How the Bible differ from other books?
By Bro. Eli Soriano
http://www.angdatingdaan.org/biblicaltopics/bib_bible_1a.htm
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The Bible declares that— “ALL the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them.” If anyone can prove that God gave false pronouncements – or, even a single wrong pronouncement – then, we must not believe the Bible anymore! God, however, says that there is nothing false or perverse in His words. On the other hand, if there are no contradictions in the Bible, why is it that one verse in the Bible says that Joaquim will reign for 8 years, while another verse tells that he will reign for 18 years? Are they not contradictory? Granting without accepting, the question is, why do situations like that arise? Genesis 2:16-17 says—
“And the Lord God commanded the man saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
These verses were read by Mr. Damian Sotto. He even continued reading until Genesis 3:4—
“And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.”
Are they not contradictory? God told Adam, on the day that you eat the fruit you shall surely day. On the other hand, the serpent said, you shall not die. Some people insisted that those verses contradict each other. On the surface, it may appear to be right, but, if we study the verses very well, we will come to realize why those statements are contradictory. The first statement comes from God, while the other comes from the serpent. None of His words are contradictory.
Do you know who is that serpent whose words are against the words of God? In Revelations 12:9—
“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”
Who is the serpent? It is Satan. No wonder, why he was uttering statements that contradict God’s, because he is an enemy of God. But, as far as the words of God are concerned, there are no contradictions! NONE! Therefore, if statements contradict each other, for sure, one of them did not come from God. Another example is 1 Corinthians 6:12—
“All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”
If we are to ask some people, they will say all their actions are lawful and correct. For example, there are people who add little sugar to their “adobo” because they prefer that their “adobo” taste a little bit sweet. For these people, nothing is wrong with adding sugar to their “adobo” because for some people, all the things that they do are lawful and correct. But if we continue reading, it says, not all things are expedient. That is why conflict and contradictions are bound to arise.
But, God is an absolute God! He is upright and righteous! Unlike man! Not everything that man perceives to be righteous is also righteous in the sight of God. Why? Proverbs 14:12 says—
“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man; but the end thereof are the ways of death.”
A person may perceive one particular path/way to be right, but is only insofar as his personal perception is concerned. For example, whatever man thinks to be right may not be absolutely right for God. More often than not, what man perceives to be right is wrong. For these reasons, contradictions are bound to happen. If the Bible contains contradictions, it is primarily because, not all the words there came from God! The Bible is a compilation of truths. But whether something is a lie or the truth, that is the reality. They did happen, and they were all written in the Bible. Everything had been recorded in the Bible so that man will be able to distinguish the truth from lies. We have to exercise our wisdom in discerning which words are of God, and which are not.
The Bible exemplifies the whole world. In this world, there are cheaters and there are people being cheated; there are robbers, and there are those who are being robbed; there are fornicators, while the others are their objects of fornication. All kinds of people are there. And, if we adopt everything that these people do, our world would become a very chaotic place.
The Bible is picture of the entire world, and it tells the complete story to the whole of humanity. And it is up to us to choose what is good or bad for us. However, there are people who prefer the bad from the good, that is why the outcome is also bad.
Whenever you read the Bible, identify where a certain pronouncement came from: are they from God, or not? If they came from God, you can be sure that they are absolutely correct, they are free from all flaws and errors, and they are free from any kind of contradiction. But if they did not come from God, definitely, they will oppose God’s words. Not all things written in the Bible are words of God. It also contains words of angels, and also words of those who do not believe in God. In fact, Psalms 53:1 says—
“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt they are, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.”To be continued
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