(The Book of John is!)
April 2016
The earth is billions of years old, just as your science teacher told you. He was not lying and he was not misinformed. And there are no demons. If the phrase "the Bible is the word of God" makes you think otherwise, then the Bible is NOT the word of God.
Consider the book of John is the Word of God. There are no demons in the book of John, and there are no fabrications of history. Credit Martin Luther for elevating the book of John above Matthew, Mark and Luke.
In John chapter 11 Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. This episode in chapter 11 takes about a week, beginning from when Jesus gets word from Bethany that his friend Lazarus is sick. Bethany is a two and a half days away journey. Jesus' response to the news of the illness is merely to say that there will be glory, not death. He does not heal Lazarus. The disciples clearly have no clue what will happen. They have witnessed Him heal the sick, but He is clearly not doing that for His friend. Jesus has other plans. He waits in Galilee for 2 days, and then announces that Lazarus is dead, and they are now going to Bethany. Jesus allows Lazarus to die for a purpose: to reveal that He has power over life and death and that He is the Author of Life, and that He can be trusted to give life that is eternal. This is what Jesus revealed to his friends who had the privilege of watching this event. Jesus had been saying all along that He gives eternal life, and allowing witnesses to this event enabled their faith.
The raising of Lazarus is portrayed in John as a unique event. The disciples knew Lazarus was a friend of Jesus. Notice that no disciple asked if Jesus would raise Lazarus from the dead, as He did the 12 year old girl in Mark chapter 5 of the widow's son in Luke chapter 7. Because those two events did not happen. How do we know? Because the raising of Lazarus is portrayed in John as a unique event. In John chapter 11 it becomes manifestly apparent that Jesus is the Author of Life. Matthew Mark and Luke contain fabricated stories intermingled with real quotes of Jesus. There is no malicious intent to dupe you in these fabricated stories, note that the intended audience lived in the 1st century. (Not you, directly).
Jesus is quoted extensively in the book of John; how do we know that these words that we have today accurately reflect what Jesus said? Here is evidence: "the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will be your teacher in all things and will put you in mind of everything I have said to you." John 14:26
Much of the Bible contains the words from prophets. God spoke to prophets and men wrote some of what the prophets said. Men diligently preserved these writings some of which go back 3300 years. God did not write the Bible. Men did.The phrase "The Bible is the word of God" makes no sense under scrutiny. The protestants have 66 books. The catholics have 73 books. Selected by men, not God. And these men are boneheads. (Loveable boneheads). They have the audacity to tell us that these select books are God’s words, and those that they did not select are not God’s words. And the Mormons have even more books. One of these books is the book of Ecclesiastes. Yet it appears not one of them understands it.
No one asks which book has more value than the rest!
And they compete with each other for your allegiance and money. Are you going to trust your preacher to tell you what the word of God is? That same preacher told you the earth is 6000 years old!
The Bible is not the word of God, rather God spoke to the prophets and men wrote some of it down, imperfectly.
Men diligently preserved the writings through the centuries, imperfectly.
There is a gold lining: The book of John.
And a silver lining: Paul’s letters.
When you use the phrase “the Bible is the word of God”, you are dismissed by many who think you are a bonehead for not knowing the earth is billions of years old. Because of your poor witness, many may not discover that Jesus is the Author of Life. Tell them instead, “The Book of John is the Word of God”. Or, “Jesus Christ is the Word of God”. (John chapter 1)