Hi to my Forum Friends,
On the Religion Forum, a Forum Friend began a new discussion titled "Pope Francis" by posting a photo of Pope Francis with the caption being a quote from the Pope: "Jesus is the gate opening up to salvation, a gate open to everyone."
And, I responded:
I agree with him. However, I would have preferred he make his statement a wee bit more explicit, such as:
"Jesus is the ONLY Gate, the ONLY WAY, through which everyone may, and must, gain entrance into heaven."
This would leave NO doubt that salvation is through Jesus Christ ONLY -- and NOT through any church organization, or by any other means. But, as a man, although I could never look to him as my leader -- I do admire him for what he has accomplished.
My Friend apparently took offense and replied, "That includes NOT through you and your twisted sense of Christianity?
I tell him:
My Christian faith comes from ONLY the Bible. His comes from Roman Catholic Catechisms, Roman Catholic traditions and doctrines, the Apocrypha, other early Roman writings, and from the Bible. How could he go wrong? Okay! I will stick with the Big 66 (the Bible).
At this point, an atheist Forum Friend enters the discussion with, "It took over 1600 years to write the bible. Yet you think those 66 books, you seem to worship, aren't man made too?"
Yes, the Bible was written by 40 men living in various geographical locations, over a period of 1600 years -- and, yet the Bible has one main theme: Salvation for all who, by the grace of God, through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, will believe and receive His "paid in full" pardon for our sins.
Why is the Bible valid as the ONLY Holy Spirit inspired Written Word of God -- and other books are not? Two key points validate the Bible: (1) the Unity of its theme of salvation; although it was written over a long period of time, by 40 different men, many who never met, living in different locations and times. And, (2) only these 66 books contain prophecy which is 100% accurate. No other book can make this claim.
You might not appreciate the depth of that last statement. In the 66 books of the Bible, there are over 1800 prophecies. To date, every single prophecy has been fulfilled (proven by secular and religious writings) -- except Christ's return and the End Times.
How amazing is that? A study was done by Professor of Science at Westmont College, Peter Stoner (past Chairman of the Departments of Mathematics and Astronomy at Pasadena City College; past Chairman of the Science Division, Westmont College; Professor Emeritus of Science, Westmont College), using 600 students in college Statistics classes. Their project was to calculate the statistical probability of having only 8 prophecies about one man be fulfilled 100%. In the Bible, there are over 300 prophecies about Jesus Christ. These classes took only 8 of those prophecies -- prophecies of Jesus Christ which we know were fulfilled.
Using only eight prophecies, they estimated that the chance of one man fulfilling eight prophecies was one in 10^17. That is 1 chance in -- 100,000,000,000,000,000.
Suppose that we take 10^17 silver dollars and lay them across the state of Texas. They will cover the entire state of Texas two feet deep. Mark one, only one, of those silver dollars and stir them thoroughly, all over the state.
Blindfold a man and allow him to travel as far as he wishes in the state of Texas, in any direction. At some point, he must stop and pick up only one silver dollar -- and have that one be the marked silver dollar. What chance would he have of getting the right one?
He would have the same chance of finding that marked silver dollar -- as the prophets would have had of writing eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one Man -- unless the prophecies were from God.
Look at 48 prophecies, which gives us the incredible number -- 10^157 (One plus one hundred fifty seven zeroes!)
Now, can you imagine the number of zeroes to fulfill 1800 prophecies? Yet, there has not been even one failed prophecy in the Bible.
That is why the Bible is the valid and ONLY Holy Spirit inspired Written Word of God, His full revelation to man and the sole authority for salvation and to guide our daily Christian walk.
All the other books, down through the millennia, were written by various, well intentioned and most likely very knowledgeable men -- and can be viewed as good commentaries and history books -- but, not God's Word.
Commentaries and history books are valuable tools. I use them all them time in my personal Bible studies and in my writings. Many times when I am doing a study and need to get ideas to jump start my thinking, I will go to commentaries to see what these men have written, how they viewed that particular passage.
Most of those men are theology and Bible scholar giants who are much higher up the mountain of Bible knowledge than me. So, maybe they have seen a golden nugget or two in that passage that I do not yet see. I will dig in their well of knowledge, seeking those thoughts, those golden nuggets, to get me started.
But, in the end -- I go back to the Bible and the guidance of the Holy Spirit to more fully understand what the original Bible writer is telling us.
So, to my Forum Friends, I am not downplaying the value of books written by other men, nor am I denigrating their work. But, we have to keep them in a proper perspective. There is the Bible, the Holy Spirit inspired, Holy Spirit inerrant, literal Written Word of God.
And, there are other books which might be helpful in understanding what God has inspired to be written in His Bible. When studying God's Word, we may wander on the paths left by knowledgeable men and women in their writings -- but, we ALWAYS come back to God's Bible for the final word.
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
