Continuing part 4. SEEING THAT THE SCRIPTURE IS INSPIRED - TopicsExpress

Continuing part 4. SEEING THAT THE SCRIPTURE IS INSPIRED BY GOD The Language of the Day So we see that, in the New Testament, it was the language of the day to describe someone as being possessed with demons if they were mentally ill or had a disease which no one understood. The contemporary Roman and Greek cultural belief was that demons possessed people, thereby creating mental disease. Those Christians who believe in the existence of demons are effectively saying that the contemporary pagan beliefs in this area were perfectly correct. The Scripture is written in a language which people can understand. Because it uses the language of the day does not mean that It or Jesus believed in demons. In the same way, in English, we have the word lunatic to describe someone who is mentally ill. Literally it means someone who is moon struck. Years ago people used to believe that if a person went out walking at night when there was a clear moon, they could get struck by the moon and become mentally ill. We use that word lunatic today to describe someone who is mad, but it does not mean that we believe madness is caused by the moon. If these words were written down and re-read in 2,000 years time, people might think we believed that the moon caused madness, but they would be wrong because we are just using the language of our day, as Jesus did 2,000 years ago. Similarly we describe a certain hereditary disorder as St. Vituss Dance which is neither caused by St. Vitus nor dancing, but in using the language of the day we call it St. Vituss Dance. It is evident that Jesus Christ was not born on December 25th; yet the present writer still uses the term Christmas day when speaking of that day, although I do not believe that we should keep that day as a celebration of Christs birth. The names of the days of the week are based upon pagan idol worship - e.g. Sunday means the day devoted to worshipping the sun; Saturday was the day upon which the planet Saturn was to be worshipped, Monday for the moon, etc. To use these names does not mean that we share the pagan beliefs of those who originally coined our present language. Influenza is likewise a term in common use today; it strictly means influenced by demons. When Daniel was renamed Belteshazzar, a name reflecting a pagan god, the inspired record in Daniel 4:19 calls him Belteshazzar without pointing out that this word reflected false thinking. I speak about the Pope as a means of identifying someone, even though I think it wrong to actually believe that he is a pope or father (Matthew 23:9). There was a myth in Ezekiels time that the land of Israel was responsible for the misfortunes of those in it. This was not true and yet God reasons with Israel, using the idea that was then popular, Thus saith the Lord God, Because they say unto you, Thou land devourest up men, and hast bereaved thy nations; therefore thou (the land) shalt devour men no more...saith the Lord God (Ezekiel 36:13-14). There was a common pagan notion that the sea was a great monster desiring to engulf the earth. Whilst this is evidently untrue, the Scripture often uses this figure in order to help its initial readership to grasp the idea being presented: see Job 7:12, Amos 9:3, Jeremiah 5:22; Psalms 89:9; Habakkuk 3:10; Matthew 14:24, Mark 4:30. Assyrian mythology called this rebellious sea monster Rahab; and this is exactly the name given to the sea monster of Egypt in Isaiah 51:9. Seeing that the Scripture is inspired by God, it is impossible that the Scripture is merely reflecting the pagan influences which were current at the time in which it was written. It must be that God is consciously alluding to contemporary beliefs, in order to show that He is the ultimate source of power; He is the one who controls the monster of the sea, so that it does His will. God therefore corrected the fundamental error in these peoples beliefs, which was that there were forces at work in the world which were not subject to Gods control, and were therefore evil by implication. However, the Scripture does not, in this instance, go out of its way to decry the folly of believing that there is a massive monster lurking in the sea, or that the sea is a monster. Another example is in the description of lightning and storm clouds as a crooked serpent (Job 26:13; Isaiah 17:1). This was evidently alluding to the contemporary pagan belief that lightning and frightening cloud formations were actually visions of a massive snake. These passages do not expose the folly of such an idea, or attempt scientific explanation. Instead they make the point that God controls these things. The attitude of Christ to the prevailing belief in demons is identical in this regard; his miracles clearly demonstrated that the power of God was absolute and complete, unbounded by the superstitions of men concerning so-called demons. Those who believe that the New Testament records of demons prove that such beings do actually exist are duty bound to accept that the sea is really a monster, and that lightning is actually a huge serpent. This is surely a powerful point; there must be a recognition that the Scripture uses the language of the day in which it is written, without necessarily supporting the beliefs which form the basis of that language. Continues from part 4 tomorrow