The Present Truth, vol. 14
August 25, 1898
“Believing the Word of God” The Present Truth 14, 34, p. 537.
ONE of the leading preachers of the United States has published a book on the “puzzling” books of the Bible, of which he has found seven. This book is written not so much to tell how puzzling these Bible books are to him, nor why their puzzling to him, as it is to make it appear to other people that these Bible books are puzzling books to them. Another thing that may be noted is that in this book he has dealt only with the books—old books—that are puzzling to him, and therefore, as a matter of course, are, or ought to be, puzzling to everybody else; he has not touched the particular passages or verses of the Bible, outside of the special books, which are puzzling. PTUK August 25, 1898, page 537.1
But why should even a preacher think that because certain books of the Bible are puzzling to him, this fact can be of so much importance to other people as to call for the publication of a book on it? Does it certainly follow that because something is puzzling to him, it must be puzzling to everybody else—especially as soon as it is known that it is puzzling to him? PTUK August 25, 1898, page 537.2
Now the only possible way that any book, or any passage, of the Bible can be puzzling to anybody, is by his not believing it. And there are many things, even outside of the Bible, that puzzling to the person who does not believe them. The A B C’s are exceedingly puzzling to any man who does not believe them. And neither the Bible, nor any book or passage in the Bible, is any more puzzling to the person who believes it, than are the A B C’s to the person who believes them. PTUK August 25, 1898, page 537.3
But that is just the trouble with all these “critics,”—they do not believe the Bible, they do not accept it as the word of God. They are critics of the word of God, not believers of the word of God. They do not receive the word of God for what “it is in truth, the word of God.” They hold it off, and criticize it, and puzzle over it; and so it can not work effectually in them, because they do not believe it. PTUK August 25, 1898, page 537.4
That they do not accept it as the word of God, even when they believe it to be true, is clear from this: Ever since 677 B.C. the Bible has said that “the captains of the host of the king of Assyria took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.” One of the critics have said that until lately “this passage have always been a stumbling-block to the critics.” And the only means by which it was ever a stumbling-block to the critics was solely because they did not believe it. PTUK August 25, 1898, page 537.5
The stumbling-block that they found in this passage was in that it says that the Assyrians brought Manasseh to Babylon; while it was known that Nineveh was the capital of the kingdom of Assyria. The critics thought that it should have said that they brought Manasseh to Nineveh; and because it did not say what they thought, it was a stumbling-block. PTUK August 25, 1898, page 537.6
But what caused this passage to cease to be a stumbling-block?—Why, the records of Esar-haddon, who was then king of Assyria, were discovered; and these records told that Babylon was subdued and possessed by Assyria, and that Babylon was his residence in those years. PTUK August 25, 1898, page 537.7
But now the point,—they did not believe, before, that the passage told the truth, and of course did not believe it to be the word of God. Now, however, they admit that the passage tells, and always did tell, the exact truth; but why do they believe this now?—Not because it is the Word of God, but only because of what Esar-haddon said. If they had not yet found these words of Esar-haddon, or others to the same effect, they would not yet believe that the passage tells the truth; it would still be to them a stumbling-block. Therefore, as they believed it now only on the authority of Esar-haddon, and not on the authority of God, it is perfectly plain that though they now believe it to be true, they do not so believe it because it is the word of God. The authority which they accept rest upon for the truth of the passage is the authority of a man, not of God. PTUK August 25, 1898, page 537.8
And whoever accepts the Word of God on the authority of a man, has only the word of the man; to him the Word of God is only the word of the man: the word of the man is put above the Word of God; the man is put in the place of God. PTUK August 25, 1898, page 537.9
To the person who accepts the Bible as the Word of God, that passage never was, and never could be, a stumbling-block. It was the truth. And it was the truth because it was the Word of God. True, he might not be able to explain it to the critics, or even to himself; nevertheless, he knew that it was the truth; and he rested there. And now he is no more sure of the truth of that passage than he was before. Now he knows exactly how it was done; but that it was done, he knew as well before as now or ever, because he had the word of God for it, and “the Word of our God shall stand forever.” PTUK August 25, 1898, page 537.10
A. T. JONES.