Expert: Marco - 4/24/2009

Question
Dear Marco,

I am writing for advice on attempting to explain our position of the bible to my friend who is a fundamentialist. Here is the e-mail and maybe you might have some ideas on responding to his e-mail:

First off we discussed "The Word of God" and we came to terms that the Bible is the word of God, but you believe that not every single word could possibly be true and or even be Gods spoken/written word because it came through man. (am i correct?) I've been reading the bible and found some very interesting answers to give you, or if you like this better........some food for thought! 2 Tim. 3:16,17 say's "All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. V.17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work." NLT The first Two words in the passage are "ALL SCRIPTURE" I realize that in the past we've discussed how you may interpret something one way and me another, but i believe that that is pretty darn clear, that it's talking about the whole bible! I know that we have a hard time believing things in the word for various reasons but what we think doesn't change the meaning of this scripture. John 1:1-4 "In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. Then John 1:14-18 say's "So the Word became human and made his home among us. he was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Fathers one and only Son." I know in the past you have said yourslef that there are times when you even question why the old testament exsists because we dont live directly under that law or set of rules. well these two scriptures are both in the New Testament and in the same book written by the same author, not even a chapter away!! Now I know you blieve in Christ, and he died for your sins so you would be redeemed unto salvation, but that cant be true if you dont believe in God's word!! Why do you say.............because Jesus IS the word!! The living, breathing, life changing Word of God! From a spiritual form (John 1:1), to writtin paper (Old Testament), transformed into flesh (John 1:14), to complete the law and new testament!(Matt. 5:17-20) If that isn't enough for you check this out. Do you recall the story of when Jesus was in the wilderness Luke 4 or Matt. 4? Well there are three written times when the devil tempted him to do 3 different things that would PROVE he was the Son of God. The funny thing is all Jesus did in retaliation of these attacks was give him the Word!! If you look at Luke 4:3,4 luke 4:6-8, and luke 4:9-12 all he did was recite back to satan the Word of God we know as the old testament. Deut 8:3, deut 6:13, and deut 6:16.


Now this is going to cook your noodle!! Get ready and brace yourself! The scriptures in luke above are written in red in my bible to indicate that this is Jesus actually speaking, not only is Jesus the Word of God he used the Word to combat and defeat the most powerful evil known to us! Now that doesn't sound to fantastic considering he is JESUS after all! But consider this.............the Word of God he refferenced to came from the old testament, it was written by Moses......A MAN! Who countless times told God as he was given his assignment to free the children of Israel that he had inperfections, and that he didn't want to go! Exodus ch. 3,4. Yet by the time these verses were quoted in luke, Moses had returned with the children of Israel and began to teach them about God before they entered into the promise land. What i'm getting at is even though people mess up, and have problems following the commandments, insturctions, and the will of God sometimes, God still knows when to use us and when were ready to be used! Moses had to grow into his trust in God, but even though he didn't quite understand everything God wanted him to do at the time he was chosen he still went, When he got to Egypt he told the people what God told him to say, and God took care of the rest. So question for you!! How can we as 30th century human beings decide what scripture is valid and what scripture is not when Jesus uses the Word of God to combat our greatest enemy!! How can we take the chance in not trusting in all the teachings in his Word Old and New? What can you possibly judge and classify as worthy to be believed and or true, when you yourself have to worship God and live a life according to HIS WILL not your own to get into heaven??

My last point is something you can look up on the internet!! go to: http://www.evolutionary-metaphysics.net/evolution_of_humankind.html this is a web site I just happened to cross when i looked up evolution. I believe i have a pretty clear view on evolution but i wanted to read the real story so didn't have it confussed, I did this because in your writting you mentioned evolution, the story of evolution is not just the evolving of the human species, its the total absance of a supernatural power completely! the second to last paragraph before the explination of the birth of the universe the writer explains that any form of scientific beliefs or theory is really just upheld and enforced by a group of people that are willing to believe in it, and that what the are believing in may not have any fact or truth to them at all!! He says and i qoute "Sometimes even scientific beliefs can turn out to be myths. Science is about searching for the best explanation based upon the existing evidence, knowing that some day new evidence might be discovered and a better explanation might be found. In any case, the credibility of any scientific theory depends on its popularity among those who are in a position to impose their opinion."


This is not even close to how a Christian is to believe in God! Regaurdless of how many people serve God with a whole heart, give him thanks, read his word, BELIEVE in his word, follow the walk of Christ, set a good example for others, WE BELIEVE that Gods word became flesh, came to earth and died for us so we would be again spiritually reunited with the father in heaven! And we now have an avenue for our souls to enter into heaven. If it wasn't for the blood of Jesus, the same Jesus that quoted hand written scriptures by a sinful man named moses, and defeated satan, we would be in a world with no hope. Just like if i were to tell you that i'm going to look after you in some serious situation i might say "I give you my word!" That is what God had done for us in this day and age, he's given us his word! Yes God speaks to us in our everyday lives, but if God was to plauge us with diseases, pain, heartbreak, death in our family, and all sorts of disasters where would we see God in the mist of all of that? What the heck could he possibly be allowing to happen to us....................................Job ch. 1,2  

Answer
Dear Chris,

your question is too long and I do not undertand what really is your question.
You should ask again a simple and direct question.
Please avoid multiple questions.
I can answer only one question at a time.

Your brother in Christ,

Marco