BIBLE LITERACY


WHY


WE CALL THE


■ by Daniel L. Black G


OD HAS BEEN very good to me over the whole course of my life. Being born into a Christian home was one of the


greatest blessings bestowed on me. I grew to adulthood in the midst of people who believed the Bible to be the Word of God and demonstrated profound reverence for the Holy Scriptures.


Living among people who loved God and the Bible, and who sincerely endeav- ored to live by biblical principles and pre- cepts, I began reading the Bible soon after I learned how to read. This was God’s Word, and I wanted to know what God had to say.


An Informative Book About the Bible


While I was growing up, I do not recall anyone explaining to me why we believed the Bible to be the Word of God.


8 EVANGEL • AUG 2010


Then, two years after I graduated from high school, a highly informative book about the Bible came to my attention. As part of the Church Training Course program offered by the Church of God, the people of our church were taught The Bible: Book of Books, by Charles W. Conn. At that time, Dr. Conn was editor in chief of Church of God publications. His book enlightened me as to why I and my family, and almost everyone else I knew, believed the Bible to be the inspired Word of God. The case Dr. Conn presented is as valid today as it was a half century ago.


The Bible: A Sacred Book


“At least three qualities earn for the Bible the unique classification ‘sacred.’ First, it is divine in its origin. Though men were God’s instruments in the writ- ing of them, the Holy Scriptures came from God through the inspiration of the


Holy Ghost. Second, it is holy in its pur- pose. One purpose is found throughout the Bible, and that is to show forth the sovereignty and love of God. Third, it is sacred in its message, which is to reveal Christ as the atonement by which fallen man is restored to fellowship with the Father.”*


Today, in the name of tolerance and political correctness, Christians are not supposed to say the Holy Bible is superior to the sacred writings of other religions. Conn wrote, “Numerous non-Christian religions also have their ‘sacred writ- ings’—such as the Koran of Islam, the Vedas and Upanishads of Hinduism, the Lin Yu of Confucianism, the Zend-Avesta of Zoroastrianism, and the Tao Teh King of Taoism. None of these, however, are even able to compare with our Bible. It alone is the irrefutable Word of God, the revelation of God’s will for man. And it alone leads man to life in God.”


BIBLE


THE WORD OF GOD


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