Articles - The Bible

We can know some things:
1)      . . . that I exist (Psalm 139:1-24)
2)      . . . that external objects exist (Psalm 8:3-9)
3)      . . . that other minds exist (Mark 2:6-8; Romans 14:3)
4)      . . . that cause and effect occurs (Hebrews 3:4)
5)      . . . that I can know some very crucial things (Luke 1:4; John 8:32)

Prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991, I read an extremely interesting article about the delivery of 50,000 free copies of the New Testament to the USSR. This mass distribution of the Scriptures included 10,000 copies made available at the Moscow Book Fair. People, standing in long lines, waited for as long as two hours to receive a free copy of the New Testament. When the people saw that only a couple thousand copies remained, the crowd went out of control. Policemen had to be utilized to settle the crowd. Finally, when all the New Testaments had been taken, and several thousand people were left standing without a copy, addresses of those people were requested. In two days, 26,000 addresses were submitted, and all received by mail their New Testament!

In two major literary publications separated by nearly 35 years, Kenneth L. Woodward, former longtime religion editor of Newsweek, implied the stark reality of the state of America’s culture concerning its present relationship with the Bible. Woodward, who contributed nearly 100 cover stories for Newsweek, wrote one of those stories in 1982 titled “The Bible in America.” More than three decades later (2016) Woodward’s book, Getting Religion: Faith, Culture, and Politics from the Age of Eisenhower to the Era of Obama, was published. Both the Newsweek article and Getting Religion are about the influence of religion in America.

On five consecutive Wednesday nights in the late Summer 1941, former British atheist turned theist, C. S. Lewis, delivered five memorable radio talks broadcast from London. The first talk was broadcast August 6. The last talk was delivered September 3. The fourth talk, delivered August 27, was originally titled, “What Can We Do About It?” It now appears in Lewis’ book, Mere Christianity, under the title “We Have Cause to Be Uneasy.”

The times were dark. Hopelessness was increasing. Britain and France had declared war against Germany September 3, 1939. Large audiences tuned in weekly to hear Lewis’ talks

For the last 45 years, this writer has experienced an annual event with a rich history dating much longer than the time he has been influenced by it. For 71 years, since 1949, an annual used book sale has occurred every November in downtown Parkersburg, WV. Unfortunately, like numerous other events scheduled for this year, Trinity Used Book Sale has been cancelled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic that originated in modern China governed by the atheistic Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

It is estimated that 40,000 to 50,000 books are sold annually during this used book sale. Personally, between one and two thousand volumes have been purchased during parts of five decades. Most of these purchased at very meager prices (i.e. 54 volume set of Great Books of the Western World at fifty cents per volume, et al.). Several articles could be written about the book treasures discovered these many years during the first full week of November.

These are troublesome, but quickening, times. There is fear, but there is also the faith. There is uncertainty, but there is, as an old song says, “an anchor that keeps the soul steadfast and sure while the billows roll.”

There are questions that remain unanswered and everyone, it seems, is talking about it. Even a sportswriter in the local newspaper made the following comment: “The more I talk with folks about the ongoing implosion of American society and the continued pandemic, there doesn’t appear to be a lot of answers currently available.” Of course, at times it may be the case that some of us are asking the wrong questions. In his little book on grief C. S. Lewis says “half the questions we ask—half our great theological and metaphysical problems” are what Lewis called “nonsense questions.”

Could it be the case that the true answers to the most important questions are available, but many do not know where to go to find the available answers? Nearly fifty years ago I saw a brief message on a bulletin board in the reception/waiting area of a doctor’s office. It was a powerful message then, and it remains powerful. Some may think the message is out of place in our politically correct culture, especially in a doctor’s office.

An anniversary marks the date of a notable event. January 2020 marked the 50th anniversary of the initial publication of the basic logical argument for the inspiration and authority of the Bible as set forth by the late Thomas B. Warren. Dr. Warren provides background concerning the development of this argument in the following statements from his book When Is an Example Binding?

I have given many years to the study of the inspiration and authority of the Bible. I have taught this course in the college classroom both on the undergraduate and on the graduate level for a number of years. I have preached on the subject many, many times. I have studied books by the dozens in which men have sought to prove the inspiration and authority of the Bible. Yet I have been keenly disappointed in all of these books in at least one point; namely the fact no basic logical argument was set out to explain why what the men did actually showed that the Bible was the inspired word of God. Spurred by that failure of these various books, I was motivated to give thought to this matter over a period not only of months, but of years. Already, in The Spiritual Sword of January 1970, the Harding Graduate School Lectures of 1971, and in the Gospel Advocate of July 27, 1972, I have set out the basic argument which proves that the Bible is the word of God. The basic argument is set out in a formal logical way—with premises which are true and an argument which is valid. (vii-viii)

  The national tradition of belief in God has been affirmed by the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in the book On Faith published posthumously in early 2019. In this article I am affirming a second national tradition that historically manifests public religiousness. It is belief in the Bible.

   The Syntopicon of Great Books of the Western World describes the Bible in the following: “One Book stands out from all the rest because in our tradition it is—as the use of ‘Bible’ for its proper name implies—the book about God and men” (2. 558, emp. added). Additionally, the same source characterizes the Bible as having “unparalleled” influence upon western culture (3. 589). More recently, during this decade, David Berlinski, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute in Seattle, and author of The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions, during an interview said the following: “The Old Testament is the greatest repository of human knowledge and wisdom in the history of civilization, anytime, any place . . . [an] enormously complex, rich, and dramatic piece of work.” Coming from one who claims to be a secular Jew, such a statement is of no little significance. Somewhat parallel to Berlinski’s assessment of the Old Testament is the description of the New Testament by the late McGeorge Bundy. A former Harvard academic dean and special assistant for national affairs to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, Bundy called the New Testament “the most powerful single volume you encounter” (Books that Made the Difference 62).

The sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams, wrote some remarkable letters to one of his sons while the boy was attending school in Massachusetts. Nine of the letters were published in 1848 in a book titled Letters of John Quincy Adams to His Son on the Bible and Its Teaching. In Letter II, Adams says, “There are three points of doctrine, the belief of which, forms the foundation of all morality. The first is, the existence of a God; the second is the immortality of the human soul; and the third is, a future state of rewards and punishments.” Adams continued “Suppose it possible for a man to disbelieve either of these articles of faith, and that man will have no conscience, he will have no other law than that of the tiger or the shark; the laws of man may bind him in chains, or may put him to death, but they never can make him wise, virtuous, or happy” (22-23).

Used book sales often are the source of some great treasurers purchased at minimal prices. Such was the case when I made a visit to an annual Fall book sale that uncovered several good finds including one titled, Books that Made the Difference, a twenty year old study conducted by a husband-wife team, Gordon and Patricia Sabine, both university journalism professors. The Sabine’s travelled the country and interviewed some 1,400 Americans with regard to two questions: (1) What book made the greatest difference in your life? (2) What was the difference? The results of 200 of these interview were then published under the above title in a book sponsored by The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.

Robert Milligan, while President of The College of the Bible in Kentucky University, wrote a book in 1867 titled Reason and Revelation. In the Introduction, Milligan wrote,

    It is painful to see the popular indifference that is everywhere manifested for the Word of God. I do not mean to say, with some, that this indifference is increasing; or that it is even as great now as it was a hundred years ago. I am fully persuaded that it is not. Indeed, I feel entirely confident, that the Holy Scriptures had never before so great an influence over the masses of mankind as they have at present. But, nevertheless, their influence is very little in comparison with what it ought to be. Very few persons seem to believe the Bible with their whole hearts. And hence but few tremble at its solemn precepts and warnings. . . . (xi, emp. added)

    While discussing the qualifications of the Bible student, Milligan states that the first moral qualification of the Bible student is “a profound reverence for the Bible. . . . [I]n all cases, and under all circumstances, we should approach the Bible as we would approach its Divine Author” (382).

The Bible has a self-evidencing nature to the effect that it consists not of merely “passing or temporary enactments, but eternal laws” (Rawlinson 112). The indestructibility of the Bible, as evidenced from history, sustains the biblical claim, and the experience of those who, as the Psalmist, can say, “I have known of old that You have founded them [Your testimonies] forever” (Ps. 119:152).

The Da Vinci Code (book and movie) stirred interest in such Gnostic gospels as the Gospel of Thomas and others. Some even seem to think that these non-canonical, heterodox (i.e. contrary to the acknowledged standard of the New Testament) works should be given a prominence equal to, or greater than, the New Testament.

During a trip to Pittsburgh for the purpose of receiving treatment at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, I had occasion to browse through some rare books in a bookstore located in an older section of the city. I came across a book, The Bible in New York, published in 1948. The terrorist attacks in New York, and the military response to those attacks, make the material in the aforementioned book extremely relevant and interesting.

A visit to a used book store uncovered a book lover's treasure (viz. a delightful volume published more than a quarter of a century ago and filled with thought-provoking anecdotes and capsules of wisdom). One tidbit of value was a story about an old preacher who, on foot, set out after the evening service to find his way along the edge of a dangerous cliff to the cottage where he was to spend the night.

Many years ago, an annual used book sale in Parkersburg, WV, yielded a rare treasure. There, on a shelf surrounded by thousands of books on various and sundry topics, was An Examination of the Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible published in 1874 by John W. Haley. I quickly opened the book to see the price. Twenty-five cents!!!! SOLD! I felt like a little boy with his special toy on Christmas morning.