Doubt Is In The Valley

I recently had a conversation with a friend that struck my interest on how to “argue” a point on which he is showing extreme doubt. When someone doubts something, I have to wonder if it’s because of lack of knowledge, fear of acceptance or (to put it bluntly) just an excuse (to which the next question becomes an excuse of what?). I have been a believer since 1997; granted, I have had my own ups and downs in my walk with Christ, I have always known that He existed. I never questioned whether or not “God” was really there. To hear in my friends conversation an acknowledgment of His existence, that He did in fact create us, and the world we live in makes this conversation that much harder to understand for me. He argued points like, “how can we really know the bible is truth if man wrote it? even if God told them to, man still wrote it?” This got me questioning how to prove this to someone. For me, I just accepted it as God’s word and didn’t ask questions…  It’s important that we make a decision one way or another for God says clearly,

“So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.” – Revelation 3:16

A second issue is the issue of the translations. I took a scripture and looked up three different translations. Even though numerous translations exist, they don’t stray far from each other. The three verses listed above are extremely similar in wording; however, the base of the verses are still the same.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” – John 1:1 (New Living Translation)

“The Word was first, the Word present to God, God present to the Word. The Word was God, in readiness for God from day one.” John 1-2 (The Message)

“¹IN THE beginning [before all time] was the Word (^[a]Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ^[b]Himself.^(A)” – John 1:1* (Amplified Bible)

*Here are the footnotes with this translation:

An aspect to consider on the accuracy of what scripture says [even though technically written by man] would be the amount of prophecy that has been exclaimed and then came 100% true! After doing some research, I came across this paragraph which was amazing:

A major portion of both the Old and New Testament is devoted to prophecy- nearly one third of the Scripture. Only four of the 66 books of the Bible are without prophecy-Ruth, the Song of Solomon, Philemon, and 3 John. Even the shortest book of the Bible mentions prophecy (Jude 14, 17-18, which refers to Enoch and the second coming of the Lord). Out of the Old Testament’s 23,210 verses, 6,641 contain predictive material, over twenty eight percent. Out of the New Testament’s 7,914 verses, 1,711 contain predictive material, over 21 percent.

There are lots of examples of prophecy! Please keep in mind these are only excerpts from the Bible, for the entire story, the entire chapter would need to be read. In Deutoronomy, ¹⁵ Moses continued, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. ¹⁶ For this is what you yourselves requested of the Lord your God when you were assembled at Mount Sinai.^[b] You said, ‘Don’t let us hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore or see this blazing fire, for we will die.’

¹⁷ “Then the Lord said to me, ‘What they have said is right. ¹⁸ I will raise up a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell the people everything I command him. ¹⁹ I will personally deal with anyone who will not listen to the messages the prophet proclaims on my behalf. ²⁰ But any prophet who falsely claims to speak in my name or who speaks in the name of another god must die.’

²¹ “But you may wonder, ‘How will we know whether or not a prophecy is from the Lord?’ ²² If the prophet speaks in the Lord’s name but his prediction does not happen or come true, you will know that the Lord did not give that message. That prophet has spoken without my authority and need not be feared.”

Biblical Prophecy: Daniel 9:25 (from allabouttruth.org)
A most compelling Biblical Prophecy is found in Daniel, chapter 9, verse 25. Written 500 years before the birth of Jesus Christ (the oldest preserved copy dating 200 years before the birth of Christ), it foretells the very day Christ would enter Jerusalem. The prophecy states: 69 weeks of years (69 x 7 = 483 years) would pass from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem, until the coming of the Messiah. This is according to the Babylonian 360-day calendar, since Daniel was written in Babylon during the Jewish captivity after the fall of Jerusalem. Thus, 483 years x 360 days = 173,880 days. According to records found by Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson in the Shushan (Susa) Palace, and confirmed in Nehemiah 2:1, this decree was made on March 14th, 445 BC, by Artaxerxes Longimanus. Exactly 173,880 days later, on April 6th, 32 AD, Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem upon a colt (fulfilling the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9). The world celebrates this day as Palm Sunday. Four days later, Christ was murdered upon the cross. Actually, the form of His execution and even His last words were foretold in Psalm 22. Three days later, Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday, fulfilling numerous other prophecies of our Messiah.

A scientist picked out 48 prophecies and determined that the probability of one man randomly fulfilling them all is 1 in 10 to the exponent of 157. That is one followed by 157 zeros! Your chances of winning a typical lottery jackpot is about 1 in 108. (100,000,000) Yet, Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies! (Note: I did not put this chart together, I found it)

God’s word is truthful. God’s word is full of promises. I can’t make a decision for someone, but perhaps I can help “prove” it to them.  For me, the Word of God (the Bible), is my blueprints for life. It shows me what to do, what not to do, how to act with people, how to pray, what to expect in this world and in heaven, what is expected of us, the church, how to obtain salvation and what to expect in the end times. It’s a map that is drawn out so clearly (most of the time) and yet so many people want to repel it instead of embracing it. They wonder why life is so hard and yet answers are right in front of them.

(P.S. 2 Peter 1:20-21: ²⁰But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, ²¹for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”)