05 November 2017
Two-Minute Features | 12 November 2017

The Bible Follows Religious Traditions? Part 1 (TMF:775)

Friday, November 10, 2017
Peace to Live By: The Bible Follows Religious Traditions? Part 1 (TMF:775) - Daniel Litton
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       Contention Five: All religions have creation stories, and the Bible is no different. This being the case, the Bible is just following in the tradition of other religions. Over the years, I have heard this argument. Often times people will bring up the Native Americans, and talk about their creation stories. They’ll say that these stories were written, or put on a cave wall, before Genesis was written. I would say, though, even if they were it would not matter. We really don’t know for sure the exact date at which the first two chapters of Genesis were written; it could have been before all the other stories and just handed down to Moses. We know we have them by approximately 1,500 B.C. Even if Native Americans or whatever early tribe which spawned from the Flood of Noah had come up with a creation story before Genesis 1 and 2 were written, it still is nothing like the creation story we find in Genesis.

Christianity Marred by Human Opinion? Part 2 (TMF:774)

Thursday, November 09, 2017
Peace to Live By: Christianity Marred by Human Opinion? Part 2 (TMF:774) - Daniel Litton
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       Just as God uses humans to go and share the Gospel with other humans, so he used humans to write out his own Word. As the Apostle Peter has told us, and I just quoted part of this a little bit ago, he said, “We have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:19-21 ESV). So, these verses show us that the Bible was not “produced by the will of man,” but it was written “by the Holy Spirit” as he guided men to write what he wanted to be written. Again, it requires faith, belief in God, that his Word is really his Word.

Christianity Marred by Human Opinion? Part 1 (TMF:773)

Wednesday, November 08, 2017
Peace to Live By: Christianity Marred by Human Opinion? Part 1 (TMF:773) - Daniel Litton
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       Contention Four: Christianity is based on the beliefs of the Apostles after Jesus, and therefore, has been marred by human opinion. It is correct that to say that the Bible was written by humans—as I’ve been talking about. And it’s also true that Jesus was a human, yet, we as Christians believe he is also God. Now, he has written his own Word beforehand, like with the writing of the Ten Commandments with his own finger. And were not quite sure how people followed the Word of God, his Law, before the Flood of Noah (even though they clearly did, as Job and others show that they did). Most often, God has used humans to write the books of the Bible. Moses wrote the first five books of the Old Testament. Remember, these were books Jesus cited as Scripture by the way, though, they had been written by a human, Moses. Just as God uses humans to go and share the Gospel with other humans, so he used humans to write out his own Word.

The New Testament Not God's True Word? Part 2 (TMF:772)

Tuesday, November 07, 2017
Peace to Live By: The New Testament Not God's True Word? Part 2 (TMF:772) - Daniel Litton
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       You need to understand that most of the New Testament was already agreed upon by the early churches. So, there really wasn’t much debate over most of the books to be included—everyone already agreed that they should be included. There were just a select few that were argued over—books like James, 1 & 2 Peter, Hebrews, & Revelation. The Apostle Paul’s works are probably the most disliked by non-Christians. But notice how all of his works were already included, and there was no debate over them. So, people who want to quickly rid the Bible of Paul’s works are going to have a real difficult time because there were no debating over his letters. All of this being the case, I would say to non-Christians that if you have trouble with certain books, just read what the early church totally agreed upon and then see where God leads you. I think you will come to realize, after time, that the whole New Testament is in fact the Word of God. Everything is in agreement and books don’t contradict each other.

The New Testament Not God's True Word? Part 1 (TMF:771)

Monday, November 06, 2017
Peace to Live By: The New Testament Not God's True Word? Part 1 (TMF:771) - Daniel Litton
(Tap or right-click link to download two-minute feature)

       Contention Three: The New Testament was compiled by the decisions of humans and consequently the collection of books may not be God’s true Word. As Christians, we believe that God the Holy Spirit inspired the Words of the Bible, that he guided along the hands of men to write both the Old and New Testaments, as I have previously discussed. The Apostle Peter has told us, “knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20, 21, ESV). So, God definitely guided the writing of the books in the Bible. Now, if God guided the writing of the words on each page, don’t you think that he could have, and would have, guided the different councils in selecting the appropriate books for the New Testament? I mean, after all, this issue takes faith that God is able to control his own Word, and the compiling of it—the gathering together of it—as one Book.