JIM@AUVM (Jim McIntosh) (01/13/90)
In article <CHRISTIA%90011216453311@FINHUTC>, EWS2304@TAMVENUS says: >The following is from our local school bulletin board. This person >is not a christian but said something here that was so true. We cannot >pick and choose what we want to beleive! What he was trying to say was >that you can't trully call yourself a christian and then try to tell me >that the story about adam and eve is not literal. He made alot of sence. >I hold to a literal veiw of all the bible and find it difficult not to >because then the whole idea of salvation breaks down. I hope this post >gives yall food for thought. Hi Eric! I'm glad that the Bible, taken literally, is useful to you as a support for your faith. For me, the Bible, AS WRITTEN, *is* the Word of God. It is not the events talked about, but rather the words themselves which are important for me. It is through those words that God speaks to me, and shows me a path for my life. The stories in the Bible, whether allegory or actual events, are truth, and I would defend every one of them. Creation is a truth, even if it might have physically happened another way. It doesn't matter to me, since I have the message of the Bible, what physical events might have formed the basis for the Biblical message. I'm not saying God DIDN'T create the world in the time it takes the earth to rotate seven times, but neither am I saying God DID. It simply doesn't matter to me. The scriptures tell me that God created the world, and that this process is part of God's plan. This is a truth I accept, even if someone can one day *prove* it took seven days or four billion years. My faith will not be affected. I have friends who argue at length about the bodily resurrection. I read more and more articles from theologians questioning how the resurrection occured physically. I could care less. I know that Jesus Christ was glorified after death by God and that HE LIVES! This is all the truth I need. One day someone will invent a time machine and go back in time and videotape the tomb. Nothing on that tape, whether showing a flash of light or showing the stone unmoved, will shake my faith. The scriptures say Jesus lives, and I believe it and know it to be true. I tell you this, Eric, not to convince you or to say you are wrong in beliving the the literal truth of the Bible. Your belief in the literal truth of the Bible is helpful to you in getting close to God. As such it should be welcomed. I just hope you might see how someone, believing otherwise, could be just as thankful to have the Bible, ------- Jim McIntosh (JIM@AUVM) The American University Washington DC 20016 USA