THE BIBLE: YEP, ITS TRUE . . . While at USL which is now UL, I became engaged in conversation with one of my philosophy professors who had also become a good friend as well. Our discussion, about which we were in clear but not heated disagreement centered upon whether certain claims of the Christian religion, in particular, the claim of divine inspiration of Scripture were valid claims. Was the Bible written by God which was my position or was it written by man, which was what he believed? He went on to confess to me that it was his discovery of the false things in Scripture; things he said that no educated man would dare believe (he of course had an earned Ph.D), that led him to abandon his dream of becoming a priest, and which pushed him toward what he presently was - a religious skeptic. Upon hearing that, I very respectfully and very calmly asked him to cite me one example of what he called egregious lies in Scripture. Pausing for a moment, and with equal respect and sincerity, he brought up the story of Joshuas Long Day recorded in Joshua 10. Joshua, Scripture records, in order to have more daylight in which to conquer his enemies, commanded the sun and the moon to stand still. (Joshua 10:12) This of course was to his highly educated mind, totally unscientific. Now Francis, said he to me somewhat condescendingly, You know very well that the sun does not revolve around Earth but instead the Earth revolves around the sun. Certainly if God had written the Bible as you claim, God, who knows this, would not have Joshua telling the sun to stop but the Earth to stop instead. But since man did not yet have this scientific knowledge, this proves then that man and not God wrote the Bible. My response to him was that Joshuas command to the sun be thou still must be translated to be a command for the sun to cease working, to stop its activity. And yes, the Earth does gravitate around the sun rather than the sun gravitating around the Earth but the Earth does so because of the gravitational pull exerted upon it from the sun. To therefore stop the earth Joshua had to correctly speak to the sun to stop exerting its gravitational pull upon the Earth. The look upon his face or rather the light which flashed across his eyes were both startling and priceless. It left him speechless. Shortly after that encounter though, summer ended and I had to get back to the business of pastoring. I never got a chance to meet this professor of philosophy ever again but I believe, in all of my heart, that the seed which was planted during our conversation ultimately led to his salvation! Beloved, looking back upon that conversation and having done further studies and received more light upon this subject, I cannot now say that this explanation absolutely answers the question of Joshuas long day, as I cannot say with certainty that it isnt the answer. Another thought and a more simpler one to be considered is this: Just because Joshua prayed in ignorance, if he did pray in fact pray in ignorance, that does not mean that God responded to his ignorance or that his ignorance canceled out Gods answer. Scripture clearly tells us of the special dynamics which exist between our often feeble prayers and the Holy Spirit. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. (Romans 8:26). Nonetheless, whichever of these two explanations really apply to our understanding of Joshuas long day is uncertain. Two thing though remains crystal clear. One, we cannot and must not try to apply human reasoning to the understanding of divine things. Our natural mind is simply not equipped to understand spiritual things. But the natural man, says Paul the apostle, receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14) Two, any time we run across something in Scripture that appears to be un-scientific, either science is wrong (a flat earth for instance) or our present interpretation of that particular scripture is lacking or wrong. We are to never ever think that the Scriptures are wrong. They never are. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (2 Timothy 3:16). For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. (2 Peter 1:21) Be blessed!
Posted on: Wed, 25 Jun 2014 18:37:48 +0000
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