Why study the Bible?
The popular term apologetics (Greek: ἀπολογία),
means “speaking in defence”. In 2 Corinthians 10:5 Paul says, “We
demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge
of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
In addition, for the Christian, there are many good reasons to study the Bible.
Among the main reasons are:
God communicates to us through His Word.
Some of God’s attributes are revealed through His creation as Romans 1:20 indicates. But without the Bible how would we
know that our relationship with God is broken, due to our sinful condition? Moreover,
how would we know what is required to reconcile us to God? Only through studying
Scripture can we know these things, and particularly, we find these aforementioned
doctrines in Genesis.
Hebrews 1:1-2 says, “Long ago, at many times and in
many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has
spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom
also he created the world.”To know the truth about God revealed
by the prophets and Jesus, we need to study the Bible.
To know how we ought to live
One of the things that sets Christianity apart from some other religions is clear
teaching on right and wrong. For some religions it is your ‘spiritual journey’
to figure out what the truth is. In John 8:31-32 Jesus tells believers, “If
you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and
the truth will set you free.” Abiding in God’s Word makes
us disciples of Christ.
To determine truth from error
Christians study the Bible to train their minds to discern error. Christians are
to “be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by
testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and
perfect.” (Romans 12:2) The writer of Hebrews rebuked the Christians
for their lack of studying and applying the Bible (the ‘oracles of God’)
saying, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone
to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not
solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness,
since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their
powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil”
(Hebrews 5:12–14). Sadly, poor hermeneutics results
in undermining the authority of God’s Word, a phenomenon that is so prevalent
in the church today. It has led to many Christians being “tossed to and fro
by … every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4:14).
Studying Genesis
The usual interpretive challenges that accompany the other
65 books of the Bible also apply to Genesis, with the addition of one more.
Since the story of evolution and ‘millions of years’ is taught so widely
through so many different avenues there is a powerful tendency to add these things
to the Genesis text. CMI exists to spread the news that, not only do these extra-biblical
ideas do tremendous
theological damage to Christian doctrines, it is completely unnecessary
to view Genesis as anything but
real history (i.e. in the way that it was written). Science supports a
recent creation and reveals the impossibility of evolution. See the
FAQ section for a wealth of articles detailing
with many evidences for creation and against evolution.
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