During the past few weeks, we have studied together the importance of God’s Word in our lives as well as the importance of reading His Word in its entirety, from beginning to end.
Years ago a very good friend of mine invited me to his house for dinner. During the course of the dinner, his girlfriend (not a believer) started to talk to me about my faith. She stated that what I believe is wrong and foolish. I asked her if she believes in God and if, yes, if she believed that the Bible is God’s Word; she replied, “Yes” to both questions. So I asked if I were to prove to her, from the Bible, that what I believe (i.e. that Yeshua is the promised Messiah) is not foolish or wrong, would she believe it? She immediately replied that the entire Bible is not true.
A bit confused, I said, “But you just said that you believe in God and that the Bible is His Word…” I then asked, “If the Bible is not completely true, how can you say that you believe in God? Where does the idea that there is a God (Creator) come from if not from His Word, the Scriptures?”
The point, my brothers and sisters, is that we first and foremost have to agree on these two fundamental points: 1) God exists and 2) the Bible is indeed His Word. If we can’t agree on these two basic facts, we cannot agree upon anything else.
I want to give a brief word of caution against something I see more and more within the Body of Messiah. Over the years, I have been exposed to many different theological views regarding the Scriptures. These views, whether expressed from the pulpit or written as commentaries are, in the end, interpretations of the Scriptures. And while these interpretations can be very useful in our daily walk with the LORD, in reality, many believers spend more time reading and studying them than the Word itself. The Word is our best, most reliable source for our daily walk; let us not become overly distracted with other well meaning, but less important sources.
In my next blog entry, we will explore the significance of the first verse of the Bible…
Shabbat Shalom,
Moran