The Bible and Its Reception ...

Saturday, Jan 6, 2018. Recently I ran into some remarks someone had made a while ago on the Bible, on the stories written down in the New Testament. He called it childish stories. Of course, there are many people today who might think the same. The miracles and the parables and all the claims and reports of the bible are difficult to understand for so many. How to deal with this situation?

Ideas about the Past …

Of course you could tell people that they do not know what they say. But that is not always true. This guy I mentioned first was one of the brightest human minds of the 20th century. And I was reading his fantastic remarks about science and at the same time his poor treatment of the bible, where I think he just completely missed the points.

There are even some streams of theology today who think that the whole bible is filled with unsubstantiated stories, invented by the early church during its first 100 years of existence. They consider theology more a science to study religion than to learn about the living God!

For Christians who live their faith actively and with responsibility it is good to take notice of the treatment and reception of the bible in different layers of our society, by different people and different schools, different churches and different traditions!

Build some Sound Basis for Faith …

Only when you start to know some of the arguments, you will be able to find a stable standpoint of your own. Of course, not every Christian should go into the various oceans or muddy streams of theology. Not everyone has to deal with every argument - there is just no need to it for each and everyone. But for the church as a whole, there is need for taking objections serious.

What is a sound basis for your faith? In the end it is just the grace of God through Jesus Christ. He is the beginning and the end, he is the one who can hold you. No argument can, no power other than himself. We need to make this clear: faith does not come out of reason alone, but from the word of God, who talks to us and approaches us. Faith comes from him, his love, his truth, his mercy and his presence. It has always been that way!

But reason is an important part of faith. God is the God of reason, the God who has created this world, and who created the human mind, with all what it is! Apologetics means to defend why we know what we believe. It means to get the sources, origins and wells carefully cleaned and sorted. And that is possible to a degree which will astonish you if you follow it up yourself with an open and pure heart! (Roland Potthast) ... further texts