"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that were I am [there] you may be also." John Chapter 14, Verse 3. "And where I go you know, and the way you know." "Thomas said to him, Lord, we know not where you go; and how can we know the way?" "Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me."
Jesus said that He was the only way to God. The only truth. Well, lets look at this for a moment. The Testament to Jesus Christ's new covenant with man was written in Koine Greek. Lets research it:
Iesous lego autos ego eimi hodos (the way) kai aletheia (the truth) kai zoe: oudeis erchomai pros Pater (Father) ei me dai emou (me).
The literal translation of this Greek sentence has an untranslated Kai in it. Kai means 'and, also, even, indeed, or but', and is pronounced {kahee}. Now, that would make the literal transliteration, of each Greek word, stuck together, as: & nbsp; 'Jesus, saith, unto him, I, am, way, and, truth, and life, no man, comes, to, the Father (Pater), but, by, me.' Way: hodos, a root word meaning road travelled, a way, journey, travelling. Put into the context of John Chapter 14, Jesus was telling them that He was the one route to go when someone dies. Evidence? The verse before the first quoted verse above: Verse 3, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also." If Jesus died, and He said that the only way is the way He's going, and that He IS the way, then doesn't that state clearly by definition that He's claiming to be the absolute WAY? When someone dies, that He is the absolute?
Truth: aletheia (al-ay-thi-a), from root alethes which means true. This word literally means truly, in truth, or according to truth. The Strongs definition goes on to say, true notions of God which are open to human reason without his supernatural intervention; And, of a truth, in reality, according to truth. Jesus laid claim to this truth, that He's it. Jesus said clearly in John Chapter 4, Verse 24, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." So there's but one God, and He's the only way to worship Him, and this contradicts what the modern thinking says about anything spiritual, stating that there are many roads that lead to God and everyone has their own personal truth. Modern day thinking is that there is no absolute truth, but here Jesus 2,000 years ago claims to be it.
Life: zoe (dzo-ay), which means, the state of one who is possessed of vitality or is animate. Jesus clear laid claim to life itself. In the beginning of John, Chapter 1, Verses 4-5. "In him was life; and the life was the light of men." "And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." The testimony of Jesus is that all things were created by Him and for Him, including anyone reading this text. That Jesus's life is the light of men, and the only reason why you're alive is because of God's forbearance, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (Second Peter Chapter 3, Verse 9).
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."
Who is this Jesus that's spoken of so highly? Jesus's claims are that He has always been with the Father, because 'He and the Father are one,' meaning that within Himself, with the Holy Spirit, they are one together, 'Elohim.' He came as God in the flesh. You yourself are triune: you have a body, a soul, and a spirit. One rots in the casket while the others together appear before God after you die. So is God triune, as you are made bodily in the image of God: He is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
He not only laid claim that there's one God, and that He's the only way to worship Him, but He said He's God in the flesh! John Chapter 10, Verse 30, "I and my Father are one."
No absolute truth? Absolutely ridiculous!
Want another heavy piece of truth? Here's another heavy piece.
Romans Chapter 1 and Verse 20 states, "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:" Romans represents a letter written by Paul, who wrote what Jesus taught: Jesus, the absolute truth, taught that the Godhead (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) is clearly visible through creation! You can go outside and stare at nature and determine that from the creation, there had to have been a creator; And if you stare close enough, you can clearly determine this triunity that God has. So that leaves you without an excuse: if you'd search for it, you would see it. That means out of the womb, naturally, I know that there's a God. I don't need to tell anyone that there is. Just study history, or look at ancient tribes and figures, and dead civilizations, and study and see that they knew that there was a God, too. But chose not to worship Him as God in truth, as the next verse reveals
"Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened." It's talking about God's chosen vessel, the Jews, that would be the oracle, or voice, of God among the nations under that old Covenant. "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." Isn't that what is happening with today's thinking, aswell?!
Verse 23, "And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things." Today, we have, 'Evolution, Hinduism, Buddhism, Philosophy, Psychology, Hearsay, Relative truths, Confuscianism, Zen everything, Mormonism, Watchtower-ism, and all sorts of -ologies and -isms,' that all claim some form of the truth. Fools. "For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: ..." Romans Chapter 1, Verse 26. So this is why! "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprovate mind, to do those thigns which are not convenient;"
No one wants to retain God in their knowledge these days: it's all about personal truths! Today's thinking goes something like... I don't need your god, my god works for me just fine. Or, You need God as a crutch for your life, but I'm strong enough, and I don't need God... Or, I'm not ready, I'm still living my life for me...
You serve yourself when you say that! Who are you serving? Do you truly believe that you're going to face the god you made up when you die? Or that Allah, Buddha, and the true God have fellowship with one another, and everyone will return to the one they choose here on earth? Jesus didn't think so. He's the bridge: He stated He came down, as God, to show you and tell you in our own realm of influence on earth, the way. That He's it. And that all that God's said is true. He confirmed it with many wonders and signs, and the same Holy Spirit He left behind still does signs and wonders today. But what He ultimately left for one to believe and confirm that His word was true: was the cross.
Here's what Jesus, truth, says to those that seek after a sign from God, "Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee." "But he answered and said unto them, And evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah:" "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three night sin the heart of the earth." Jesus was saying here that there will never, ever be a sign given to anyone from God but the cross! That IS His sign! If you don't come through the cross, God will not reveal Himself to you. What's so special about the cross? Well, the fact that buddah couldn't die to reconcile you with God, because he wouldn't come back afterwards. Or that Muhammed couldn't die for your sins, because he had to pray 5 times a day for his own. Or that Evolution or any science ending in -ology can't cure the disease of death. But that Jesus Christ paid the price of sins (death) for those that would receive Him, and arose from death, defeating it, on the cross! Try and try as I may, I can say that I don't believein death, or that people can't die. But the fact of the matter is, I'm going to die whether I like it or believe in it or not. The problem I have is that afterwards, whether I like it or not, I'm going to pass before God in judgement. God says, "It's appointed for a man to die once, and after this the judgement." I can't be reconciled with a creator by any other name, because the person by another name didn't and couldn't die for me. This sets up the cross as the dividing line behind any other name. And gives Jesus the right and the access to the title of 'absolute truth.'
And what does this man say? Matthew Chapter 12, Verse 36 "But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment."
God wants you to repent (turn from sin), and put your trust in Jesus Christ, (Mark 16, Verse 16, Luke Chapter 24, Verses 46 AND 47), entering into the Covenant relationship that He's set up for salvation from sin, His wrath, this world, and the wrath to come after death: To have a right heart and conscience with God, receiving the seal of the covenant the Holy Spirit dwelling within you (John Chapter 7, Verse 49) to give you a new heart with a new nature to destroy the power of sin in you. God wants to save you, not for yourself but for Him. If you've ever stolen, committed adultery, or murdered someone, you've sinned against God, and are in dire need of Jesus as Savior. You might say you've never done those things, but consider that God doesn't regard value in theft and that a stolen paperclip is stealing, that God sees looking at someone's attractiveness as you walk by as adultery, and hating someone or calling them a name as murder, you'd be in big trouble. Jesus said in Revelations Chapter 21, Verse 8, "All liars shall have their part in the lake of fire" !!! Repent today! And put your trust in Jesus Christ, find out who He is, God. Go here: Blue Letter Bible, and start reading, today!
Those that wait until 12 o'clock to repent and believe, always die at 11:30! Do it now! While God has mercy on you enough to forbear you to live another moment!
Acts: And he said to them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has put in his own power. But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and you shall be witnesses to me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth. Chapter 1, Verses 7 & 8.
Luke: And he said to them, These are the words which I spoke to you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, And said to them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry in the city of Jerusalem, until you be endued with power from on high. Chapter 24, Verses 44-49.
Mark: And he said to them, Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they... Chapter 16, Verses 15-17.
Matthew: And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world. Amen. Chapter 28, Verses 17-20.
Today I went to work for 4 hours, and it felt like a full work-day. It was hard! I went to register 15 and worked, and then, they pulled me off to go to be a people-greeter at the GM door. I did that. Then after Robert came and took over, I went to the Podium. I was standing at register 15 near the podium speaking with these two women, and the manager came and asked why no one was working and I said, 'I just came back from GM door and the CSMs haven't told me to do any work.' And then she turned to the girl I was speaking spiritual things with and she said because of her asthma she couldn't go and so I told her that I'd go and I went. And after a long time, maybe an hour and a half, of pushing and assembling carts in the sun, I finished the grocery side cart door with these two guys. And I went in and said I'd do the other side of they wanted; I just did this because Jesus said if your enemy has something against you, give him your cloak.
And as I was out pushing carts into the GM side, Assistant Manager Nigel came by and saw me, gave me the weird look, and told me to take out a trash can that was right near where I was. This was no simple task. The trashcan was filled with beer bottles, beer, urine, and sewage smell, and when I went to put a bag over it, black water came out. This wasn't just garbage-juice. It was sewage - Robert told me the bottom was filled with sand and so it would be impossible for me to lift, and it was filled with nasty trash and rain water. And Robert tried to lift it, but the trash was infested with maggots and he was afraid they'd eat at his hands and burrow under his skin. So he told me to get two other peoples from Maintenance to come and help me carry it to the back. We did, in a cart, and when we dumped it in the compactor, it was so filled with mold spores and nasty bacteria and black water and sewage, and the smell was so vile, pungent, and excorriating to the senses that we just pushed the whole trash can into the compactor and agreed that it couldn't be done another way, and compacted it. It was disgusting. The trash was so vile and nasty.
The Lord showed me something today. I was in Hebrews and I learned that the Lord disciplined His Son, God in the flesh, in the Garden at Gethsemane that day. He disciplined Him for obedience (Hebrews 5:8). Jesus, He who was without sin, was disciplined for obedience being by definition Obedience. Why'd God do that? It makes sense because He has to and wants to do it for us, and Jesus being the author of our faith, suffered God's discipline to be made a better high priest, that could be touched in all points in our sufferings and being made perfect through suffering. It's like this, if God sees Jesus as most pleasing in His sight - perfect, undefiled, and sinless, never doing anything wrong and always doing what pleases the Father, and lead Him away to a bloody death by crucifixion and let Him bear the weight of my sin on the cross, and then let Him die spiritually on that cross, as well as physically, with His beard ripped from His face... How do you think He sees my sin? If Jesus' obedience was pleasing to God, and my sin is displeasing, and yet God did that to His only Son, what do you think I deserve, or you deserve, for those 'little white sins'? Death.
So deserving death, in hell, God's grace in the new covenant of Jesus Christ... I am already under God's mercy and grace, and forbearance. He's imputed my punishment on the cross in Christ, and I die daily a living sacrifice to God. So what I suffered that day at Wal-Mart isn't anything sort of like a punishment - this isn't a place of punishment, it's a place of discipline for God's beloved (those born-again, already), and a place of obedience to the voice of God. Every one He receives, He purges, that it might produce more fruit. He is a consuming fire. The refining fire of His discipline is put to my devotional life, my faith, to purify it and purge it - so it can produce more fruit! I grow in holiness. So I didn't deserve that disgusting trash can - I deserve death! It wasn't a punishment or a torment - it was a discipline, and what discipline I receive, I receive out of grace! No discipline feels good, but the Lord has to do it. He has to do what a Father does to those He receives as children. He's adopted me, afterall.
"That through death He might destroy him that had the power of death." --Hebrews 2:14
O child of God, death hath lost its sting, because the devil's power over it is destroyed. Then cease to fear dying. Ask grace from God the Holy Ghost, that by an intimate knowledge and a firm belief of thy Redeemer's death, thou mayst be strengthened for that dread hour. Living near the cross of Calvary thou mayst think of death with pleasure, and welcome it when it comes with intense delight. It is sweet to die in the Lord: it is a covenant-blessing to sleep in Jesus. Death is no longer banishment, it is a return from exile, a going home to the many mansions where the loved ones already dwell. The distance between glorified spirits in heaven and militant saints on earth seems great; but it is not so. We are not far from home--a moment will bring us there. The sail is spread; the soul is launched upon the deep. How long will be its voyage? How many wearying winds must beat upon the sail ere it shall be reefed in the port of peace? How long shall that soul be tossed upon the waves before it comes to that sea which knows no storm? Listen to the answer, "Absent from the body, present with the Lord." Yon ship has just departed, but it is already at its haven. It did but spread its sail and it was there. Like that ship of old, upon the Lake of Galilee, a storm had tossed it, but Jesus said, "Peace, be still," and immediately it came to land. Think not that a long period intervenes between the instant of death and the eternity of glory. When the eyes close on earth they open in heaven. The horses of fire are not an instant on the road. Then, O child of God, what is there for thee to fear in death, seeing that through the death of thy Lord its curse and sting are destroyed? and now it is but a Jacob's ladder whose foot is in the dark grave, but its top reaches to glory everlasting.
No one praises God. No one knows who He is. There's nonme that seeks after him, and people have about as much of a thirst for righteousness as a 4 year old has for the word bath. But I want to praise Him! He's good, when I deserve death. He's altogether lovely, when I should have gone to hell. I thought I was good, but when God's standard revived and I measured myself, I knew I failed miserably. Yet God is so merciful He came down to die and take my sin upon Himself. I praise Him, because He deserves it! Let the one slain like a Lamb to the slaughter receive the reward for His sufferings. That is, me.
Try and post a comment on here with that link in it! They wont let you do it! They've taken it out, but God is good! His will be done, and no man stand in His way! If you've ever broken even one of the 10 commandments, God's standard of judgement, how can you be 'good'? Can you stand up to God and say you can save yourself so let me into heaven? Click on that website and take the 'good person' test. Thank you for your time! Cheers...
The Lord's Prayer flows from facile worshippers like TV voices recounting the worries of the world and the wonders of anti-perspirants
Lacking a congregation since all are praying to themselves or to impress the rest, God seldom has a thing to do or anyone to listen to
Quietly he waits to catch a man who wants to find but has not found the meaning of 'Thy will be done.' One such is worth a thousand dissembling 'Thine be the glories' to an idol god.
Patiently God listens for a troubled saint with nothing but a sense of sin to lean heavily on his pew praying 'Lord, have mercy!' and yearning for the Kingdom that is yet to come.
Da Vinci Code or Divine Christ: Who Do You Trust? by Dr. K. Scott Oliphint , Professor of Apologetics and Systematic Theology Westminster Theological Seminary Luke 3:21-22 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased."
In the late 1950s there was a popular game show called, “Who Do You Trust?” With apologies for the grammatical error, there may not be a more important question to ask. It is a question that needs to be asked when discussions of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code take place. More on that in a minute.
When Jesus Christ began his public ministry, he was declared by his heavenly Father to be his “beloved Son.” This announcement did not escape the notice of the powers of darkness. Almost immediately, after the Father announced his good pleasure in his Son, Jesus “was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil” (Luke 4:1-2). How did the devil begin his temptation? He wanted Jesus to give him proof that He was the Son of God. He tempted him with three different offers. Two of the three are a demand for proof.
Luke 4:3 "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread;"
Luke 4:9 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here...”(The other temptation is a request by the devil that Jesus fall down and worship him.
Dan Brown, in The Da Vinci Code is not the first one to challenge the divinity of Christ. The devil himself receives that honor. Neither will Brown’s challenge of Christ’s divinity be the last one; others are bound to come. So how should we think about this challenge?
One way to think about it is to ask: “How did Jesus respond to the devil’s requests?” Surely if Jesus is God he could have easily turned stones into bread. He could have thrown himself down from the pinnacle of the temple without harm. But he didn’t.
Instead, Jesus turned the devil’s attention, not to himself, but to God, and to what he had said. In response to the challenge to turn stones into bread, Jesus said, "It is written, `Man shall not live by bread alone`" ( Luke 4:4). Why did Jesus respond this way? The devil wasn’t asking about how we are to live, or about whether one can live by bread alone. The devil was wanting Jesus to do something that no mere mortal could do. Did Jesus just dodge the challenge he was given? No, he didn’t.
Jesus responds this way because he knows that the devil’s challenge will not be answered if Jesus performs some powerful act; the devil’s problem is not that he has failed to see God act in miraculous ways. The devil’s problem is that he will not believe what God has said. As a matter of fact, there was a similar temptation given many years before this one. It was a temptation given, not in the midst of a wilderness, but in a plush and plenteous garden.
Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, `You shall not eat of any tree in the garden`?" (
The devil comes to Eve, not to tell her to disobey, at least not at first. He comes to Eve so that he might get her to question the word of God. And he tempts her by asking a question, a question that is close to the truth, but which is, as a matter of fact, a denial of it. God had not said that Adam and Eve could not eat from any tree; He had said that there was one particular tree from which they were not to eat. The devil knew that. His question was not out of curiosity. His question was designed to get Eve, and Adam after her, to disobey. And he succeeded.
Jesus knows that the devil’s design is to get him to stop trusting what God has said. So, instead of arguing with the devil about his own powers, Jesus replies to the devil in such a way that shows that he is trusting what God has said. Even though he has been in the wilderness for 40 days, and even though he is hungry, he knows, because God has said, that his life is not defined by what he eats alone. It is defined by the “spiritual” food of God’s word. God had already said, “This is My beloved Son.” No more proof was needed.
Dan Brown would like for us to believe that Jesus is not divine, that he is not the Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity. He wants us to see Jesus as “a mortal prophet,” and “a great and powerful man, but a man nonetheless. A mortal” (The Da Vinci Code, p. 233).
Despite the fact that Brown’s facts are wrong (for example, Jesus was not declared divine by way of a vote as Brown says on p. 233), the question we must ask ourselves is, “Whom do you trust?” Do you trust Dan Brown to guide you into all truth, or at least to destroy what has been foundational to Western civilization? Or do you trust “ every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4)? This does not mean that there are no evidences or supportive documents on both sides of the discussion, there are. These can be easily perused by any interested party. But evidences and documents are always discussed in the context of that fundamental question, “Whom do you trust?” Answering that question goes a long way toward determining how you will look at evidences and supporting documents.
Do you want to put your faith in Dan Brown? Or would you rather put your faith in one in whom millions, for over two thousand years, have trusted, not only for their “spiritual food” in this life, but in the life to come as well. If Dan Brown is right, then there is no hope for anyone. If Dan Brown is right, it is not simply a Western religion that dies, all of humanity - past, present and future - dies; and death is the bitter end.
In the first book of The Chronicles of Narnia entitled, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Mr. Tumnus, the faun, is explaining to Lucy what Narnia is like as it lies under the spell of the White Witch. So, says Lucy,
“The White Witch? Who is she?”
Tumnus responds,
“Why, it is she that has got all Narnia under her thumb. It’s she that makes it always winter. Always winter and never Christmas; think of that!”
The Chronicles of Narnia were written for children, and their message is accommodated to them. What a perfect way to express to a child what hopelessness might be - always winter - cold, lifeless, a situation where no water flows for drinking, no plants for eating. Always winter, and never Christmas. To a child this would mean that, in the midst of the cold, there was no holiday, no rest, nothing to which to look forward, no surprises, no anticipation.
It does mean that, of course, but it means much more. It means that there is no hope. It means that no baby was born in a manger in Bethlehem. It means that there were no tidings of great joy brought by angels. It means that the angels never sang, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased" (Luke 2:14)! It means that the message of the entirety of history, since Adam gave in to the devil’s temptation, the message that God would save a people for himself, that message is not true. It means that no people are saved, that God has not come down to us, and that sin and evil will have their way. It means the White Witch wins. It means it is now, as it was in the beginning, and ever shall be, winter, and nothing but winter.
If you choose to believe Dan Brown, you have chosen not to believe every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. That is a choice with consequences that are terrible now, and will be even worse in eternity. If, however, you choose to believe what the Father has said - that Jesus Christ is the Son of God - then there are tidings of great joy for you. If you believe what God has said about His Son, then Christmas is a reality for you, not just on December 25th, but every day of this life, and into the next. Revelation 11:15 "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever."
TRUST DA BIBLE, NOT DA VINCI'S CODE The book was a big best-seller. The movie has huge hype. Find out why The Da Vinci Code’s claims about the Bible are purely fictional, and be ready to speak up for the truth. by Greg Hartman Seek the truth, the movie trailer said. But if you’d rather avoid silly conspiracy theories, sexual immorality or bad theology, you’ll want to avoid The Da Vinci Code.
The uproar surrounding Dan Brown’s best-selling novel has been going on since it was released in 2003; the movie is igniting it all over again.
As an action-adventure story, The Da Vinci Code delivers fast-moving suspense. But Brown claims his book is more than a story: He says the history presented in his book is all true.
Spoiler Warning This isn’t a book or movie review, so I don’t mind spoiling the plot. According to Brown, Jesus and Mary Magdalene married and had children; the early church enjoyed sexual ceremonies in celebration of Mary’s femininity and divinity. Jesus wanted Mary to lead the church after His death (He was “the original feminist,” as Brown puts it), but the apostle Peter staged a coup and took over instead.
After the Roman Empire became Christian under Constantine, church and government ruthlessly suppressed these “truths,” first by persecuting believers who didn’t play along and later by controlling which books made it into the New Testament.
Since then, Jesus and Mary’s descendants have secretly kept His lineage and the truth alive. One of those descendants was Leonardo da Vinci, who hid loads of clues about the truth in his art. The good guys — one of whom turns out to be Jesus’ descendant as well — are running for their lives from Catholic officials who would murder them to keep them quiet.
Strange but Untrue Jesus was married and had kids? Peter stole the church from Mary Magdalene? A bizarre story. Brown has maintained all along that The Da Vinci Code is nothing more than an entertaining way to teach what he believes is the truth about Jesus and the early church.
Lies about Jesus and the Bible are nothing new. (See Matthew 28:12-15.) Instead of being an expert on lies, though, I’d rather be an expert on the truth — specifically, on why you can trust the Bible.
Brown’s story hinges, after all, on whether the New Testament is historically accurate. If it is, then The Da Vinci Code isn’t. Simple as that. Let’s take a look at some of the evidence.
The Right Stuff Brown says the New Testament’s books were chosen by elite power brokers to keep themselves in control. That’s a common accusation, but it’s simply not true.
The Third Council of Carthage ratified the New Testament in A.D. 397. They didn’t force everyone else to accept the books they liked, though; they simply recorded what believers already accepted as the inspired Word of God.
Brown relies heavily on a collection of writings called the Gnostic Gospels (see “Holes”) for his mythology about Jesus and Mary, saying the early church kept them out of the New Testament to suppress the truth.
The Gnostic Gospels, however, were written nearly 200 years after the real Gospels — obviously not by eyewitnesses to Jesus’ ministry. The reason they aren’t in the Bible is that they were rejected by nearly everyone from the start.
The Right Stuff, Part 2 Obviously no one had word processors or photocopiers when the New Testament was written. How do we know we’ve got what the New Testament writers actually wrote? How do we know it’s historically accurate?
Experts look at two issues when they’re dealing with ancient writings:
1. How many manuscripts are there? The more you have, the easier it is to weed out copying errors and revisions and identify what the author really wrote. 2. How old are the manuscripts? If the gap between your manuscripts and the original is just a few years, you’re better off than if the original was written 1,000 years before your oldest manuscript.
Here’s some manuscript evidence supporting some of the world’s best-documented ancient books:
Caesar’s Gallic Wars is a critically important source for much of what we know about ancient Rome and Caesar himself. I bet you’ve never heard an argument about whether Gallic Wars is accurate, even though the earliest manuscript is separated from the original by 1,000 years and there are only 10 manuscripts. Historians are confident they have the right stuff.
The world’s second-best documented ancient book is Homer’s The Iliad. It was written about 900 B.C.; the oldest manuscript is dated about 500 B.C., separating it from the original by only 400 years, and we have 643 manuscripts.
That’s a lot. If historians are confident they have the real text of Gallic Wars, they’d stake their lives on The Iliad.
The best-documented ancient book of them all, though, is the New Testament. We have more than 24,000 manuscripts of the New Testament, and the oldest is conservatively dated at A.D. 125 — only 35 years after the original.
That, folks, is what you call being in a class by yourself.
Here Today, Here Tomorrow Bottom line: You can trust your Bible.
If Dan Brown isn’t satisfied that the New Testament is historically accurate, then he needs to explain why he thinks anything is historically accurate — much less a handful of myths about Jesus that were rejected the day they were written.
That, frankly, is his problem. And he’s got a lot of company. People have attacked the Bible’s authority and accuracy since Day 1; their conspiracy theories and fake gospels are long forgotten, but the Bible is still here. After The Da Vinci Code has been forgotten, the Bible will still be here.
Aaaah, she screamed... There was this woman in front of my house just sitting with her cell phone waiting for something, and it's dark outside, but I had the porch light turned on. And here's how it happened: I saw her sitting there and I proclaimed she must be from across the street, working for the China 1 restaurant and just got off of work. It's a bit unusual for someone to just sit in front of the house, and so I just decided to go and share the Gospel with her. So I take out a bunch of tracts in my pocket, and I walk up to her.
As soon as she notices me there, she jumps up with her hand on her heart and says, AAAAHHhhh!! I guess all she could see was my teeth and the whites of my eyes because I'm black and blend in at night, God bless her heart. And I tried to explain what the tract was about and give it to her, but she wouldn't take it and I pointed to the house behind me and she started settling down, but shook her head to the tract, and so I just put it by her bag and said have a nice day... Hah...
Well, this Gospel has to be spread. It doesn't matter how my Lord chooses to send them or how they come, He sets them up and I'll knock 'em down, I suppose. :-) Quite... Well. Glory to God!
You want a heavy piece of truth... I can guarantee you one thing you *can't* do in heaven that you *can* do down here... You can worship God in heaven, you can praise God in heaven, you can sing songs to God in heaven, you can read your bible in heaven. The bible says its gonna be in heaven. But one thing you can't do in heaven that you can do in heaven, is share your faith with a non-believer. Why? ... Because there are no unbelievers there. Did you know that from the day you die to the end of eternity, and there is no end, you'll never ever ever be able to share your faith with a lost person again? If that's true shouldn't one of the high callings of our life be to reach out to all of these lost people? Do you understand that when I take my last breath from this body I will never talk with a lost person again for the rest of eternity? That's a heavy piece of truth.
You'll stand in moral judgement over God, but you wont judge yourself. You. You who say that God is harsh and unjust and how can He let things go so long and let people die? But you don't realize that God is faithful and righteous. You say God's caused you to suffer so much, and that God can take it away at any moment if He chooses to. But you take no time to look down at yourself and see how you are in God's eyes, you who look up at God in contempt.
I deserve hell. And I know it for sure. You can't unwrite what God's written with His own finger. I've sinned against Him. And all the hosts of heaven declare that I'm unrighteous. His creation and His evidence and His sign is widely ridiculed. Widely known. Widely visible. So you are left without excuse for not having answers. It's that you don't want to believe it, not that it's not believeable. It's that you despise His sacrifice, not that God didn't provide a way out. I sinned against God. And I thought I was a good person. Well I have news, I was like a filthy rag in God's sight. All of my good. God is so righteous and pure. His eyes can't behold me and let me live, because I've sinned. The soul that sins, it shall die. And all sin against God. I've done evil in His sight. I've been there and I've cried crucify at Him. And out of blindness because I clung unto my own goodness, and never see God's own goodness in that He's just and morally uncorrupt, I wasn't brought to repentance.
Lets hear the words of a man God approves of, 'I know, O Lord, that your judgments are right, and that you in faithfulness have afflicted me.' It's a Psalm. This 119th psalm, this man understood: God's judgements are pure and His faithfulness brought him to fear. To tremble before a just and holy God who is merciful to come down and give His own life a ransom for yours, and buy you back from death though you're a cock roach and ran from the light.
If a man falls down and dies, the Lord hates death. He hates it. But if that man God judges to hell, His judgement is right. True. Honest. Because He's seen, and judges that He deserves it. God's so powerful. Always sees. Always hears. He will do right in His judgements. The man that falls down that did righteousness in His sight, not of Himself, but by the testimony of Jesus: precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. He has mercy on Him. He'll have mercy on whomsoever He determines and judges righteously they have deserved it. Not earned it. Deserved it. We're deserving of nothing, and we deserve hell. But God is so faithful, He's made a way out of even hell. If you've sinned against God, you're blind and die in your sin, but while you're given grace enough to still be alive, Christ died for you, to set you free from the bond that causes death. He's faithful! We can't earn anything from God - mercy is the gift of God, not of works. But He also hardens whomsoever He hardens, and created the unrighteous for the day of judgement. He's merciful.
I have been born again since July of 2003, but today was a very important day: today marks the very day that I publicly confessed that I've been born again, my engagement to Christ and putting on of a 'ring' as a symbol of my love for Him, and at the same time, my funeral where I've died to living for myself and putting away the old man, take up the new man: today I was baptized with water, already being baptized by the Holy Spirit, just about an hour before the sun set (8:07PM) today. It was great!
I have a trip up to New York for May 10th to May 14th, and please pray for me, that I can open my mouth for the Gospel boldly and declare my Lord Jesus Christ to everyone the Lord sets up and intends for me to encounter. Plllleease pray for me!! Thanks!
Cheers
I once heard Keith Green say, 'there are more Jews in New York city than there are in Israel,' back in 1981 - this is not so anymore. There are now more Jews in Israel than anywhere else, with 80% of its population composed of Jews, and not by immigration but a natural birth increase. Their birthrate is higher. Sign of the end times o_O? I dunno... I'd hope so, the sooner my Lord returns the better.
