Prayer:
Father, help my faith.
The simple answer to the above is – all of it!!
2 Timothy 3:16 says all scripture is profitable; this was the verse which influenced the amendment to the Birmingham Statement of Faith, and is central to Christian teaching; we can't just pick our favourite verses and ignore the rest.
The problem arises where the Bible uses symbolic language either because the event it prophesies had not get come to pass or by way of example to demonstrate some ideal or concept that may be difficult to grasp. So this week we'll look at 2 examples; creation and the devil or satan.
The opening worlds of the Bible are black and white and can't be misunderstood for anything other than what they say; God created the heavens and the earth. But note: this is before 'day 1'. It may have been seconds or millennia. And to us it doesn't matter. We see and here many scientific 'theories' as to how the world was created. My son James has recently got a DVD with many interactive models showing dust clouds coming together to form stars and planets, and what is 'known' about our solar system, etc. It's very interesting stuff, but a) it can't be proved and b) doesn't make the slightest difference to 'now'. The Bible gives the answer to 'why' while science tries to guess at 'how'.
The thing that makes the big difference to us is that earth is the only planet which has life. If we're to believe the speculation about the 'big bang' and other solar systems being ahead or behind us then we can come up with the following argument; If other systems which are millions of years in advance to us (ie their planets had formed earlier because they are further from the point of explosion) then they can't have developed space travel in order to come back to see 'how it all began' or they would have found us by now. Life on other planets is purely fantasy, reserved for sci-fi fans. The Bible explanation of creation is the only one that makes sense.
This is where a mixture of creative writing and pagan mythology comes in. When we look at examples of Satan in the Bible the majority can be grouped. In Job we have an example of Satan talking to God, testing Job, etc. But we need to look more closely. The Book of Job is a play. It was written to be acted in the same way that Macbeth or any other play was. Just as Macbeth needed the white sheets with eye holes cut out to add a touch of drama and suspense, the Book of Job needed some sort of 'bad guy'. So where did the idea come from?
In many ways it's simple; everyone likes to have someone else to blame when something goes wrong and it's even better if that someone a) can't be seen, and b) isn't there to deny it. In that way they have someone who 'made them do it', so it wasn't their fault, so they can't be held responsible. God isn't looking for people who hide and point the finger at someone else, but those who are willing to accept the consequences or their own action. Pagan religions always have someone to blame. It makes it so much easier to start a war with your neighbours.
We need to live our lives by faith, to accept our own short comings and be concerned about what God wants of us. The rest is just not important.
The scientific order of creation is almost identical to that of Genesis. Any comments?
Why did Moses include the record of creation?
There are a few more references to Satan, many of which are in the Revelation to St. John. How many of these refer to a physical being? If so what was it doing?
Jesus was tempted in the same ways that we are. How are we tempted?
In what ways do we blame others?