How the Bible differ from other books?
By Bro. Eli Soriano
http://www.angdatingdaan.org/biblicaltopics/bib_bible_1b.htm
continuation...
The fool denies the existence of God. There are a lot of people today who do not believe in God. There are a lot of people today who do not believe in God. What some people say that the Bible is the word of God is wrong. Even the words of the fool are also written in the Bible, even the words of the devil and even the words of those who do not believe, just like Thomas when our Lord Jesus Christ resurrected, written in John 20:25—
“The other disciples therefore said upon him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and thrust my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
What kind of words are those? Those are the words of someone who does not believe. He will never believe unless he sees. That is where the saying, “to see is to believe,” came from. But is that correct? Can you see your mind? No! Does that mean that simply because you can not see your mind you do not believe the existence of your mind? To say that you will not believe unless you see it is a wrong principle.
In the Bible, there are words that came from non-believers, and there are also words that came from believers, like the centurion. In Matthew 8:5-10,13 it says—
“And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him. And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof; but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to them that followed, Verily, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. … And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believeth, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.”
Those are the words of a person with a very strong faith. He believes that even if Christ would not go to his place, his servant would be healed. No need to touch the TV screen, as a point of contact. Christ simply uttered the word, and the servant was healed. But, was the servant that was healed, a man of faith, or not? He had been bed-ridden, so how could he have faith? How could he believe? Nowadays, preachers who introduce themselves as “men of God,” still instruct their ailing viewers or listeners, to touch their radio or TV set, if they want to be healed. That is plain “acting.” When Christ healed the servant, He did not have to go to the house of the centurion. He only said the word, and the servant was healed. And Christ healed even the non-believers. Unlike today when pretentious pastors act to show they are men of God, then, they must have the capacity to heal all of those who are sick. They must prove that they can do what our Lord Jesus Christ has done. They are just fooling the people. Even the Passion (“Pasyon”) gave a stern warning against false pastors:
“Ang mga pagmimilagro (The miracles that they perform)
Tutulungan ng demonyo (will be assisted by the devil)
Anopa’t mangangabayo (He will go riding a horse)
At dito sa buong mundo (And in this whole world)
Maghahari itong lilo (This deceiver will reign)
They are very dangerous, my fellowmen. Please, take caution.
Going back to our topic, definitely, there are contradictions that can be read in the Bible, inasmuch as not everything that it contains came from God. The Bible is a compilation of all the events. The Bible contains the words of those who are on the side of God; there are also words coming from those who are against God. As there are words coming from the preachers of God, there are also words from the preachers of the devil. It contains words from the prophets of God, and also words from false prophets. It contains the words of man, the words of animals, and the words of plants. In fact, King Solomon was able to converse with a plant.
Others might say, “That is not true! How can a plant talk?” Recently, it was discovered in Japan, through modern technology, that a plant has the capacity to listen and to feel. Scientists placed a connecting rod and sensor to the plant, and they played a jubilant music. As a result, the plant became happy. But when they played a melancholic music, the plant also became sad. The leaves began to wither. That is why, if you are growing flowering plants, you must talk to them. You should also talk to animals. There are also things that make pigs happy. Try playing fast music in the pigpen, and see how the pigs relish their food. But try playing a solemn and somber music, and probably the pigs will no longer eat with gusto. What the Japanese discovered about plants and animals must be true. Just try observing your pet dog at home. If a stranger comes to your house, it will surely bark. But once you try stopping him, the dog will obey. In the Bible, King Solomon understood the language of the plants and animals. St. Paul, on the other hand, understood the language of the angels. This is the reason why we are saying that the Bible is a compilation of every truth regarding life here on earth and in the heavens. In other words, there are many speakers in the Bible, but not all utterances came from God. For that reason, we cannot claim that there are no flaws in the Bible, because there are pronouncements here which came from the non-believers. Like what we can read in Job 22:15—
“Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden?”
When this part was read by those who lacked understanding of the Bible, they readily remarked, “Those who are in Eli Soriano’s Ang Dating Daan (The Old Path) are wicked!” Simply because they read that, “the old way was trodden by wicked men,” they already made a sweeping conclusion. Obviously, the ones who said that verse were not using their heads. If that pronouncement really came from God, then, by all means, we will not be against it. But, it did not! Now, if God will be asked, what did He say about the “old path”? In Jeremiah 6:16, it says—
“Thus said the Lord, stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.”
God said that, the old path is the good way. Let us study some claims that the old way was trodden by wicked men? Did that statement come from God, or from somebody else?
In studying the Bible, we have to find the speaker. Then, with whom the speaker is talking with, and the time the conversation happened. You have to establish all these details to see and understand the truth. For example, did God really say, “Be fruitful and multiply?” Yes, He did! But the question is: to whom did He say it? Was it to the drunkard? If that is the case, then, the earth will be filled with drunkards! There might be a shortage of liquor, when it happens. Was God, then, talking to the drug addict? In the Bible, let us read to confirm with whom was God talking to (Genesis 6:13-14,17)—
“And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without pitch. … And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and everything that is in the earth shall die.”
Was humanity wiped out, or not? How many were left? Eight: Noah and his household. All the wicked were eliminated. And after the universal deluge, God spoke to Noah. Genesis 9:1 says—
“And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.”
Who was God talking to? God was addressing the upright men. Otherwise, if he was also addressing the wicked why then did He have to eliminate the rest of mankind? The ones who were commanded to “be fruitful and multiply” were the 8 upright souls – Noah and his family.
The problem is, even those who lack sense of responsibility, even the jobless who have nothing to feed their children, thought that they were also being commanded to multiply! This world will become a miserable and a despicable place if it will be filled with irresponsible people. The commandment, “Be fruitful and multiply,” concerned only a particular group of people at a particular period of time. Do not interpret the Bible by yourself because your interpretation may be wrong! What do we mean to say?
If you are going to study the Bible, you must bear in mind that the Bible contains the words of God. And, although it is a revelation of the Almighty, although it is a compilation of old truths about men and God, it also contains pronouncements which did not come from God. It also contains words that contradict God’s words. But we are not concerned about those. Our main concern is the words of God written in the Bible. And how are we to know whether a pronouncement came from God? Proverbs 8:8-9 says—
“All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them. They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.”
To be continued...
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