I trust you will understand the title of this article by the time you’re done reading it. If not, well, not to be flippant, but I can’t help you there. I am going to be as plain as I can be, without venturing into ridicule (I hope).
I’ve been working on reformatting the articles on the website to make them far more readable and compatible with every browser out there. In the process of that, this week I have worked on the Apologetics section and have reformatted several of the “Contradictions” articles. While reformatting the introductory articles that address the “non-tract” (which is really a tract for atheism), I reread the introduction of the “non-tract” and was struck by the statement:
“The problem is not with human limitations, as some claim. The problem is the bible itself.”
Which sets in the middle of their argument against the Scriptures, which states:
Why do trained theologians differ? Why do educated translators disagree over Greek and Hebrew meanings? Why all the confusion? Shouldn’t a “divinely inspired” document be as clear as possible?
The problem is not with human limitations, as some claim. The problem is the bible itself. People who are free of theological bias notice that the bible contains hundreds of discrepancies.
Notice the thing about the statement that caught my eye? The statement claims that problems with the Bible and interpreting it are not caused by human limitations.
Really?
How absolutely arrogant can we be here? So, the supposition here is that man, or some men, are perfect? Some of the approximately 6 billion people that walk this earth are actually unlimited in their perspective and ability? How is that now?
If this is the case, then why don’t we have an answer to some of the problems that have given man grief ever since man has been on this earth? Just where are these supposed “enlightened, perfected ones” that are so perfect they are “free from theological bias?”
You know, I grew up on a farm, and I know it when I see it and smell it. No one, but no one is “free from theological bias.” Everyone has some opinion, idea or knowledge of God. Everyone — PERIOD. There are no exceptions. Thus, logically, everyone has a “theological bias” of some sort. Even the atheist has an opinion about God — he doesn’t believe God exists. This, in itself, is a “theological bias,” an opinion that holds that God is not there.
Perhaps then, this explains somewhat the outlandish statement “The problem is not with human limitations, as some claim.” After all, only someone with an overinflated sense of self worth would even contemplate making such a statement. This statement really does defy all evidence. All we have to do is look at the stock market and the economy and we will have sure and certain evidence that man has plenty of limitations. Moreover, the statement contradicts the evidence given in the preceding paragraph of the “non-tract.” Thus, it is a real hoot to state:
“Why do trained theologians differ? Why do educated translators disagree over Greek and Hebrew meanings? Why all the confusion? Shouldn’t a “divinely inspired” document be as clear as possible?”
And then turn right around and state:
“The problem is not with human limitations, as some claim.”
If man were so stinking “unlimited,” wouldn’t we have found out the conclusive, irrefutable, inarguable truth by now? After all, according the atheists, man have been around for far longer than 6000 years. No, according to the theory of evolution subscribed to by atheists, man has been around plenty long enough to have come to conclusive and irrefutable truth by now. After all, “some” of us are “unlimited” and “free from theological bias” and thus able to see infinitely, and determine the truth of all things.
Now I know that the atheists and freethinkers try to warp and twist the meaning of “inspiration” as it is used in Scripture, so that it somehow means that man wasn’t involved in the LORD’s working on earth. After all, the vast majority of the Scripture is about man, and the failings of man, and why man needs (indeed, must have) a redeemer. I also know that the atheists and freethinkers totally discount the spiritual, even though the Scripture deals with the spiritual, and shifts from the physical to the spiritual from one verse to the next.
Ahh, but the atheists and freethinkers are not limited and are “free from theological bias” so that they can discount and intentionally ignore all rules of logic and common sense when it comes to the Scripture. Gee, I wonder if they do this with the owner’s manual for their vehicles? Or is it that they assume they already know, and thus aren’t required to read?
Logically, it is demanded that one must take into account the spiritual when reading the Scripture. This is no different than any other book. If I am reading a book about electrical theory and practice, I am not free to argue with it because it doesn’t address things from a mechanical or hydraulics point of view. It’s kind of like looking at the owner’s manual for a Dodge truck and thinking it’s wrong because you own a Ford, and your vehicle isn’t like that; meanwhile, ignoring all evidence and firmly convincing yourself that the manual must be wrong.
Actually, it is really sad that such hubris exists in man, to move him to claim that the problems people experience with understanding Scripture are not due to man. The really sad part is the lack of understanding of just how limited man really is. We are very nearly deaf, dumb, blind, and stupid, and we really don’t perceive that at all. This goes back to the old adage that “the more you know, the more you realize you don’t know.” By that old adage, the folks that wrote, approved of and utilize this tract, really don’t know anything — they just think they do.
Of course, this is in reality, nothing new. There have always been those who cavil the word of God, and the LORD God has always known that. That is why we find the following passage in the Old Testament:
Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come. Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together. Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you. (Isaiah 41:21-24)
You know, none of us have a clue what tomorrow will bring. In fact, none of us really know what will happen an hour from now. So much for not having limitations. However, the LORD God does know, and He has caused much of things to come to be recorded in His word.
However, if the atheist is so smart and not limited in his perception, let the atheist tell us what will be on the morrow, and of things to come. However, no man has been able to do that yet, despite the “unlimited” powers of some.
If it weren’t so serious, it would be laughable. However, I don’t think it’s going to be all that funny when the atheist stands at the white throne of judgement and is face to face with the LORD — and is proven dead wrong. Somebody is going to eat the words of the “non-tract,” and regret the day they ever thought them up.
Really, You think so?
No. Unlike the authors of the “non-tract,” I know so.