Are you intimidated when so-called “Biblical Scholars” attack the trustworthiness of the Scriptures? To preach the Word of God with boldness requires confidence in its authority, and it is upon this authority that our faith rests. (Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God). Satan knows that if he can put a wedge under the foundation of our faith he can topple it. In Focus on the Family’s “The Truth Project”, R.C. Sproul says, “If we can establish the existence of God and the trustworthiness of sacred Scripture, 90% of the work of the defense of Christianity has been solved.” No wonder the authority of the Scriptures is constantly under fire by those who seek to undermine the Christian faith.
The Post-Modern, liberal, higher critics that grace contemporary television shows and magazine articles are not the first to attack the authority of Scripture, and they surely won’t be the last. In self-conceit, puffed up by the tiny sampling of regurgitated information they have swallowed, they confidently conclude that the Bible is untrustworthy and flawed.
But there is no reason for the faithful to sit by, nervously chewing their fingernails as the higher critics pose clever new attacks on the consistency of Scripture. Their arrogance, which is as old as the Bible itself, has always come to nothing and their arguments have been proven wrong time and time again. In fact, perhaps it is their incessant attacks that are the greatest proof of the supernatural origin of the Bible, because amazingly, in spite of all of its critics and enemies, the Holy Bible remains the best selling and most read book of all time. By contrast its many historical opponents and their once-profound arguments lie rotting in the ground together.
In 1776 Voltaire said, “100 years from my day there will not be a Bible in the earth except one that is looked upon by an antiquarian curiosity-seeker.” 100 years later Voltaire’s home was being used as a distribution point for spreading Bibles throughout Europe* and within 26 years of his death the British & Foreign Bible Society had been founded, sparking an unprecedented era of Bible distribution**.
In 1778 Voltaire, boasting of himself said, “It took 12 men to start Christianity; one will destroy it.” That was the very year that he died*.
Robert Ingersoll said, “In 15 years I will have this book [the Bible] in the morgue.” Fifteen years later, Ingersoll himself was in the morgue, and in his estate sale a preacher bought his desk and spent his life writing sermons on it*.
In the late 1800’s a scholar named General Lew Wallace, a Territorial Governor and former U.S. Senator, set out to disprove the Bible. His quest led him to discover the wonders of Scripture, and he ended up becoming a devout Christian and writing Ben Hur; a Christian novel, widely considered a true classic of American literature**.
Another scholar, Sir William Ramsey, had a similar experience. He traveled to Asia Minor on a mission to find geographical and archeological evidence that would disprove the claims of the Bible. Instead he was amazed to find that the Bible was remarkably accurate and was ultimately so convinced of its authority that he himself became a believer and biblical scholar**.
Today, in spite of many generations of opposition, by countess assailants, the New Testament has been translated into 1,168 languages***. It is by far the most popular and widely circulated printed material of all time. Even today, it remains a best seller and is printed in so many languages, translations and versions by so many publishers that it is literally impossible to calculate how many millions, if not billions have been printed and circulated.
Its critics and opponents along with their books and institutions have proven to be about as formidable as a gnat battling a hurricane. The contemporary voices that arrogantly rail against scripture will soon be as cold and silent as the grave, as are all those that came before them. But the voice that spoke the worlds into existence will still be thundering through history to every nation and generation through His revealed Word, “Thus says the Lord.”
All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD STANDS FOREVER. ~ 1 Peter 1:24-25
~By Daniel Kolenda (www.danielkolenda.com)
Sources:
* Dr. Del Tackett in “The Truth Project” by Focus on the Family (http://www.thetruthproject.org)
** http://www.spokanebaptist.com/trustbible4.html
*** http://www.wycliffe.org/About/Statistics.aspx
