Little Red (read) Words in a Big Black Book

The blind and the lame came to Him at the temple, and He healed them. But the chief priests and scribes were indignant when they saw the wonders He performed and the children shouting in the temple courts, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" 

"Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked. 

“Yes,” Jesus answered. “Have you never read: ‘From the mouths of children and infants You have ordained praise?’”

Matthew 21:15&16

Leonard Blair, a Senior writer at The Christian Post, recently wrote the following:

While biblical literalism has long been held as the most dominant method of interpreting Scripture among Evangelicals, results of a new poll released by Gallup show that fewer than half of Evangelicals and born-again Christians believe the Bible should be taken literally…“except in places where the text is obviously allegorical, poetic or figurative…”

The poll…with a random sample of 1,007 adults, found that just 40% of respondents who identify as Evangelical or born-again view the Bible as the “actual word of God,” while 51% see the Bible as the “inspired word of God…”

In general, among all U.S. adults, only 20% say the Bible is the literal word of God, which is a historic low according to Gallup. A record 29% of Americans say the Bible is a collection of "fables, legends, history and moral precepts recorded by (humans)..."

The data from the Gallup poll comes less than a year after a study from Arizona Christian University found that of an estimated 176 million American adults who identify as Christian, just 6% or 15 million of them actually hold a biblical worldview.

The study found, in general, that while a majority of America’s self-identified Christians, including many who identify as Evangelical, believe that God is all-powerful, all-knowing and is the Creator of the universe, more than half reject a number of biblical teaching and principles, including the existence of the Holy Spirit.

Strong majorities also…believe that all religious faiths are of equal value, people are basically good and that people can use acts of goodness to earn their way into Heaven. The study further showed that majorities don’t believe in moral absolutes; consider feelings, experience, or the input of friends and family as their most trusted sources of moral guidance…

https://www.christianpost.com/news/fewer-than-half-of-evangelicals-believe-bible-is-literally-true.html

Now, we copied quite a bit there but we feel it is vitally important information.

Even though this is a small sampling, Gallup polls are trustworthy. They’ve been on the cutting edge of Christian surveys for a few decades now. The numbers are both startling and telling.

Of all the consequences which arise from a lack of trust in God’s word as God’s word, perhaps this is the most destructive: "all religious faiths are of equal value, people are basically good and that people can use acts of goodness to earn their way into Heaven….majorities don’t believe in moral absolutes; (and) consider feelings, experience, or the input of friends and family as their most trusted sources of moral guidance…"

So, how did we get to this point?

It’s important to remember that for thousands of years, both the Old and New Testaments of the Judeo-Christian Bible have been proven reliable sources of history, poetry, prophecy, geography and ethics. (That's not to begin to describe its eternal impact upon the soul). It was not until the late 1800’s when German theologians came along offering theological liberalism and higher biblical criticism under the guise of modern Biblical scholarship that people began to doubt what they believed to be true and trustworthy.

This, in turn, led to other movements which produced profoundly negative impacts. Among these have been the social gospel, Feminist Theology, Liberation Theology, Process Theology, and even the Jesus Seminar. One particular outcome of these movements is the heretical Myth of Christian Origins which denies the divinity of Christ and disavows the authority of scripture.

Since its invasion into Christianity, a lack of faith in God’s word as truly being the Word of God has had but one single aim - to delegitimize and destroy the authority of God. 

 After all, if you don’t believe “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1) how in the world are you going to believe in the end? “And the One seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ Then He said, ‘Write this down, for these words are faithful and true.’ And He told me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give freely from the spring of the water of life. The one who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son. But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.’”

You see, what you believe about God’s word is as important as taking your next breath. It dictates what you believe about everything else...

This incomparable collection of books tells us, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son” (John 3:16). And, from the same resource: “When Jesus heard this, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.” He added, “Now go. Learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners” (Matthew 9:12&13).

Do you know if you’re a sinner or not? 

Do you know if you need healing? 

If you were reading and believing the Bible (God’s word) you would know…

Ah, those little red (read) words in that big black book…