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The Book Momma Read
“We search the world for truth; we cull the good, the pure, the beautiful, from graven and written scroll, from all old flower fields of the soul. And, weary seekers of the best, we come back, laden from our quest to find that all the sages said, is in the book our mothers read” (John Greenleaf Whittier).
How true. How very true. Man’s wisdom—all of it, if it has any value—is merely a restatement of the Divine will, the word of God. We search hither and yon for some new kernel of truth only to find we had it right on our coffee table all the time.
The Bible is a wonder. No book is like it. Nowhere is truth bound up in so concise a package. Nowhere is there to be found a book that sets forth more truth in a more beautiful and functional way. Over forty men wrote this great book of truth over a long period of time. Moreover, the men had no knowledge of one another in many instances. They came from all educational and ethnic backgrounds, and yet they all wrote with the same pen—shepherds, fishers, priests, warriors, kings, and statesmen—not one of them contradicted what the other wrote. The various parts came into a perfect whole as “the fullness of times” was realized.
The Bible addresses man’s needs and recommends solutions to each one of them. Not one question regarding man’s purpose for existence, his mission on earth, and what will come of him when he dies, is disregarded. Instead, the Bible addresses the need for knowing those things in a most direct and functional manner.
The Bible tells us about who God is and how to please Him. It explains how and when men fail and how they can succeed and how God feels about both. It never exaggerates. It never paints an inflated picture of a man who is evil, nor does it allow the good man to bloviate about his goodness. It speaks of virtue and kindness, of character and dignity, of proper worship and devotion—all of which relate to man’s becoming all that God wanted him to be when He created Him.
The Bible is not a book of history nor of science, and yet, when it speaks of either, it does so with absolute accuracy. It has never been found to contradict history; but history has been found on numerous occasions to contradict the Bible. Literally dozens of predictions are made in it about such places as Israel, Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, Syria and man other cities and nations; and in every instance, what was predicted came true.
The Bible affirms itself to be “the word of God.” In the Old Testament it is affirmed over and over again. It uses terms like “God said,” “The word of God came, saying,” etc. to affirm such (Ex. 4:12; Deut. 4:2; Jer. 3:7-9; Ezek. 2:4; Ezek. 33:7). In the New Testament, those who wrote spoke the words of God as they were inspired by the Spirit (John 14:26; John 15:26; John 16:13; Acts 1:16; Heb. 1:1-2; 1 Cor. 2:1-10; 1 Thess. 2:13; 2 Tim. 3:16-17).
The miracles performed by Christ are said to put the stamp of the approval of God on the Scriptures, and His imprimatur of Jesus as the Savior (John 20:3-31).
The Bible is the only book that tells man what to do about sin—in short, how to be saved. It does it without prejudice and with great accuracy. There is no reason for man to misunderstand it, and certainly no reason for him to reinterpret it to make it what he wants. It is God’s plan. He conceived it. He brought it about. He revealed it to us in the Bible. In nine different instances in the Acts of Apostles, we are told—both by example and statement—what to do to be saved. Acts 2, Acts 8, Acts 9, Acts 10, Acts 16, for example, tell us that God expects a man to hear the gospel, believe that Christ is the Son of God, repent of his past sins, confess his faith, and be baptized for the remission of his sins. A simple, forthright plan for man’s salvation about which there is absolutely no need for misunderstanding.
Only in the Bible is there information about what lies beyond. All else is speculation, superstition. The Bible speaks clearly of the judgment (Matt. 7:21-23; Heb. 9:21; Rev. 20:11-15). Furthermore, that statement is made without undue fanfare, but explicitly and with power.
In consideration of these facts and many others which could be stated as to the authenticity and functionality of the Bible, don’t you think you might ought to give a bit more attention to it from now on? You see, after we’ve done all our searching for true wisdom, we finally come to realize it was in the book Momma read all along.
