It is too bad that so many people think that the Bible is a book that is open to various interpretations. If it really is the Word of God then there is really only one interpretation that we need to understand the book. There has to be a right interpretation if is it from God.
There is danger in feeling that we have the right interpretation, but there is more danger in thinking we can’t know the right interpretation.It is important that we understand that all people do not agree with that statement. Those whose positions are different need to be recognized and treated with respect. Every person has the right to believe whatever that person pleases to believe.
There are those who say that we need to understand the Bible by understanding that Jesus was the greatest teacher who ever lived. It is true that He was just that, but it is important to understand that He was much more than that.
Then there are those who feel that Jesus was a martyr who died for a just cause. This view certainly pictures the narrative of the story, but it does not fit what Jesus claimed and thought about Himself. If He were only a martyr then He was disillusioned and His words become lies in which He was misleading those who followed Him. They certainly were out of character for Him as well.
Jesus made claims about who He was and what He had come to do. If they were not true then He certainly could not be anything that He claimed and He would have been part of a giant hoax put on by Him and His followers.
First of all He claimed to be God. He did not just claim to come from God or to be specially anointed by God to be a special person for His times. His claims were monumental. When someone claims to be God, then that person has to really put up or shut up. Jesus did not stop making the claims. Even after His resurrection, He told the two on the road to Emmaus that He was the one whom the prophets had described.
It is no accident that everything He said would happen in His death, burial, and resurrection took place just the way He described it. When you think about it, it all happened the way Isaiah and the rest of the prophets described seven or eight hundred years before. The record is a complete one. If this had been a subterfuge of some sort, they would have made mistakes, but they didn’t.
You can reject the claims of the Bible. God allows you that, but you must suffer the consequences. If you are wrong, it is a terrible thing to be wrong about. I agree with Mr. Pascal. If I am wrong there is not much to lose in living a life pleasing to the one who claims to be the Son of God, but if you are wrong, you have a great deal to lose. It is not worth taking the risk.
There is danger in feeling that we have the right interpretation, but there is more danger in thinking we can’t know the right interpretation.It is important that we understand that all people do not agree with that statement. Those whose positions are different need to be recognized and treated with respect. Every person has the right to believe whatever that person pleases to believe.
There are those who say that we need to understand the Bible by understanding that Jesus was the greatest teacher who ever lived. It is true that He was just that, but it is important to understand that He was much more than that.
Then there are those who feel that Jesus was a martyr who died for a just cause. This view certainly pictures the narrative of the story, but it does not fit what Jesus claimed and thought about Himself. If He were only a martyr then He was disillusioned and His words become lies in which He was misleading those who followed Him. They certainly were out of character for Him as well.
Jesus made claims about who He was and what He had come to do. If they were not true then He certainly could not be anything that He claimed and He would have been part of a giant hoax put on by Him and His followers.
First of all He claimed to be God. He did not just claim to come from God or to be specially anointed by God to be a special person for His times. His claims were monumental. When someone claims to be God, then that person has to really put up or shut up. Jesus did not stop making the claims. Even after His resurrection, He told the two on the road to Emmaus that He was the one whom the prophets had described.
It is no accident that everything He said would happen in His death, burial, and resurrection took place just the way He described it. When you think about it, it all happened the way Isaiah and the rest of the prophets described seven or eight hundred years before. The record is a complete one. If this had been a subterfuge of some sort, they would have made mistakes, but they didn’t.
You can reject the claims of the Bible. God allows you that, but you must suffer the consequences. If you are wrong, it is a terrible thing to be wrong about. I agree with Mr. Pascal. If I am wrong there is not much to lose in living a life pleasing to the one who claims to be the Son of God, but if you are wrong, you have a great deal to lose. It is not worth taking the risk.
