An Open Letter to My Atheist Friends

I’m flattered (I think) that I am the impetus behind many of your commentaries. However, I am hardly in the mainstream of Christianity. I am a Bible believer....which means I am an outcast from most congregations....be they Dispensational Baptist, Messianic Jewish, or anything in between. I am an ugly duckling looking for the swan pond and not finding it. I splash around in pools of water here and there until rejected...and move on down the road.

I sat alone because of the mockers.....(Jeremiah 15)

I do not wish to be abused at the atheist blog or publicize the site with its evangelistically zealous atheist blogroll. Those who are interested in atheism can get there without my assistance. I consider atheism as repugnant as pornography and profanity. I feel defiled every time I go to your site, but am compelled to keep a watch on my special friend and continue to pray for his return to the faith once delivered to him. Faith is a gift. Once given, it can be stifled, smothered, but can it ever be lost? Can a believer become an unbeliever? We shall see. Is there any truth to unconditional eternal security? What role does free will play? Is Calvinism correct? Arminianism? Or are there nuances of truth in many doctrinal persuasions, yet we see through a glass darkly. The power of paradox....there is something to this concept that I continue to investigate.

I will answer some of the topics and questions raised at your blog here on my own blog. Some statements provoke me to respond, but the scorn and ridicule dissuade me from answering in “enemy territory.” I take comfort in realizing that my LORD and Saviour Jesus Christ was treated scornfully as well (Matt 26, 27). He did not like it any better than I do, despising the shame (Hebrews 12:2) yet He endured it. (Now I will probably be accused of comparing myself to Yeshua and the Biblical prophets of old. No...just inspired and encouraged by them.)

By the way, the Catholic use of a crucifix is just another way to continually shame Jesus. It is blasphemous. He is no longer on the cross. He is risen indeed. I thought Josh McDowell’s “Lord, Liar, or Lunatic” treatise would have settled the issue years ago. But each generation chooses to find some reason not to believe the evidence that demands a verdict. It is a heart condition more than honest skepticism in my view.

How I wish my dearest friend would utilize his gifted energies in positive pursuit of Biblical knowledge, rather than railing on perceived difficulties. Maybe somewhat along the lines of what Steven A. is doing with his specialized gifts. (See sidebar link for his running commentary on Psalm 12 for an example of delighting in the defense of God’s Word). Or as Dan G. has done in his many years of research on Biblical Chronology.... and who is now engaged in learning more math and physics in order to refute the popular but erroneous cosmology of our day that dissident secular scientists are finding fatally flawed. Interesting....the Big Bang might be bunk!


One of the mockers had this to say:

I guess I must have a secret wish that there is a god so that I could argue with him after I die: "how does someone in Your position make me a skeptic, leave no evidence of Your existence, and then make blind faith the highest virtue? The deck was stacked against me." I guess that's what I'd say, right before I got tossed into the inferno.

Are you serious? If so, you are quite uninformed about the salvation message and the true Gospel of the Kingdom in spite of your seminary training.....or possibly because of your seminary training. They do not call Seminaries cemeteries for nought. Whited sepulchres in the KJV vernacular. How interesting that the other of you would wish to become a professor of religion. Join the faculty....of unbelievers who teach theology and religion in colleges, universities, and seminaries! Is it any wonder impressionable young people lose their faith in college? And nowadays they lose their faith in elementary school as well...with atheists as their teachers. These things ought not so to be. But we are living in the prophesied Last Days...a day of darkness and not light. The Great Falling Away is upon us (2 Thess. 2:3).

“Why does God hate ham?” one of you asks. God gives us his dietary laws for our good, for our health, for instilling the concept of separation from that which defiles body and spirit. Watch a pig and let it teach its metaphoric lessons. All of nature has object lessons to teach us. Read a book called God’s Key to Health and Happiness by Elmer Josephson and you will never want to eat pork again. But man has a better idea than his Creator. He will eat whatever he wants and then blame God for sickness and disease. Why not enjoy a ferret sandwich? Or rat stew?

On another subject you brought up, maybe we are indeed supposed to use all of our faculties in deciding what to do about abortion, etc.....and if we are born again, we have the Spirit of God to guide us. We will give account at the Judgment Seat of Christ for our decisions and how we made them. Will your answer stand in the Judgment? Maybe the Bible is purposely a bit ambiguous sometimes just for the very reason that we are to carefully read and apply the principles to our lives, in each and every generation, no matter where we live (e.g. sabbath-keeping in Alaska). Consider the concubine story.... and give your opinion. (Judges 19:30). Why did this story even make it into the Bible? Perhaps to give an example of why ANY passage is in the Bible. To cause us to think, reflect, pray, and consider doing that which is right in God’s eyes to the best of our understanding and ability. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16).

Like story problems in a math textbook, we are to take Biblical stories and apply them to various situations. Blended with Biblical wisdom, this leads to Biblical morality in varying circumstances of life. This is why the Bible reader generally comes away with a higher morality than those who have not imbibed such wisdom. It has nothing to do with macrocosmic materiality or memes. It has to do with memorizing God’s Word, hiding it in the heart where it permeates the mind and the life of the believer (and possibly continues to influence the reluctant atheist).

Many men are suffering the loss of children to abortion mills. They have no rights when their girlfriends or wives make such decisions. I read yesterday of a live birth at an abortion clinic before the doctor arrived for the procedure. The baby’s cord was cut but not clamped, and the viable, breathing infant was left to bleed to death in a garbage bag. This is the fruit of Darwinian ethics in my opinion.

I think the Bible is very clear in teaching that abortion is murder. It all depends on what you think is residing in the womb. Is it a fetus or a baby? Is it an animal, or human life, fearfully and wonderfully made, with purpose and destiny? The Bible gives us examples of horrible child sacrifice (Molech worship) and decrees of infant murder. What is the difference in or out of the sacred space called the womb? The passage in Exodus 21 is clear as a bell in the KJV. “If any harm follows” refers to the baby that is born prematurely because of the injury to the woman. If the baby is okay, a fine is imposed. If harm comes to the infant, or death, appropriate punishment is meted out equal to the crime. That is what “eye for an eye” metaphorically means. Our country’s laws were based on Biblical laws of appropriate punishment for the crime, although we have strayed from our original laws and coddle the criminal in our day. Application of Biblical law can take various forms and still be in harmony with the spirit of the law.

I am encouraged that you seem to be still reading through the Bible. I would recommend that you also read the Bible Pathway commentary each day for a springboard for your blog commentaries. I do not always agree with John Hash, but his views are as close to mine as I have found in all these years. So argue with him as your representative Christian. He makes some excellent points of application of God’s Word. He is a faithful man of God who studies the Bible in depth with great reverence and appreciation. Maybe it will influence you....and provide an antidote for the poisonous puddle you are currently wallowing in (consider 2 Peter 2:22). If any of you would like a printed copy of Bible Pathway mailed to you each month, send me an address by email. This offer extends to anyone else who may be reading this blog.

Postscript: If you want to retain readers/commentary at your blog, you may want to disallow referring to them as “typical ignorant Christians who do not think for themselves.” You may also want to suggest that contributors refrain from using the f word and other obscenities. And you wonder why participation has dropped off and you have failed to garner an audience? When those of opposing viewpoints are not accorded respectful consideration, they will go elsewhere for online fellowship.

I would welcome and honor any sincere attempts at reconciliation.

Shalom,

Tandi

Darwin Day in America

Interview with John G. West
Author of Darwin Day In America
(click on title of post for link to book info)

What is Darwin Day, and why is your book titled “Darwin Day in America”?

“Darwin Day” is Charles Darwin’s birthday, February 12. As I explain in my book, there is a growing movement around the world to turn the day into a kind of secular holy day complete with its own rituals to honor Darwin. These Darwin Day celebrations expose just how much Darwinian evolution is like a secular religion for many of its proponents. At the same time, Darwin Day provides a metaphor for how our public policy and culture have been influenced over the past century by Darwinian biology and similar kinds of reductionist science. In many respects, “Darwin Day” is every day in America right now, because Darwinism and scientific materialism have reshaped virtually every area of our culture and politics.

Your book targets the impact of both “scientific materialism” and “Social Darwinism” on public policy and culture. Can you explain those terms?

Put baldly, scientific materialism is the attempt to prove that human beings are merely meat in motion—that we have no free will, that we have no souls, that morality and religion are simply evolutionary artifacts programmed by our genes for our survival, and that our very thoughts and ideas can be fully explained by our brain chemistry. Darwin’s theory of unguided evolution made scientific materialism credible by purporting to offer a scientific explanation of how human beings (and their minds and morals) could be generated through a blind material process of random variation and natural selection. Social Darwinism is the effort to remake public policy by applying Darwinian principles to welfare, economics, business, criminal justice, education, and medicine. My book documents how scientific materialism in general and Darwinism in particular have had momentous consequences for the rest of our culture. Those who think there is some sort of firewall between science and culture need to read my book.

What inspired you to write the book?

A lot of my interest dates back to my reading of C. S. Lewis and his perceptive little book The Abolition of Man as a college undergraduate. Back in the 1940s, Lewis prophetically warned about the dangers of misusing science to debunk traditional morality and treat human beings like automatons to be manipulated by scientific conditioners. I started to investigate whether the dangers Lewis warned about in Britain could be found in America, and I soon discovered that they could. I initially became fascinated by efforts to misuse science to debunk free will and personal responsibility in the legal arena—the abuse excuse, the insanity plea, the diminished capacity defense, and so forth. Then I started to look to other areas, and the more I looked, the more I found. What I didn’t realize at first was the culpability of many scientists in what was going on. I originally thought that scientific materialism was largely a case of non-scientists misusing science for their own political ends. But it soon became clear to me that scientists themselves—often the leading scientists of the time—were at the forefront of trying to use science to impose a reductionist vision of human beings in the public arena.

Your book criticizes the role of scientific experts in politics. But shouldn’t public policy be based on the consensus view of the scientific community?

The consensus view of science is important, and it merits respect. But the consensus view can be wildly wrong. That’s why policymakers also need to listen to thoughtful dissenters on major scientific questions—whether the issue is Darwinian evolution, the extent of global warming, or embryonic stem cell research. As my book recounts, throughout history the “consensus” of the scientific community has often embraced what today would be regarded as junk science—from eugenics to lobotomies to Kinsey’s junk research on sexual behavior. Dissenters in the scientific community have been invaluable to exposing the scientific majority’s blind spots and promoting genuine scientific progress.

Is your book anti-science?

Actually, I view my book as pro-science: It’s a plea to rescue contemporary science from the stranglehold of the ideological materialists. Most of the founders of modern science believed that nature was open to rational investigation because it was the product of an intelligent, rational creator. In other words, they accepted as their premise the idea that the universe was purposeful, and so was human life. But somewhere along the line—and Darwin is a key part of the story—science was hijacked by those who think that nature is fundamentally the product of the blind material interaction between chance and necessity. In this respect, outspoken Oxford biologist Richard Dawkins—author of The God Delusion—is more the rule than the exception in his views. Especially in the field of evolutionary biology, Dawkins’ belief that science somehow verifies the materialist worldview is pretty much the received wisdom by leading scientists. Some evolutionary scientists doubt Dawkins’ prudence in making his assertions, but fewer than one might think actually reject his underlying philosophy. Fortunately, outside of biology—in fields like physics and astronomy and engineering and math—scientists are far more open to the idea that nature displays the hallmarks of purpose, of design. Thankfully, even in biology there are now some scientists who are reopening the debate of purpose in nature. One of the most exciting developments in recent years is the discovery that at the bottom of matter is information—which some see as evidence that mind and purpose are an irreducible property of our universe just like matter and energy. I mention these new developments at the end of Darwin Day. But most of my book is focused on exploring the tragic consequences of ignoring human uniqueness in the name of science. I think C.S. Lewis was right: If we treat human beings like mere machines or animals, that’s what they will tend to become—and our culture will begin to resemble a factory or a zoo, not a civilization made up of rational and accountable beings.

Before I Go.....

Music by Yanni (Before I Go/In My Time)
Lyrics by Renah (2001)

Lyrics inspired by Exodus 14, John 15 & 16, Psalm 46, Genesis 18, Jeremiah 32

For music, click on title of post or see sidebar list of Music to Song Lyrics

These song lyrics came to mind as I drove with my son a month after 9-11. We were delivering a couple of RV’s to Pontiac, Illinois on Columbus Day.....and when we arrived at the dealership we heard the news that a plane had crashed in a New York City neighborhood. It was a horrendous scene, and at first another terror attack was suspected. I had been experiencing anxiety due to the nature of my stressful job as well as what was happening in the world. I may be mixing together more than one trip because I recall being on Indiana 41 near Covington when I penned these lyrics, and that is not the route to Pontiac, IL. My life was a dizzying blur in those days, like a carousel, and I wanted to get off and rest a while and think my thoughts and try to make sense of what was going on...with me, and with this crazy, fear-inducing world. But it would be several more years before I had that luxury. God was faithful to speak to my mind and heart on occasion, to reassure me that He was still with me and to remind me how to stay grounded in Him. Those times are precious. As I read Exodus 14 today in my Bible readings, I remembered these lyrics He gave me so many years ago. May they bless someone who may need this simple but profound message. Yanni calls his composition, Before I Go. This reminds me that the LORD will not always strive with us. There comes a time when we cross a line. Today, if you will hear His Voice, harden not your heart....and take heed, lest there be in you an evil heart of unbelief......in departing from the Living God......(see Hebrews 3).

Stand Still, See Salvation
In your tribulation
Be still and know I’m God

Stand still, see salvation
In your tribulation
Be still and know I'm God

If you abide in My Word
Then you will see Me clearly
If you abide in My Word
You will know My ways

Stand still, see salvation
In your tribulation
Be still, know that I’m God
Nothing’s too hard

Stand still, see salvation
In your tribulation
Be still and know I’m God

Stand still, see salvation
In your tribulation
Be still and know I’m God

If you abide in My Word
Then you will see Me clearly
If you abide in My Word
You will know My ways

Stand still, see salvation
In your tribulation
Be still, know that I’m God
Nothing’s too hard

Stand Still, See Salvation
In your tribulation
Be still, know that I’m God
Nothing’s too hard
For the LORD

With Tears In My Heart

My Times Are In Thy Hands
By Gertrude Grace Sanborn

Such hands as Thine
Can never fail nor falter;
My times, my goings, and my comings
Thou dost know.
So strong—such hands,
So wise in all their moving,
Directing worlds and all the teeming
Nations here below!

Thy hands, my God,
Are holding me!
My times so small they seem
As I compare
Thy hands which wrote the Law
And shook the Mountain
Those hands deal tenderly with me in care!

My times, Thy hands!
Sweet peace I find in this, O Lord,
And grace to meet the problems of each day.
So I put my hand in Thine,
O God my Father;
And holding thus will walk my brief
And earthly way!

From With Tears in My Heart
400 Poetic Meditations of a Christian Woman
Original Poems with Complementing Scripture
(Click on Title Link for story of the sorrows she suffered and the faith that sustained her)

What is the "Septuagint"?

by David W. Daniels

If you look in the preface of a modern Bible, you will probably find a reference to the Septuagint, or LXX for short. The translators of all modern Bibles, including the New King James, use the Septuagint along with other texts in translating the Bible. They claim that the Septuagint contains true readings not found in the preserved Hebrew text. Thus they give it great importance. But what is the Septuagint? Here's how the legend goes:

The Septuagint is claimed to have been translated between 285-246 BC during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Alexandria, Egypt. His librarian, supposedly Demetrius of Phalerum, persuaded Philadelphus to get a copy of the Hebrew Scriptures. Then the Scriptures (at least Genesis to Deuteronomy) were translated into the Greek language for the Alexandrian Jews. This part of the story comes from early church historian Eusebius (260-339 AD). Scholars then claim that Jesus and His apostles used this Greek Bible instead of the preserved Hebrew text.

The Letter of Aristeas

The whole argument that the Hebrew scriptures were translated into Greek before the time of Christ rests upon a single document. All other historical evidence supporting the argument either quotes or references this single letter.

In this so-called Letter of Aristeas, the writer presents himself as a close confidant of king Philadelphus. He claims that he persuaded Eleazar, the high priest, to send with him 72 scholars from Jerusalem to Alexandria, Egypt. There they would translate the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, forming what we now call the Septuagint.

Jewish historian Josephus, Jewish mystic Philo (both first century AD) and others add to the story. Some say the 72 were shut in separate cells and "miraculously" wrote each of their versions word-for-word the same. They say that this proves "divine inspiration" of the entire Septuagint.

Thus, the Septuagint is claimed to exist at the time of Jesus and the apostles, and that they quoted from it instead of the preserved Hebrew text. This story has been passed around for centuries. But is it the truth? Was this Septuagint really written before the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus and His apostles? Did they quote it? Was it really inspired by God? And if the story is a fake, why make up the story? Is there another reason to get people to use (or believe in) the Septuagint?

The Verifiable Facts:

The writer of this letter, Aristeas, claims to have been a Greek court official during the time of Philadelphus' reign. He claims to have been sent by Demetrius to request the best scholars of Israel to bring a copy of the Hebrew scriptures to Alexandria to start the Septuagint translation project. He even goes so far as to give names of Septuagint scholars, yet many of the names he gives are from the Maccabean era, some 75 years too late. Many of them are Greek names, definitely not the names of Hebrew scholars. There are many other evidences that this letter is from a different time period, and is thus a fake. The writer is lying about his identity.

The supposed "librarian," Demetrius of Phalerum (ca. 345-283) served in the court of Ptolemy Soter. Demetrius was never the librarian under Philadelphus.

The letter quotes the king telling Demetrius and the translators, when they arrived, how wonderful it was that they came on the anniversary of his "naval victory over Antigonus" (Aristeas 7:14). But the only such recorded Egyptian naval victory occurred many years after Demetrius death, so the letter is a fraud!

The Letter of Aristeas is a hoax that doesn't even fit the time period in which it claims to have been written. And since the other ancient writers merely add to this story, it is clear that the story itself of a pre-Christian Septuagint is a fraud. Even critical textual scholars admit that the letter is a hoax. Yet they persist in quoting the Letter of Aristeas as proof of the existence of the Septuagint before Christ.

New Testament Evidence

Many scholars claim that Christ and his apostles used the Septuagint, preferring it above the preserved Hebrew text found in the temple and synagogues. But if the Greek Septuagint was the Bible Jesus used, he would not have said,

"For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." (Matthew 5:18)

Why would Jesus not have said this? Because the jot is a Hebrew letter, and the tittle is a small mark to distinguish between Hebrew letters. If Jesus used the Greek Septuagint, His scriptures would not have contained the jot and tittle. He obviously used the Hebrew scriptures!

In addition, Jesus only mentioned the scripture text in two ways, (1) "The Law and the Prophets" and (2) "The Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms":

"And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto 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." Luke 24:44

The Hebrews divide their Bible into three parts: the Law, the Prophets and the Writings. Jesus clearly referred to this. The Septuagint had no such division. In fact, it contains Apocryphal books interspersed throughout the Old Testament. The sequence is so hopelessly mixed up that Jesus could not possibly have been referring to it!

Who is Pushing the Septuagint?

So why do we still hear the story? Why do people give it a second thought? Are there other reasons why they still try to use the Septuagint to find "original readings" that were supposedly "lost from the Hebrew"?.

Roman Catholics Need It

According to the Roman Catholic Douay Bible:

"…the Septuagint, the Greek translation from the original Hebrew, and which contained all the writings now found in the Douay version, as it is called, was the version used by the Saviour and his Apostles and by the Church from her infancy, and translated into Latin, known under the title of Latin Vulgate, and ever recognized as the true version of the written word of God" —Preface,1914 edition.

So Roman Catholics desperately want the Septuagint to be genuine —even inspired! You see, the so-called Septuagint is where they got the Apocrypha (books that are not inspired and have no place in our Bibles). If the Septuagint goes, then the Apocrypha goes with it!

Ecumenical Textual Critics Need It

The supposed text of the Septuagint is found today only in certain manuscripts. The main ones are: Codex Sinaiticus (Aleph); Codex Vaticanus (B); and Codex Alexandrinus (A). That's right. The Alexandrian manuscripts are the very texts we call the Septuagint!

In his Introduction to The Septuagint with Apocrypha: Greek and English (1851) Sir Lancelot Brenton describes how some critical scholars have attempted to call the Septuagint by its real name, the Alexandrian Text, but the name never stuck. Thus he admits that they are one and the same.

So we have textual critics who believe desperately in the 45 Alexandrian manuscripts (against more than 5,000 copies favoring the Textus Receptus). They use these to translate all modern New Testaments. But these Alexandrian manuscripts also include the Septuagint Old Testament (with the Apocrypha). They have fallen for a trap.

Catholics now argue the following: If you accept the Alexandrian text (which modern scholars use as the basis for all new translations) for your New Testament, then you also have to accept the rest of the Alexandrian text (Septuagint) , which includes the Apocrypha. What we are seeing is the development of an ecumenical Bible, including the Apocrypha. Some versions have already gone this way. For many Protestants, all roads are truly leading to Rome.

We Don't Need It

But do we Christians need the Alexandrian manuscripts? Not at all! For the Old Testament we have the Preserved Words of God in the Hebrew Masoretic text. For the New Testament we have the 5,000-plus manuscripts in Greek, plus the many early translations spread abroad, to witness to the actual words of Christ and His apostles.

So the Septuagint story is a hoax. It was not written before Christ; so it was not used by Jesus or His apostles. It is the only set of manuscripts to include the Apocrypha mixed in with the books of the Bible, so as to justify the Roman Catholic inclusion of them in their Bibles. And it is just those same, perverted Alexandrian codices —the same ones that mess up the New Testament —dressed up in pretty packaging.

Let's stick to our preserved Bible, the King James Bible in English, and leave the Alexandrian perversions alone.

© 2001 by David W. Daniels

http://www.scionofzion.com/septuagint1.htm

What is the Truth About Gaza War?

News Media Shows Slanted Facts
Rather Than Truth About Gaza War -
Bill Wilson

By Bill Wilson, KIN Senior Analyst

WASH—Jan 2—KIN-- The Palestinian terrorists in Gaza are expert at manipulating the news media to their point of view. Already, the top media outlets have filled television screens with human interest stories of Palestinian women and children being blown to bits by the overpowering and relentless Israeli Defense Forces. Story after story appears with frantic Palestinian women crying out that their lives are disrupted by these terrible bombing raids, that there is no food to feed their families, that their husbands are missing. And while they are talking, there is chaos in the background of bombed out buildings and B-roll of children being wheeled into hospitals that are supposed to be overcrowded due to Israeli attacks.

The story that is not told is far more compelling, but you won’t hear it on CNN or the other major news outlets because they are providing a biased point of view. First, I know of few nations at war who actually provide medical aid and supplies to the enemy they are trying to destroy. Nobody with a mustard seed of God’s goodness in them wants to create, maintain or revel in human suffering. The Israelis are not only opening the war zone to convoys of medical supplies, they are opening their own hospitals to Palestinians in need. Interesting, however, that a communication from the Israeli Embassy indicated that many of the Palestinian children treated in Israeli hospitals were victims of Palestinian fired missiles.

Another example of exactly what is going on is found in the Israeli assassination of senior Hamas terror operative Nizir Rian, who organized suicide bombings against Israelis. The Israeli Embassy issued this statement: “The multiple secondary explosions that resulted from the attack confirm that Rian's house functioned as a weapons storage facility. The house also served as a communications center, beneath which a clandestine escape tunnel for Hamas terrorists was located. Rian was in the house at the time of the attack, which was carried out successfully based upon IDF and ISA intelligence. As with all IAF activity, every possible effort was made to avoid collateral civilian harm.”

While the news media is clamoring about how Israel is targeting civilians, the story of why some homes are targeted is totally missed. Hamas and the Palestinians house their weapons, command centers and leaders in civilian communities for two reasons: one is to cause pause when attacking because women and children will be harmed; and the other is to use women and children as shields against such attacks. The mainstream news media only tells part of the story from a slanted perspective. Jesus said in Matthew 24:4, “Take heed that no man deceive you.” He also said in John 8:32, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Seek the truth, not just the facts—the truth is never biased.

Insights in Genesis

The Genesis cycle begins again as I read thru the Bible with Bible Pathway. This year I am joined with others of varying perspectives as we compare insights. I would encourage anyone reading this to join in and share your own insights. The depths of the riches of Scripture cannot be fathomed. This is why the Bible is usually on the short list of books for desert island reading.

I continue to trust the KJV, as I believe it is the faithfully preserved Word of God in English. The manuscripts behind it are reliable, not like the hodgepodge that underlies modern versions. We can be Bible critics or we can receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which is able to save our souls (James 1:21).

So what am I seeing this time around? After more than 20 times thru the Bible, I am just beginning to get a grasp of the theme that permeates and weaves its way throughout Scripture. It all begins in Genesis.

In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth.

Seven Hebrew words underlie the text, yet only six are translated. There is one little word in the very center that is puzzling to scholars. It is a two letter word composed of the first and last letters of the Hebrew aleph bet. It is the Aleph-Tav. And Who is the Aleph Tav in the Book of Revelation that we just completed? It is YESHUA!

I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End......

Of course, in Hebrew this would translate to Aleph-Tav.

The beginning of the Bible connects with and parallels the ending of the Bible. Reading these two books in tandem reveals the parallelism. It is just one example of the depths and the riches of the Scriptures. I am awed and fascinated by the mysteries. How did forty or more human writers, writing over a period of many centuries and millennia produce such a unified composition? Divine plenary inspiration is evident, yet not apparent to the casual reader.

Is there a gap between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2? I am investigating the “gap theory” and was leaning towards accepting it, when I noticed in today’s reading the statement in Gen. 2:3 that God created and made everything in six days. The KJV has its own built-in dictionary. Words are defined in the surrounding text, sometimes in the very verse. So created and made could be synonyms, spoiling the nuanced argument of Arthur Custance and others that bara and asah are distinct. Now I am leaning against the Gap theory of ruin/reconstruction. I continue to weigh the evidence pro and con.

The Hebrew word for Heaven is shamayim, a plural word, yet translated in the singular in the KJV in verse 1. There is a good reason for this, one that the modern versions have overlooked. Plurality in the Hebrew does not necessarily denote more than one. It can also refer to the superlative. The Heaven referred to in verse one is God’s abode. We learn in other parts of Scripture that there are three heavens: the atmosphere, outer space, and the abode of God.

According to one of the proponents of the Gap theory, the abode of God is separated from the other two heavens by a frozen, crystal Sea. The Firmament separates the Earthly realm from this Holy Abode. It is a fascinating possibility and may explain the ancient domed cosmology. [Details at Featured/Favorite Links: The Firmament, Third Heaven, and Structure of Things Biblical]

Genesis 2 should actually begin at verse 4. This is a separate account and introduces God as LORD God (Y-H-V-H) and introduces us to God’s relationship with Man, a test of obedience, temptation, sin, Satan, consequences, and the beginning of the theme of Redemption which continues throughout the 66 books of Scripture.

When did Lucifer fall from Heaven and become The Adversary (Satan)? Why is he hell-bent on tripping up Mankind? Was there a previous civilization that was destroyed, leaving a fossil record? Did God re-create and make everything “good” on top of a fossil graveyard? These are questions explored in the gap theory and refuted by Young Earth Creationists.

Did animals originally have vocalization? Eve does not seem surprised that the serpent is talking to her. Was it telepathic? What did this creature look like before consigned to lost limbs? Was it a dragon? Why is the word for serpent related to the word for soothsayer/enchanter/divination?

I notice that this Edenic world is vegetarian, both for man and beast. Meat-eating is not authorized until after Noah’s Flood. In the Millennial Kingdom to come, vegetarianism is again the diet of man and beast, and again there is peace among the species.

Who wrote these Creation accounts? Did Adam write on clay tablets? Was Moses the editor of various clay tablets? Was Proto-Hebrew the original language? The puns and word play seem to indicate this.

Does our English word “woman” indicate “womb-man”? Are we equally “men” yet assigned a certain role......women having a womb and the hormone balance necessary to fulfill the role of wife, help-meet, mother?

There are no contradictions in Scripture, only puzzles to be resolved through piecing together the various verses throughout the Bible until harmony is the result. Did you ever watch a movie that starts out with a few sketchy scenes? Not until later in the film does the viewer understand certain things that make no sense in the beginning. Many times, a clever, intelligent screenplay has to be viewed again and again to catch the cryptic details. Should the Bible be any less a literary masterpiece that requires some thought? Simplistic reading has turned doubters to atheists. It is important to gain more than a superficial understanding of Scripture. Yet seeing Scripture through the eyes of faith reveals more of its treasures than looking through the lens of logic. Some mysteries are only revealed. To the skeptic, they are concealed.

This Book called the Bible is accessible to a child, yet challenging to an intellectual. Genesis 1 would make a suitable bedtime story for a toddler, yet it challenges and perplexes scholars as they try to reconcile it with the study of Earth history. Rabbis have argued late into the night over a single verse. Commentaries are voluminous. Honest questions can be satisfactorily answered. And more questions can be asked that continue to perplex. This Book is fascinating and compelling. Never boring is the study of God’s Word!

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out. Romans 11:33