Month: May 2016

GOD can write a book, can’t HE?

By Derek J. White

Preachers often refer to the allegedly true story of a young boy’s definition of faith i.e. that ‘faith is believing something you know isn’t true.’(3) This is, of course, a travesty — a distortion of the biblical definition of faith. Faith is not an irrational leap in the dark nor is it believing something that has no bearing on facts. Biblical faith is, I suggest, believing The Truth. In his book ‘Escape From Reason’, Francis Schaeffer suggests that modern man [now post modern man] has come to his [present] position because he has accepted a new attitude to truth. Any new attitude to ‘anything’ does not usually arise in a vacuum — it happens over time, usually through the filtered influence of academics and intellectuals. In the twentieth century, this influence spread through the media in the guise of ‘education’, soap operas and television documentaries, as well as through newspapers and other forms of ‘communication’; in the twenty-first century the ‘status quo’ prevails.

Francis Schaeffer said that, “The modern (Schaeffer writing in the sixties) view of truth drives a wedge between the Greek and Jewish views, but it does so at the wrong point. Those who hold the modern view would picture the Greeks as holding to rational truth and the Jews as being existentialists…The Jewish concept is separated from the Greek in that the Jewish was rooted in space-time history and not just a balanced system.” (5) Schaeffer’s is a crucially important point when it comes to developing an apologetic for the Judao/Christian Scriptures because the New and Old Testaments are inexorably linked.

The Greeks may have had ‘ideas’, but it was through God’s people Israel that God revealed His word, and this not in a vacuum but, as Francis Schaeffer said — ‘in space and time’.

The abandonment of objective truth and the acceptance of relativism are basic to post modernism. As a movement it is wide ranging, covering culture and architecture and sociological issues. But its attitude to truth and knowledge is crucial. Postmodernism decisively rejects any concept of objective truth, and so certainty, “The intriguing fact however is that our postmodern age has continued to function as if truth, meaning and even authority still exist. We have to admit that that there is no other way we can function; consistent relativism is unliveable. Post-modern thinkers use reason to actuate reason, and structure sentences in their essays of deconstruction. The world we actually live in is not the world of the post-modernist. It is a world where reason and knowledge and truth and meaning and structures do exist and function perfectly satisfactorily.” P. Hicks (6)

Even though academics in their ivory towers may dismiss Hick’s comments as being unreasonable, we have nevertheless to reject views that deny the possibility that ‘post-modern man’ has no common sense — that he wouldn’t be able to see, ‘the wood from the trees’ — evidence of truth over falsehood — narrative myth over historical narrative.

Defining Evidence
William J. Cairney (7) suggests five necessary points when considering evidence for the reliability of ‘prophetic works’:

1. History written in advance (8)
2. Prescience: accurate statements written previously [in a pre-science age]
3. Historical evidence: verification through the means of modern research (9).
4. Archaeological evidence
5. Philosophical & logical ‘verification’

“And suppose all these evidences hang together without internal contradictions or literary stress within the same anthology. Collectively, we could not take these evidences lightly.” (10) Quite! The problem is however that we have had at least two centuries of what has been, nothing less than a sedulous attack on the New Testament as being a reliable source of first century information. We have, I suggest, more than reasonable grounds for believing that The Bible is ‘the collective anthology’ in which we can have full confidence. The use of prophecy in apologetics is one way through which we can encourage and even impart confidence in The New Testament (and indeed in the Old Testament as well). It is true that matching up prophecies, spoken or written, with the actual fulfilment can be rather a subjective exercise, however there are enough examples that give objective reasons [evidences] for accepting Biblical prophecy as examples of the reliability and indeed credibility of the New Testament. Unfortunately, space does not allow for their mention here, so this will have to be the material for another paper. However there are many excellent books written on the subject. (13)

‘Authenticating’ Prophecy
Authentication calls for rigorous tests involving objective prediction of the future. Such tests would require:

• ” Unambiguous statements/pronouncements
• ” Clarity – no vagueness (14)
• ” Prior announcement [before the event]
• ” Independence: not events that are the result of the efforts of ‘followers’

J.A.Bloom on other ‘scriptures’:
Despite his ambivalence regarding the presentation of evidence, Mohammed does go on to give ample predictions and warnings about the last judgement. However, by the time one can verify those prophecies it may be too late to change sides. After finding that the prophecies in the Koran and the Book of Mormon are notably weak or non existent, it might seem strange to note that there are so many long range prophecies in the Bible. (15) Why should it seem strange that there are many long range prophecies in the Bible as compared with other ‘scriptures’. I suggest that this is a clear example of the difference between the claims made for divine revelation by Muslims for the Koran, Mormons for the Book of Mormon, and for any other ‘scriptures’ laying claim to God’s authorship – through ‘direct revelation’ from God or otherwise. Why is it that The Bible alone has been, and is the but of jokes and ridicule? The fact is, we need an ‘evangelistic’ polemic. because there is, I suggest, a clear distinction between the false claims of the above mentioned ‘scriptures’ and the book that God has revealed over time through various ways and through numerous people in a space time continuum.

The Word of God?
Allan A. Macrae (16) Asks the obvious question: “How do we know what the word of God is?” He suggests the following possibilities:

a) We may say we ‘know that Jesus is our saviour, that ‘we know we’re going to heaven’ but this is not the same as ‘knowing that the Bible is the word of God. Knowing that Jesus is our saviour and that we are going to heaven is to do with our security in Christ — given us as a deposit. But these cannot be given as empirical proof because they are most certainly not.
b) How do we know whether or not the men who combined the books that make up ‘The Bible’ were correct? Who can prove it?
c) The Roman Catholics looked to the hierarchy of the church — to something akin to extra cathedra pronouncement.

MacRae says that none of the above can be taken as empirical evidence. It is, as he suggests, “simply not good enough” for anyone to claim that ‘their’ writings or ‘their’ book/revelation is the word of God .MacRae is, in my opinion, correct—how could anyone, in the twenty first century market place of ideas and options, even consider offering such subjectivisms as a defence for anything. Some would argue, as does Kierkegaard (17), that at least subjectivism has an ‘existential relevance’. No one could deny that, but it is hardly empirically viable evidence, is it? Notwithstanding all the relative and subjective reasons for belief in a divine source for any of ‘the scriptures’, is there any difference between the non Christian subjectivist claims that the ‘truth’ is in their word and therefore has to be accepted and our using as a proof text 2 Timothy 3:16,17, which is often used as a means of verification for the rest of the Bible? I suggest not. Please do not misunderstand me; I believe that the Bible is the word of God and that through reading it one can have personal assurances as mentioned above. My belief in the authenticity of the New Testament is, indeed, my raison dêtre for writing this article, and for my interest in apologetics. As the Lord Jesus said regarding the unity of the church I say regarding the need for sound apologetics — it is, “So that the world might believe…” [John 17:20]. Belief in something because it feels right could be considered foolishness — as Proverbs 16:25 says: “There is a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death.”

MacRae suggests that individuals (having access to scripture — being de facto exegetes) are no better equipped to decide — or to know objectively what is or isn’t God’s word, or what should or shouldn’t be in the canon of scripture: “Must the individual believer study the evidence regarding the genuineness of each book for himself and make a decision as to every book which claims to be divine scripture?” (18) No, of course not.

God’s Word ‘Remembered’
“As A.T. Robertson, the author of the most comprehensive grammar of New Testament Greek, wrote, ‘There are some 8,000 manuscripts of the Latin Vulgate and at least 1,000 for the other early versions. Add over 4,000 Greek manuscripts and we have 13,000 manuscript copies of portions of the New Testament. Besides all this, much of the New Testament can be reproduced from the quotations of the early Christian writers.’ To be sceptical of the resultant text of the New Testament is to allow all of classical antiquity to slip into obscurity, for no documents of the ancient period are as well attested bibliographically as the New Testament.” Warwick Montgomery (19)

It seems to me that the above information adds fuel to the fact that ‘we’ do have, more than, reasonable grounds for belief in the trustworthiness of the Bible, in its validity and in its reliability. Furthermore, it is important to note that the books of the New Testament did not become ‘the revealed word of God’ simply because a group of learned men got together and decreed that this particular collection of writings were God’s revealed word as opposed to other writings — other pretenders.

“Exactly why did apostolic Christianity survive and thrive? Robert Speer pulls no punches when he proclaims, ‘ Christianity lived because it was the true to the truth. Through all the centuries it has never been able to live otherwise. It cannot live otherwise today.'” (20)

The following quotes from Dunbar, Drane, Groothuis, Carson, Moo and Morris speak for themselves in that they make clear the historical case for belief in the validity and reliability of the scriptures:

1. The view of critical orthodoxy lacks sufficient historical evidence. The early church fathers show no consciousness that they are acting to establish the canon. Indeed, the basics shape of the New Testament canon was securely fixed long before any fourth-century councils declared themselves on the matter. The obvious a posteriori character of the arguments used by Irenaeus and his successors to defend particular aspects of the New Testament canon calls into question what it means to say that the church ‘chose’ or ‘established’ the canon. The apparently spontaneous development of the (New Testament) canon suggests that it is more appropriate to speak of a recognition rather than a selection of the New Testament books, and the same interpretation can be extended to the recognition of the Old Testament. (21)
2. These books did not suddenly become important overnight. They had been widely used and highly regarded for centuries, and the decisions made in the fourth century were simply the formal recognition of a state of affairs that had existed for a long time before that. It is sometimes claimed that the church leaders were trying to suppress beliefs that they themselves disliked – things such as reincarnation, or evidence for cosmic consciousness or extra terrestrials in the Bible. But that is the exact opposite of what actually happened. The fact is that what appeared in lists of acceptable books was based on the consensus of what the overwhelming majority of Christians believed and practised.” (22)
3. The process of formally recognising these documents as Scripture inspired by God was not one of creating a Bible, but rather of discovering what was already functioning as the authoritative rule in the historic church. This cannot be emphasised enough. The idea of a power hungry, or simply incompetent bunch of ignorant clerics arbitrarily including and excluding books into the New Testament is a pervasive but historically indefensible notion.” (23)

In short, that God is a self-disclosing, speaking, covenant-keeping God who has supremely revealed himself in a historical figure, Jesus the Messiah, establishes the necessity of the canon and, implicitly, its closure. The notion of canon forbids all self-conscious attempts to select only part of the canon as the governing standard of the Christian church: that would be to de-canonise canon, a contradiction in terms. Because the canon is made up of books whose authority ultimately springs from God’s gracious self-revelation, it is better to speak of recognising the canon than of establishing it. An canonical theology cannot rightly be divorced from the questions that tie God’s revelation to real history. (24)The sceptic, the liberal and ‘the enlightened’ may say that the above proves nothing more than the possibility of consensus in the early church. However, it seems to me that any thinking ‘post modern’ person would surely consider the implications. I suggest that the implications ought to at least provoke serious thought. There are reasonable grounds for believing that the early church took the New Testament narratives seriously — so why not twenty first century post-modern man; moreover twenty first century Christian believer.

The Liberals compromised on the truth, slipping down the slide into obscurity and death. The Fundamentalists separated and, now, stand their ground on issues of morality, but ‘standing on their ground they remain— and Evangelicals? Mark Knoll gives the strong impression that Evangelicals have missed the opportunity to take at least some of the high ground in academic circles (25). Noll, I suggest is correct, although it is not simply that Evangelicals should be looking for acceptance in the Halls of Academia, but rather that the world of Academia needs to hear the message of the gospel. The point being that, if we (Evangelicals) do not wake up to the fact that belief in a credible Jesus may not exist in the future if belief in the relevance, authenticity and authority of The Word of God is further undermined.

I am aware that I speak, in the main, to those who hold to the view that God may work in spite of any opposition to the gospel of grace, and to those who believe in the sovereignty of God, and who believe that He, The Lord Jesus, has given us the charge of going out into the world and making disciples. To both I say, take heart for we have a sound reason for proclaiming that the New Testament Christ and His word are both true, very relevant and imminent. Douglas Groothuis (26) says that the canon of the New Testament is not an inauthentic collection of material created to suppress legitimate documents that present a New Age version of Jesus. Furthermore he says that no one should reject the biblical presentation of Jesus on the basis that the books of the New Testament were merely a result of political or theological prejudice.

In this article I have argued that, contrary to the denial of post modern man being able to deal with truth issues, truth today is an issue for every thinking person. I have argued that, because man is able to reason out the truth, man (even post-modern man) will be ready to accept an apologetic that is based on something that is believable. If not there is little point engaging in apologetics.

“We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eye witnesses of his majesty.” (2 Peter 1:16)

Extract sources:

1. Harold A Netland. “Apologetics, Worldviews, and the Problem of Neutral Criteria.” Trinity Journal 12 (1991)

2. D.A. Carson. The Gagging of God (Apollos) 1996 p.51

3. unknown source

4. Francis Schaeffer, Escape from Reason(IVP), 1968

5. ibid

6. Peter Hicks, Evangelicals and Truth (Apollos), 1998. p35

7. William J. Cairney, An Evidential Approach to Biblical Christianity [Evidence for Faith] (Probe Books) ,1991. p.21

8. This really depends on whether or not there is, in existence, a GOD who knows of events prior to their actual occurrence; this obviously has an affect on believer and cynic alike.

9. Again this may depend on what is seen as a ‘possibility’.

10. Ibid p.21

11. Matthew 13:15

12. Coming to faith in Christ is not, however, simply a matter of believing in the authority of the Bible. Saving faith, as a norm, comes through the preaching and reading of the recorded word – the word through which Christ is made known, and has been made known to many throughout the centuries.

13. Books relating to prophecy and its use in apologetics:

14. Such as a prediction of something that would have happened anyway

15. John A. Bloom, Evidence for Faith [Truth Via Prophecy] (Probe Books), 1991. p.178

16. Allan A. MacRae, Evidence for Faith [The Canon of Scripture] (Probe Books), 1991. p.215

17. Alister E McGrath, A Passion for Truth (Apollos), 1996. p.102

18. Allan A. MacRae, Evidence for Faith [The Canon of Scripture] (Probe Books), 1991. p216

19. John Warwick Montgomery, History and Christianity, 1964 (Bethany House), pp. [28-29]

20. Douglas Groothuis, Jesus in an Age of Controversy. 1996 (Kingsway), p.118

21. David G. Dunbar, Hermeneutics, Authority and Canon (The Biblical Canon), 1986 (IVP .p357

22. John Drane, The Bible Phenomenon, 1999 (Lion 1999), p.54

23. Douglas Groothuis, Jesus in an Age of Controversy. 1996 (Kingsway), p.308

24. Carson, Moo and Morris, An Introduction to The New Testament, 1992 (Apollos) p.499

25. Mark A. Noll, The Scandal Of The Evangelical Mind. 1994 (IVP)

26. Douglas Groothuis, Jesus in an Age of Controversy. 1996 (Kingsway), p.312