Apologetics

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It's a valid question, on the surface. What makes me think that a document written by dozens of different authors, thousands of years ago, still has any bearing on life today? Isn't it just an antiquated, outdated, relic from a less advanced time?

Let me answer with a story. I like music, a lot. For years, I've wondered if I might be able to use my music as a ministry, but I was always convinced that because I don't have a good singing voice, music ministry must not be for me. How can you lead singing if you're a poor singer? I told myself that God must have had something else in mind for me - that sounds spiritual enough to be true. However, after prayer and thought, in late January I finally came to the realization that God does want me in worship ministry. The "how" is up to him. He made his plan apparent to me, and all I have to do is follow.

This story is remarkably similar to one that occurs early in the Bible, approximately 3500 years ago, in case you're counting. God promised Abraham that Abraham would have a son. Abraham, being 75 years old at the time and keenly aware of the physical limitations of being that age (and having a wife only ten years younger), was skeptical, and his wife straight-up laughed at God. Abraham told himself that there must be some mistake, that something about him would prevent him from having what he wanted deeply. Isn't that exactly what I told myself about music ministry?

And that is the major reason that I find the Bible to still be true. People are the same today as they were 3500 years ago. Oh sure, we have neat little high-tech gadgets to play with, and we consider ourselves more advanced in terms of science and philosophy, but those things are irrelevant. The things that were wrong with people back then - sin, insecurity, doubt, fear - are still wrong with people today. Time has not made the Bible less relevant. It has only proved how true the Bible is when it says that people are fundamentally broken and incapable of fixing themselves.

What have nearly four millennia of progress gotten us, really? We live a little longer - and spend tens of thousands of dollars on medicines and surgeries in the attempt. We have computers and televisions - and suffer from obesity rates unheard-of in the history of mankind. We have thousands of years of recorded history to draw on and learn from - but we still can't figure out how to stop killing each other, and all the while we're inventing new and better weapons to kill with.

See, the Bible's message is very simple: there is something wrong with humanity. People are greedy, arrogant, prideful, angry, lustful, liars, thieves, cheaters, deceivers - those things are the instinct of every human, the products of broken and corrupt hearts. Everything that is wrong with the world is caused by those things. The only way to fix what's wrong with the world is to fix your heart. But you can't; you're the one who broke it, and you don't have the strength to fix it on your own. Only God, infinite in love for you despite your brokenness and infinite in power as well, has the strength and the desire to come into the mess you call your life and forgive you. It's quite simple, really. You've messed up - no denying that. You can't make things right - you've spent your whole life trying and haven't been able to stop messing up. So the solution, logically, must lie outside you, with the God who made you.

And as long as there is a humanity, the Bible will still be true. The things that were wrong with people thousands of years ago are still wrong with people today. The only solution for those problems was God thousands of years ago, and is still God today. People still go through their lives chasing wealth and temporary happiness, just like they did in Abraham's day, and now just like then, God is trying to hammer it into our heads that love is more important.

Age has not diluted the Bible's commentary on the human condition; rather the opposite, it has proved the truth of those claims. In the face of this evidence, you have two choices. You can continue to perpetuate the brokenness whose seeds were sown centuries ago, by ignoring what the Bible has to say and trying to do things your own way. Or, you can turn to the God who made humanity, the only one who can and will redeem you so you can transcend the brokenness. Maybe you turned to God long ago but shards of the brokenness are still lodged in your heart; you're angry, you're bitter, you can't forgive, whatever it might be. You should know that God's desire is not merely to save you from hell. It is to complete you, to rid your heart of darkness so that you can be what he truly had in mind when he made humanity. Let him take your sin and brokenness from you, leaving you with only the beauty that he created in the beginning. It's a long process - it takes a lifetime, in fact, but you gain nothing and lose a day if you delay the decision. Why wait any longer?

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