The book that can change your life - part 3

We have talked about how the Bible is a book that change your life. I shared a message at New Covenant Bible Church December 31, 2006 on this topic and you can click here to listen online.

The Bible is a unique book for a number of reasons, one being that it has stood the test of time and incredible criticism. Many skeptics have made predictions that the Bible and/or Christianity would be silenced. Check out this quote:

The noted French infidel Voltaire, who died in 1778, declared that in one hundred years from his time Christianity would be swept from existence and passed into history.

Only fifty years after his death, the Geneva Bible Society used Voltaire’s press and house to produce stacks of Bibles. (Geisler/Nix, A General Introduction to the Bible, pp123-124)

Bernard Ramm rightly observes:

A thousand times over, the death knell of the Bible has sounded, the funeral procession formed, the inscription cut on the tombstone, and committal read. But somehow the corpse never stays put.

No other book has been so chopped, knived, sifted, scrutinized, and vilified. What book on philosophy or religion or psychology or belles letters of classical or modern times has been subject to such a mass attack as the Bible? with such venom and skepticism? upon every chapter, line and tenet?

The Bible is still loved by millions, read by millions, and studied by millions. (Bernard Ramm, Protestant Christian Evidences 1953, 232-233)

You can stand up at any High School commencement service and quote Ronald Reagan, Bill Gates, Plato, or Shakespeare and no one will get offended. But quote the Bible and all hell will break loose! Why is this? Because the Bible is a unique book that has stood the test of time, persecution, and continues to influence civilization in general:

The influence of the Bible and its teaching in the Western world is clear for all who study history. Civilization has been influenced more by the Judeo-Christian Scriptures than by any other book or series of books in the world. Indeed, no great moral or religious work in the world exceeds the depth of morality in the principle of Christian love, and none has a more lofty spiritual concept than the biblical view of God. The Bible presents the highest ideals known to men, ideals that have molded civilization. Geisler, A General Introduction to the Bible, pp196-197

So, how about it? When was the last time you opened this living, active, and dynamic book? Why not start right now! Let me know how it goes! Tye out.