God's Not Dead: Evidence for God in an Age of Uncertainty by Rice Broocks Page B

Christian communities throughout history that have embraced racism and shown little concern for the poor and needy. This critique is certainly fair. However, it ignores the fact that Jesus Himself predicted that many who profess to follow Him would not faithfully obey His teachings. Just believing in the Bible or even just reading it does not transform lives. People must place their complete faith in Jesus’ promise of forgiveness for their sins and in the power of the Holy Spirit to transform them from the inside. Then the Holy Spirit brings divine revelation causing the Scripture to reshape readers’ hearts and minds. Reading the Bible without the Holy Spirit is much like watching a TV without a cable connection.
    R ELEVANT
    The Bible gives timeless insight into the nature of God and humanity. Its commandments are still the best guide for human behavior. Skeptics have dismissed the laws as simple common sense, but history has shown our tendency toward evil and the need to restrain it.
    The last R could just as easily stand for real . It’s like looking in the mirror. It shows you exactly what you look like. The Bible has shown the real picture of humanity throughout history, good and bad. The most faithful of God’s people who sinned have had their stories told just as they happened. No whitewashing of the ugly parts or retelling them to cover up the blemishes. The Bible tells the story of real people and real life. It’s important to know that the various authors of Scripture wrote in the literary styles of their day and addressed the specific concerns of their audiences. God divinely guided this process to ensure that they wrotewhat He intended for their particular setting. But He also guided the authors to ensure their words connected to the larger story, which was intended for all people in all generations.
    The different books of the Bible translate God’s truth into a vast array of cultural contexts and situations: ancient Eastern nomadic (Exodus), Western cosmopolitan (Romans), Greek (Corinthians), faith-dominant (1 and 2 Samuel), faith-hostile (Esther), postmodern (Ecclesiastes), artistic (Psalms), and so on. Therefore, Christians from virtually any cultural context and perspective can deeply identify with multiple books of the Bible. Those books can jump-start understandings of the other books. As a particular notable example, modern Westerners often find the genealogies of Genesis completely irrelevant. They typically wonder why God would have even desired to include them. They connect much more strongly with the logical flow of Romans. In contrast, missionaries who translate the Bible into tribal languages often discover that the native readers do not find the stories credible until the genealogies are translated. Unlike most Westerners, tribal cultures often look to the past, so genealogies prove credibility.
    S UMMARY
    During this project, I had the chance to sit down with one of the preeminent Bible scholars of our day, Dr. Dan Wallace, a professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. Dr. Wallace also leads the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts . He has debated Bart Ehrman three times and is as engaging as he is intelligent.
    In my time with him I came away with three distinctprinciples. First, the Bible is true in what it tells . When the Bible tells us about a person or place, it can be taken as true. Second, the Bible is true in what it teaches . The teachings of the Bible have changed the course of history for the good, and its principles remain the guiding lights for humanity in every way and in every culture. Third, the Bible is true in what it touches . Though it is not a science book, it doesn’t contradict what we know to be true from a scientific standpoint. Even the first chapters of Genesis, though hotly debated in many circles, do not contradict what science has verified about the physical world. Though very narrow interpretations by both skeptics and