They All have One Thing in Common Now

Recently I read a few brief sentences about a man who, as a child learned the Bible at his mother’s knee and grew up believing that it was literally true.  But some years later he was no longer sure that this was literally the case and therefore he made the decision to travel the world to, “unlock the origins of the Bible” and see how scholars interpret the Old and New Testaments.  Apparently the man has now come to the conclusion that a “literal reading is not an intellectually credible decision.”  There’s nothing new in this of course, he’s simply another one among multitudes to take this path and arrive at the same conclusion.

Intellectualism seems to underpin the catch-cry of people such as this man.  The great infidel Robert Ingersoll said it much more eloquently in 1894 though, when he spoke of the Bible that it, “imprisons the brain and corrupts the heart” and that it is, “the enemy of intellectual freedom.”  Intellectual credibility and intellectual freedom … most anti-bible people that I have encountered have not used those words, but that is where they’ve been coming from when disputing the Bible with me. A couple of years ago a former close friend spent nearly two hours on the phone asking me questions on it, telling me he was reading the Bible, “but I don’t want your esoteric side of it.”

That was his way of saying he wanted nothing to do with any requirements for the need to change his way of being, as he knew I had done.  He started his reading at Genesis but by the time he got to Leviticus he said he was stumped.  I informed him that the Bible is not an intellectual book, it’s a spiritual book.  Unless one is born again, God’s got nothing to say to a Bible reader except, “repent.”  That’s not what he wanted to hear.  Chas. Spurgeon was right when speaking of God’s word – or law, “in the head it puzzles.”  If there’s one thing many intellectuals loath it is the receiving of anything into their head that puzzles them.  They love to have it all worked out independently of others.

In speaking with loads of intellectuals over the past 23 years, I am of the opinion that this inability to understand the Bible is one of the reasons why many hate the God of the Bible.  These people intrinsically know that God will not bow to them and they hate Him for that.  Equally, these same intellectuals hate born again Christians, because they intrinsically know that we do understand the Bible, plus the God who gave it to us.  They may well stand off to the side and mock and ridicule and label us as unintelligent, but they don’t really believe it any more than (perhaps unknown to them) does their deceiver and ruler, Satan the devil.  Just like him, pride is their stumbling block.

Then there are the religious intellectuals – committed church-going practitioners with an academic background or qualifications … certificated in things like philosophy, foreign languages, church history and non-Christian religions.  These people do accept the Bible but only in the light of those other qualifications.  In other words, if the Scriptures line up with these other things they get embraced and where they don’t line up they get set to one side or discarded.  These are seemingly very intelligent people, they can sit, discuss and debate for hours on end when necessary and at the same time finish up appearing very satisfied with the contributions each has made … a kind of self-congratulatory group.

Television producers love this kind of religious people, as do their religious audiences.  Lots of, “what do you think?” “I think” “I believe” “we believe” … the audiences feeding off their opinions wishing they could be there in that studio adding their thoughts and beliefs to the discussion too.  But as one listens closely it becomes clear that each has a God or Jesus of their creation.  In addition, the God or Jesus of their creation is seriously religious – “Good Christians don’t do that, say that, go there, drink that – compassion, tolerance, justice, equality for all at any cost.”   Spurgeon spoke on the word or law of God for these as well, “On the back it burdens.”

I’ve encountered numerous religious people carrying burdens “on the back” but the intellectual ones in particular, have never been open to the reality that the biblical God sent His Son into the world to set them free from such.  They will have none of it.  Why not? Well, if they allow the true God to set them free it may well mean they will have to pull those framed certificates down from the wall. The thought of that happening is just too much to bear.  After all, their whole life has been built around those things. Strip them of those and they’re left with nothing – intellectually naked, so to speak.  Thank you, but no thank you is where they’re at with such a challenge.

What becomes of this type of religious intellectual?  There’s really no difference … religious or not religious. Unless they humble themselves to the convictions of God the Holy Spirit and embrace the Savior Jesus whom the God of the Bible sent into the world for the salvation of their entire being, they are lost for all eternity.  Let’s have a look at some intellectuals who, on their death bed, knew they were lost for all eternity: Thomas Paine: “I would give worlds if I had them, that The Age of Reason had never been published. O Lord, help me! Christ, help me! . . No, don’t leave; stay with me! Send even a child to stay with me; for I am on the edge of Hell here alone. If ever the Devil had an agent, I have been that one.”

Sir Thomas Scott: “Until this moment, I thought there was neither God nor hell; now I know and feel that there are both, and I am doomed to perdition by the just judgment of the Almighty!”  Sir Francis Newport, the head of an English infidel club:“You need not tell me there is no God for I know there is one, and that I am in His presence! You need not tell me there is no hell. I feel myself already slipping. Wretches, cease your idle talk about there being hope for me! I know I am lost forever! Oh, that fire! Oh, the insufferable pangs of hell!”  Voltaire: “I am abandoned by God and man; I will give you half of what I am worth if you will give me six months’ life.” (He said this to his doctor, who told him it could not be done.) “Then I shall die and go to hell!”

Now to Robert Ingersoll: “O God, if there be a God, save my soul, if I have a soul!” (some say it was),“Oh God, if there be a God, save my soul if I have a soul, from hell, if there be a hell!”  Any mercy from God at that point for Ingersoll?  No, none whatsoever.  This man spent the bulk of his adult life cursing God – cursing the Bible.  He was a prolific writer and orator who influenced thousands in his life – and thousands after his death.  His works are sending people to hell this very day.  Is that the reason there was no mercy for him? No.  There was no mercy because he said, “If there be a God….if I have a soul.” That man knew the Bible better than most people will ever know it.  He should have known the reality of both by experience.

Psalm 37:31 says, “The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.”  Intellectuals such as those written about in this post have no respect for the law (word) of God.  They are their own god.  And whatever word of God they may have embraced is not in his/her heart – only in his/her head where it freely rattles around with all the other stuff that’s in there.  A very sure-footed bunch they are too … no thought nor fear that any of their steps should ever slide.  Smug, self-righteous, self-satisfied, self-congratulations all around; pillars of society in their thinking – no thought whatsoever that in reality they are a stench in the nostrils of God and are sliding into hell.

Not so, the humble, repentant Bible believer; the law of his/her God in the heart is where it’s at for them moment by moment.  His God … her God – personal, relational, knowable, reliable, undeniable!  When they choose to stand outside of the biblical Lord Jesus Christ, there’s not a single soul on earth who can lay claim to such a reality.  They know it and they know we know it, I’ve seen it written in their eyes countless times.  Besides, how truly intelligent is the intellectual who believes that in order to be a biblical Christian one has to turn off his or her brain?  How truly intelligent is the intellectual who believes that a literal reading of the Bible is not an intellectually credible decision?

How truly intelligent is the intellectual who believes that the Bible imprisons the brain, corrupts the heart and is the enemy of intellectual freedom? How truly intelligent is the intellectual who believes that a believer is not a thinker and a thinker is not a believer?  How truly intelligent is the intellectual who believes all thinking men are atheists?  How truly intelligent is the intellectual who believes that faith means not wanting to know what is true?  How truly intelligent is the intellectual who believes that faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence? 1 Corinthians 1:18-28 gives us the most sobering of answers to those questions.

Chas Spurgeon also said about the law (word) of God that, “in the heart it upholds.”  Intellectuals pride themselves in what they’ve stuffed into their head … all their “I believes” are in their head.  But the great tragedy is when God looks into those heads all He sees is space – empty heads.  Once again, not so the humble, repentant Bible believer, all our “I believes” are in the heart Acts 8:37; Romans 10:9-10, placed there and upheld for us by the very God of the Bible Himself.  Let’s have a look at what some humble people said about this reality: Abraham Lincoln: “I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book.”

U. S. Grant: “The Bible is the sheet-anchor of our liberties.” Robert E. Lee: “In my perplexities and distress, the Bible has never failed to give me light and strength.”  Sir Isaac Newton: “There are more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any profane history.” Patrick Henry: “The Bible is worth all other books which have ever been printed.”  Charles Dickens: “The New Testament is the very best book that ever was or ever will be known in the world.”  These six men, together with those mentioned above, they all have one thing in common now – they all now believe the truth about the Bible … it is the word of God to man. “The humble he guides in justice, and the humble He teaches His way.” Psalm 25:9. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4.