I was reading a blog site where the commenters are allowed to make attacks. The author of the site feels it makes livelier discussion. She has one commenter who is hateful and who said, “REBORN Christians are the dumbest kind of Christian.” I chuckled and could not wait to read the answer farther down the page.
I kept reading, hoping someone would get to it. No one ever did.
Not wanting to hijack her site, I’ve come over here to get a few things straight.
- Reborn Christians are the ONLY Christians. Get that? Don’t we have it from the mouth of the Christ, Himself, that we must be reborn? Am I missing something here?
- The word “Christian” means “follower of Christ” or “believer in Christ”. Someone who has no idea what Christ taught could hardly claim to be a Christian. He might be a believer, saved, and even born again, but tell me, what does the word “Christian” mean? — “Follower of Christ.”
Sighs.
There were hateful things said about the Bible, too. (Imagine denigrating the Koran!)
All the old-fashioned objections to the Bible were obliterated when they found the Dead Sea Scrolls. Although these scrolls were the most astounding and faith-building archaeological find EVER, the fact of this find was carefully hidden from the public.
Why?
Because they decimated all the old-fashioned arguments against the veracity of the Word.
What was it about them, you ask?
Well, these scrolls were merely ancient, ancient copies of the Bible and had been hidden from enemies for centuries, sealed in jars in caves. What
they found was that while these hand-made copies were hiding, the act of copying was continuing to this day, and, lo and behold, there were hardly any discrepancies!
Only one-tenth percent was different.
If we realize how carefully the copyists made sure they copied it right, we would realize how seriously they believed in the absolute importance of getting this right.
For instance, they could not even be considered for the copying job unless they could recite the entirety of the Holy Writ, WITHOUT MISTAKE. A boy began memorizing as soon as possible and worked a large portion of his life to EARN the privilege of being a copyist. Then, once a section was completed, it was read by others who also had it all memorized both ways. It was read both ways to find mistakes. If one mistake was found, it was thrown away.
Period.
They cared a LOT more than the villains who throw up complaints in blog comments, misspelled and full of typos.
And as for objections to retranslation, from time to time, the very argument that so many bring up, that word meanings change, is the very reason we MUST redo the work from time to time.
Whew.
Furthermore–King James did not translate: He hired the most brilliant verbal thinkers of his day to do the work. A very large team of brilliance, some experts in ancient Greek or Hebrew, others experts in the current usage of English. And considering the fact that until then, similar villains would kill anyone who tried to give the English-speaking public a copy of the Word in their own language, this was a huge GIFT.
NOT something to be spit upon.
It is true that the Word is alive and active. It breathes and acts. It speaks. It’s a little like the mystery of holding a conch to the ear and hearing the entire ocean from which it came. The Word contains, indeed, in a way, it IS, the God from which it came. It embodies Him in a unique way, noticed not only by us, but also by the writers of it, when they said it is living and active and able to separate a person’s motives from what he THINKS his motives are. I love that about it. I can read along, thinking I am so sweet and good, and then bang. Right between the eyes. I’m human again. Yay God!
Okay. Now. The Ark. Villains attack the Ark, too.
- Noah did not have to gather the animals. The Word says God brought them to him.
- He did not bring two of every variety, just two of every kind. Two dogs, period. Two cats, period. We must remember the gene pool was much better back then. MUCH better.
- The Word does not say they were adult versions. Very young animals would not have exhibited animosity, as we see from stories of kittens and puppies that grow up together. Also, they would not have needed as much food or litter, nor taken up as much space, nor given off as much stench, and likely would not have feared water nor grown seasick, nor gotten pregnant. Also, they would have slept more.
If we WANT to believe, it is simple to see how it could be done.
Also, go figure: The thing was huge. Like a football field.
There was more I wanted to say, but my eyes are getting bleary. Go to my posts on this topic that begin here.
Do you ever encounter non-Christians in sheep’s clothing? How do you deal with them?
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