Imagine that you pick up a copy of the NY Times. In the entertainment section, you find a review of a current musical on Broadway:
“The latest offering on Broadway is a sad little play about the history and the future of mankind. I won’t trouble you with the details. Suffice it to say that the show is violent, tasteless, insipid, and naive. The plot line goes beyond unbelievable……..it is patently impossible. Don’t waste your time and money”.
Later on, you learn that the reviewer never actually saw the play. He based his review on second and third hand accounts that he had heard from friends and strangers.
What would you think of the review?
More to the point……what would you think of the reviewer?
And yet, we hear book reviews about the Bible every day. If you drill down into the negative reviews, you will find that the reviewer has almost never actually read the book. Even worse, the reviews that are positive………are also written by reviewers, most of whom, have never read the book cover to cover.
Considering the eternal consequences…….heaven and hell……there is no escaping the fact that the Bible is the most important book that man has ever been exposed to. It is hard to conceive that our public conversation about this seminal piece of text, both positive and negative, is conducted, almost exclusively, by people on both sides of the argument………who have never read the Bible cover to cover.
The blind leading the blind.
You may believe the Bible to be true……..you may believe that it’s a myth. That is not today’s question. Today’s question is a little more basic. Today’s question deals with intellectual honesty.
“Have you actually read the book?”
Probably not.
Today’s post is for those who have never read the Bible cover to cover. This includes essentially all non-believers and the vast majority of believers.
I hope that you will run out and grab a copy and read every word.
But, I’m not very optimistic. It’s a pretty big book and it can be a little “thick”.
Today, I am not addrsssing a culture divided between believers and non-believers.
Today, I am addressing a culture divided between the intellectually honest……..and the intellectually dishonest.
So, what is your next step?
Ignore the honesty problem.
Grab a Bible and start at Genesis 1.
Or
Take a baby step.
Here is my suggestion:
Read the book of John…….then Acts…….then the letters of Paul.
Think of this as the “Cliff Notes” version of the Bible. Imagine this as a book titled:
“Love God……and Everybody Else”
As you read I must warn you of another honesty problem that you will encounter on almost every page. You will read a passage and say to yourself, “That’s impossible!” Just remember, what you actually mean is: “That’s impossible……for me”. God operates on a spiritual plane…….he is not bound by your narrow definition of what is possible.
Possible or impossible is not the question.
God is real. The consequences are real. The fact that you may not believe this……is irrelevant.
So……I return to the original question. What do you think of the reviewer in the first paragraph?
Because you are the reviewer.
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Paul, Romans 1:19-20, ESV