I have been reading the book, Is there a God? by John Oakes. I have found this book most interesting, but there is one question that still bothers me referring to the creation account. I do not have a problem with believing the theory that the earth is very old but is it not wrong to interpret the Bible to try make it reasonable to man when man is not like God? Surely we can only think on a humanistic level and is not God's way of doing things totally beyond the thought processes of man--even scientists'? I would appreciate your views on this as it concerns me greatly. -- Esther Lightening (Johannesburg)
Certainly I agree with you that we ought not to force God's word into a comfortable, humanistic mould which commends itself to our reasoning, or flatters our egos, or makes for a suave interpretation. That would be totally wrong. And yes, God is infinitely far above us -- Isaiah 55:8-9. We are under no obligation to tone down God's word or to make it appear "politically correct." As for the ancient earth idea -- which I accept, as you have probably read in my book on Genesis -- I believe we need to accept nature/science as one channel through which God reveals himself. This is what Romans 1:20 actually says.
His Word is another channel, in fact the primary one. Since God will not contradict himself, a contradiction between science and theology means either wrong science or wrong theology. We must take our interpretative cues from God's word itself, where they exist. We need to work hard to become the best possible exegetes we can.
I always recommend the now classic Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth. And as we approach any biblical passage, we must work hard to "rightly divide" (2 Timothy 2:15). The Word doesn't always do this for us! We have to work at it, think it over (2 Timothy 2:7), and realize that a good many passages are far from obvious as to their meaning (2 Peter 3:15-16). In other words, all of us need to interpret. God's word commands us to meditate, think over, explore, and wrestle with the scriptures.
Since none of us is an infallible Bible student, we are left no other choice. If we claim to have "arrived" -- as a movement or as individuals -- we will cease responsibly to study the Bible. At this point, we will have lost our ability to distinguish truth from error.
This is a challenge to all our readers: Work hard at your Bible study. For all of us individually, and all of us together as God's church, will be judged by it!
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