The title of this Reflection is a question I've been asked. Years ago, I often said: "The Bible is the basis for my faith." But my answer has changed. Now I joyfully say, "The empty tomb where Jesus was buried is the basis for my faith."
What's the difference? To answer that, I'll use the Protestant version of the King James Bible.
This version of the KJV Bible (printed around 1885) has 66 books, 1,189 chapters, 31,102 verses, and 788,258 words in the text. It contains stories and narratives that relate information such as numbers of people killed in numerous battles, lists of kings, priests, and prophets, and genealogies of various people.
But that information, and a lot more, is based on various dating and numbering methods. For example: some cultures listed the second year of the king's reign as the first year, simply because some kings were killed before the first year was complete. Sometimes the second year of a baby's life was counted as its first because first-year mortality was rampant. Sometimes, a king and a co-regent reigned simultaneously, yet their individual reigns seem to be listed consecutively.
Various versions of the Bible -- even various KJ versions -- have different word and verse counts. Other things are documented differently, depending on the original ethnic scribes or subsequent translators.
All of that, plus more, give people opportunities to call the Bible wrong -- therefore, impugning the integrity of the Bible -- which, consequently, tends to impugn the integrity of those of us who believe the Holy Bible.
Therefore, I don't say the Bible is the basis for my faith any longer because detractors, skeptics, agnostics, atheists and adherents of other religions think they have grounds to prove the Bible wrong.
I now call the empty tomb the basis for my faith. That means Jesus rose from the dead. How can you argue against a person who predicted that he would die, how he would die, by whose promptings he would die, and by whose hands he would die, and that he would come back to life in three days -- and it all come true? Are you going to call him a liar? Not me; especially since it was also predicted centuries earlier by others.
How can a person debate that? Jesus either rose from the dead, or he didn't. It isn't "The Bible" I have to believe -- it is eye-witnesses I believe. Witnesses such as Matthew, Peter, John, and others who documented their observations. They had no intention or hope of having their writings to be available for people to read centuries later. Because their observations and stories were found to be authentic, they were incorporated into a group of books that became the Holy Bible.
Merriam-Webster defines the word bible as: a publication that is preeminent especially in authoritativeness or wide readership. Many bibles abound: such as the Machinists' Bible, Deer Hunters' Bible, Flower Gardener's Bible, the Holy Bible and many more.
But I don't blindly accept the Holy Bible. We can believe it or we don't have to believe it; but there isn't much sense in arguing over it. It's a matter of faith. But faith goes both ways: you either have faith to believe Jesus rose from the dead, or you have faith that he didn't rise from the dead.
The historicity of Jesus living and dying has been proven by non-biblical sources, so that is not the issue. His raising from the dead is the issue.
The topic of Jesus' rising from the dead has been found by archeologists in Roman documents because it was a political concern for the Emperors. Therefore, it is worth our time discussing it, but not arguing over it.
Everyone on earth has a basis for his or her faith. Some of my friends in the scientific arena declare that science is the basis for their faith. Others declare various religions as the basis for their faith. But when they are pushed for answers that they don't have, all they can do is shrug their shoulders. When I am pushed for answers, I back up to the empty tomb that has been verified by eye-witnesses.
If you have a problem with that, please tell me what is your proof that Charlemagne, Mohammad, or Plato lived. I hope you base your answer on certifiable eye-witnesses.
Not only does the empty tomb provide me with answers for this life, it substantiates my faith for eternal life.
--GENE LINZEY IS A SPEAKER, AUTHOR, AND MENTOR. SEND COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS TO [email protected]. THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR.
Obits on 08/14/2019