Request for Question Clarification by
tutuzdad-ga
on
06 Nov 2006 20:43 PST
Ok, you're obviously after informed opinion so, popular or not, I'll
offer mine. Personally I think the answer is actually much simpler
than one might expect. If I were in your shoes I?d explain the
conundrum to young impressionable students using four simple and
straightforward biblical verses:
...foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do engender strifes.
2 TIMOTHY 2:23
...avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and
strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.
TITUS 3:9
...faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
HEBREWS 11:1
And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this
prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and
out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this
book.
REVELATION 22:19
There will undoubtedly be those who will discourage you from keeping
your students ?in the dark? and perhaps even accuse you (and me too)
of perpetuating ignorance but the fact remains that the very concept
of ?documentary hypothesis? as a phenomenon where the Bible is
concerned didn?t even come into being until the 19th Century (thus the
ever-increasing importance of 2 TIMOTHY 2:23 and TITUS 3:9). Clearly
this approach is a modern, non-biblical philosophy for which there is
no tangible evidence, and in all likelihood was probably given life by
those who sought to disprove the authenticity of the Bible. Granted,
neither is there proof to the contrary but this is precisely where
believers find strength in HEBREWS 11:1. The detractors have no such
statement to explain why they do not have faith so why must your
students give that position any weight? Do the words of God recorded
by Moses carry any less weight nowadays because they are printed on
paper by someone in New York and not in tablets of stone by the finger
of God? Certainly not.
Finally, if one subscribes to the Bible as the complete and infallible
Word of God, one accepts it as a whole and whatever source(s) it
originates from is completely and totally irrelevant (thus the
significance of REVELATION 22:19). Does it seem like I'm on the fence
where the answer is concerned? To some maybe, but that's not the case
at all. Is it a cop out that I've not answered the question directly?
I don't think so because as teachers we are mandated BY THE BIBLE
(again I refer you to 2 TIMOTHY 2:23 and TITUS 3:9) to expend our
energies on the teaching of God-breathed biblical DOCTRINES for God's
approval rather than considering pointless, man-made riddles ABOUT
them for our own curiosity and entertainment. Surely such a debate
would create two philosophical camps. Would this not engender strife?
As I see it the key here is not to sway your students this way or
that, but to unite them in thought. Remember, Philippians 2:2 says,
"Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being
of one accord, of one mind." and Romans Rom 15:4-6 says, "For
whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our
learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might
have hope. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be
likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: That ye may
with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ."
Since you seem to be seeking one, in my opinion you should answer your
students by encouraging them to first qualify their QUESTION by
asking, ?If you, as Christians/Jews, etc. believe with all your hearts
that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, would it make any
difference how the Holy Bible came to be?? If the answer is NO then
the other question is moot and therefore unworthy of debate. After
all, there is not need to question the unanswerable, because in the
end, there is no definitive answer...is there? But then again, as a
teacher I suspect you already knew that.
Finally, let me point out what Paul said when he found the church at
Galatia in a similar quandry and considering new (modern) and
uninspired teachings of men over the inspired Word of God:
"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into
the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but
there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of
Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other
gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be
accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any
other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if
I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ."
GALATIANS 1:6-10
Honestly, there is no definitive academic or theological answer to the
difficult question you and your students are faced with but in lieu of
that does this work for you as an answer?
Tutuzdad-ga
