continue Reading