Is the Bible a Trustworthy Authority for Life?

Q: Why and how have you come to trust the Bible as having authority for your life? Why do you believe the Bible to be infallible and inerrant? And if you could, I'd appreciate leaving the arguments from Scripture such as II Tim 3:16 out of the second question (hope that's not too pompous).  It's important for me to come to a place of peace about what I believe about the Bible itself before I look at how and if I'm to interpret the Bible, believe that theology, and then apply those Biblical beliefs.  I've a very unsettled view of the Bible right now, so arguing that it's true and inspired because it says it's true and inspired just doesn't hold any weight with me.

A: I would like to start this answer by making clear that the Bible is not a text book to be interpreted, accepted and applied. It is a holy place to allow your spirit to abide in Christ. And by the way, even Karl Barth, a church theologian of the 20th century, who was having a difficult time responding to the historical critics of his day (evangelicals have done their homework since then), nonetheless proclaimed that in the Bible he came face to face with God.

I came to trust the Bible first by reading it. In the middle of my reading I began to hear the voice of God and it changed everything in my life. I came to know Him and to trust Him as the Word began to bring revelation into my world. It was (and still is) an incredible journey of discovery, especially given that I was coming from a pretty pagan perspective at the time. Infallibility and inerrancy are based on a number of things - starting, again, with God's revelation to me. Then Jesus' own commitment to the veracity of the Old Testament. He affirmed it over and over again. If the New Testament is reliable, then by Jesus' own proclamation, so it the Old Testament.  Then there is the remarkable evidence of the Church. There are people all over the world - and have been since the 1st century - who know this same God: same Christ; same Father; same Spirit. And it is also important to me that the Church has traditionally held that Scriptures is the infallible, inerrant word of God.

I was insatiably curious early on in my reading - and a bit skeptical - so I began to do my homework. I spent a lot of time reading about the authorship and time of the New Testament composition. I can refer some of the most helpful books to you, since they were tremendously helpful in undoing the bias that had already been in me from years of hearing why the Bible could not be what is claimed. I have read many of the early church fathers - those who wrote from the 1st to the 4th century - who affirmed the Scriptures over and again. Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Ireneus, Tertullian and so many more. I discovered that there is an unbroken chain of Christian scholarship from the earliest days of the church - and those authors wrestled with the same questions we do, only they had the benefit of being able to speak with witnesses and those who knew the witnesses (early on, anyway). They also witnessed to the veracity of God's Word.

If there are obstacles to believing the historicity of the Bible, I'd recommend you tackle a book called "Jesus and the Eyewitnesses" by Richard Bauckham. Just released, it is probably the best overall view of the historical record of the Bible and its writers. There is also an older book - a classic in forensic study of the Bible - called "The Testimony of the Evangelists" by Simon Greenleaf. These are scholarly and well-researched.

If you would like to do a read-through it will become self-evident to you. Let me know.  I pray that your search leaves you with a greater confidence in the Word of God.

Is the Bible God's final revelation?

Q. I'm wrestling with the idea that the Bible is the completed revelation of God, vs. the idea that God is still speaking to His people. What's the scriptural basis for saying that everything we have in the Bible is all there is? As for today, a contemporary revelation that contradicts scripture would be considered heresy. But what about a revelation that deals with something not found in scripture? How do we discern whether a prophecy is from God or not?

A. Thankfully, the answer is not either/or, but both/and (provided we properly define terms). The Bible is the completed revelation of God, and God does still speak to His people. By “completed revelation of God” people mean that:

(1) The Holy Spirit revealed things to the hearts of the original authors of all the books of the Old and New Testaments and they expressed those things in the words we know as Scripture (i.e., all the words of the Bible are inspired [e.g., see 2 Tim. 3:16] and therefore carry ultimate authority);

(2) These things can not be said of any other text outside the Bible. In that sense the Bible is the revelation of God and the complete revelation of God. The Bible, is the standard by which we judge the truthfulness of all else.

At the same time, the Bible teaches that God is the God of revelation, who delights in communicating with His children through the Holy Spirit. He does that directly to the believer’s heart (many examples in the book of Acts) or through another person when the gift of prophecy operates (1 Cor. 14). We can be fairly certain prophecy is from God when three conditions are met:
     • it doesn’t contradict what the Bible teaches,
     • it confirms what we know God is already speaking to our hearts, and
     • the truth is revealed.

The wise counsel of mature, discerning, brothers and sisters in Christ can greatly help us evaluate (“judge,”1 Cor. 14:29) the authenticity of what we believe to have been revealed in words.

 Pastors Keith, Mark, & Greg

Was Satan the cause or the result of Adam and Eve's sin?

Q. Someone I was talking to said that since God can have nothing to do with evil, that Adam and Eve created Satan at the time of their sin. I know this is wrong, but I don't know how to respond. Do you know of any resource for me or him?

A. Thanks for your question Bruce. First of all you are correct. The person you were talking to was wrong. Man did not create the devil by their sin. They were tempted into their sin by the devil. It is always good to remember that the devil is not the equal opposite of God, but merely a fallen angel. He is a created being that became evil (sometime after Genesis 1:31 and before Genesis 3:1) that perhaps could be compared to a fallen version of the arkangel Michael. Some believe that Isaiah 14:12-15 may also describe the fall of Satan since Isaiah’s language seems to go beyond what could refer merely to the earthly king of Babylon. Ezekiel 28 is also believed to refer to the original state and subsequent fall of Satan, in the hyperbolic description of the king of Tyre.

As far as a resource for you to turn to on your own, I would recommend any well accepted book on systematic theology. We have a number of single volumes as well as sets in the several in the Church Library (Grudem, Bloesch, Chafer, Duffield & Van Cleave, Erickson, Finney, Oden, Otis, Wiley & Culbertson,) at the call number 230 or 230.046. Look up Satan in the index and find the section that deals with Satan and the nature of evil.

Do mentally challenged people go to Heaven?

Q: Do mentally challenged people who can't understand the concept of God go to heaven?

You asked if mentally challenged people who can't understand the concept of God can go to heaven. The simple answer is, “yes.”

I think there is a misunderstanding among some regarding faith – that faith is the acceptance of a truth proposition.  Yes, God reveals truth.  But more importantly, God reveals Himself in a personal way and invites us to know Him.  The Gospel story is one of love, centered on the cross, where the God who loves us looked at our helpless state and chose to bear the penalty of our sins so that we would know eternal life with Him.  The love of God is central to faith and it is the biblical message that is proclaimed from the first chapter of Genesis through the promise of a New Earth in Revelation.

You may be familiar with the passage in the Bible about children coming to Jesus.  It is in Matthew 19.  In it, Jesus blesses some little children.  It goes like this:

Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”  (Matthew 19:13-14 - ESV)

I think you would agree with me that mentally challenged people frequently express a child-like kind of love.  Note that the response of the children was not from their understanding of concepts, but of their love of Jesus.  What is interesting about this little story is that it is surrounded by stories of learned men coming to Jesus to ask about what He was teaching.  The Pharisees wanted to quibble over various understandings of the law.  The rich man wanted to know how to earn his way to Heaven through his behavior.  Even his own disciples didn’t understand the significance of the children’s’ response to Jesus – these children were the kinds of people to whom belong the kingdom of God!  The children simply desired to be in His presence and to enjoy Him.  We still need to share Christ with the mentally challenged and to take seriously their ability to respond to God’s love.  We should never underestimate the ability of the Holy Spirit to speak through the disabled mind and into the fully responsive heart.  There may be situations where the impairment is extreme – and you might wonder if even the love of God can be felt.  This is where we pray and trust God and remember our own faith in the good Creator who protects the innocent and charges us with the same.  

This is a personal question for me since my own son is a mentally challenged adult.  He cannot comprehend things many people take for granted.  But he knows what it means to be loved and what it means to love.  We teach concepts he can understand, but more importantly, we introduced him to Jesus so that he would know Him as we do.  In fact, as his love for Jesus is unfettered and secure, he is frequently the one teaching us.  I say with all humility that I sometimes wonder who has the mental challenge. Who among us can comprehend all there is to know about God?  Perhaps the best answer to your question about whether the mentally challenged go to Heaven is, “yes, we do.”  


Thank you for your question.  Feel free to contact me if you’d like to have more discussion about this.

Why doesn't God answer prayer right away?

Q: Why does God not answer our prayers right away?

It can be hard to understand when we pray and have to wait for an answer. However I don’t think that it is necessarily accurate to say that he doesn’t answer right away. I would follow up you question with another question: What makes you think that he hasn’t answered your question? By what matrix are you judging whether he has answered or not? If we expect God to do what we want and he doesn’t do it and we are still waiting for it to be done it would appear that he hasn’t answered, that he hasn’t come through for us. We have all probably been in that place at one time or another.

It may be helpful to consider what God’s loving, wise, answer to our prayer might be. There are at least three different answers possible:

• Yes
• No
• Not yet.

What would each of these answers look like in your situation? Take some time to consider this, even writing out your answer. Are you still sure he hasn’t answered?

All three of the responses above are answers to prayer, but sometimes if it is not an immediate “Yes” we might think that he hasn’t answered. In those times when it seems that what we asked was according to God’s will, but has not come to pass yet, we need to default back to the character of God. He is always good, holy, loving, faithful, wise, and powerful. We can praise Him for who he is, even and especially, when we are still waiting for deliverance, healing, and vindication. I love the Psalms because they show us how to communicate honestly with God, and how to trust in his character even when we don’t see his answer yet.

Once you finish answering the question above, if you want I would like to see your answer. Then I will add my annotation to the Yes, No, Not yet.

What About "The Shack?"

Q: What's your opinion on the book The Shack? I understand it's written by an author who is a Christian but I've heard stuff that is critical.

I assume from your question that you have read it. What did you think? How did you respond? I have asked many people about The Shack and to a person if they have read the book then they were profoundly moved by the love of God, even though the most horrific tragedies and traumas of life. And to a person, if they have read the critiques and not the book they were incensed at the perceived theological liberties taken.

William Paul Young is a gifted writer who wrote a moving book about a man who encountered the living Triune God at the worst point of pain imaginable and he discovered God’s love, care and forgiveness. At a time when Christianity is being generally maligned by our culture as insensitive and condemning, this book has impacted people who long to know God as a loving and forgiving Father. For those who have suffered pain that has left them unable to resolve their world with the thought of such a loving Father, the book is a Godsend.

Yes, there are a number of things to critique if you were reading The Shack as a book of theology, which it isn't. It is a fictional novel. Just as in the Narnia series by CS Lewis, if it was held to the standard of a theological treatise, it would be found wanting. The most obvious theological issue of the book is that of presenting God the Father as a human. In doing so, Young emphasizes the personal nature of the Father – characterized by grace, mercy and love – without including any portrayal of the righteousness of the Father – characterized by holiness, justice and even wrath. To the person who does not know the God of the Bible, that leads to a misunderstanding regarding the seriousness of God’s plan for mankind and the reason Jesus came to die a substitutionary death on the cross. The demands of God’s righteousness met the provision of his personal care at the cross, where God Himself did what we could not. The cross, the central revelation of Scripture, is where the love of God meets the wrath of God. And we can learn this all in the Bible.

Which brings up another important issue regarding Young’s book: the relative absence of direct Scriptural quotes from the Bible. Young puts words into God’s mouth, but they are rarely directly from the one source that we understand to be God’s revelation of Himself. It would have been helpful if Sarayu (the Holy Spirit) had made clear the connection between how “she” peaks into the spirit of a man and the Word where that interaction takes place – the Bible.

Having said that, in our opinion, many of the criticisms leveled against The Shack are out of step with the tone of the book, which is fictional and not theological. Though there are some legitimate concerns, it really is a good story and a good read. Story can be very powerful and effective at importing a message into the heart, and for many people, The Shack has been a doorway to a re-engagement with God. I encourage people to read it and then talk about it. And remember, that author (Young) wrote about another Author (God). If you liked The Shack, you really need to read the book by the Author of whom Young wrote, the Bible. Then you can have your own encounter with the living Triune God!

Statements & Questions from a Seeker

Statement: I have lately been studying religion on my own and while never having read the Bible, I believe that I have gleaned a decent amount of knowledge though other books and Wikipedia. I honestly find the Bible a bit difficult to understand properly.

Answer: The Bible is not really so hard to understand properly. It was written in plain language so that people could read and hear the voice of God. Reading about the Bible without reading it is a bit like dating a picture of a girl. There is no relationship until you are with the living, breathing, face-to-face girl in the picture. I would encourage you to get a copy and begin reading in the New Testament. If you have questions, our pastors would be more than happy to answer questions (as we do here).

My questions are these . . .
Q. In the days of Jesus, the hand of God seemed to be plainly visible on the Earth. Why did God need to make His presence seen more then He does now? Where did God go?
A. God is plainly visible in the Earth. That did not depend upon Jesus. God’s fingerprints are evident everywhere. The Bible teaches that the skies themselves proclaim the glory of God. From my perspective, as a pastor, I do see Him plainly, as do believers who open their eyes to see what He is doing. You’ve heard it said that “seeing is believing.” But in God’s economy, “believing is seeing,” which is why it is important to seek God in faith. Jesus’ entry in to the world was not so that God could be seen, but so that sin could be atoned for by His sacrificial death. It would be interesting to be able to sit with you and speak about this. We could review a series of Scriptures that deal with this question.

Q. In addition to Earth, is there any belief that God created other worlds?
A. God created a distinctly different spiritual world that is populated by angelic beings, and that is part of the biblical record. In addition, there are creatures in Heaven who are distinct from men and angels. As for whether there are planets that are populated in the universe, the Bible does not address that. Traditionally, Christians have not viewed the Universe to be populated apart from Earth.

Q. What is the reasoning behind going to church instead of learning of and worshiping God in your own way?
A. Jesus’ introduction of the New Covenant, which is the covenant under which the church exists, is that we would love one another, as He loved us. The church is a community and Christianity is defined by Jesus as a fellowship of the sons and daughters of God. To be a Christian and not be in communion with other believers makes no sense – a kind of spiritual oxymoron. Furthermore, getting to know God takes place within the context of community (as He prescribed it) and not in isolation. Christianity is not a set of facts we acknowledge and agree to, it is the presence of the living God in a very real relationship – and we are aware of His presence – in our lives individually and more so collectively. Worship is one of the expressions of that.

Q. I'm unemployed and don't have much money. If I came to church would I still need to pay a tithe? What is the purpose of tithing besides supporting the church? Is there a religious reason?
A. We do not require anyone to tithe. The New Testament doesn’t prescribe tithes. Rather, we are told to make gifts and offerings out of our heart’s desire – God loves a cheerful giver. You are under no obligation to our church to pay a tithe. However, I want to help you understand the nature of the concept of the tithe (Old Testament) and giving (New Testament). Our giving is an act of trust in the God who said that if we will give faithfully, He will honor that giving. The Sabbath is a similar concept. One day a week I put aside productive time (during which I could earn money) and God says that if I will trust Him, I will not have suffered for giving that up, but would in fact be blessed. The Sabbath becomes a day of rest and a time to enjoy relationships with God and others. You should only give as an act of faith, and not out of obligation.

You have asked some intriguing questions. We would love to meet with you and answer these questions if you are interested. Just give us a call or meet us between services.
Pastor Mark