The Book of the Bible AND The Book of Nature AGREE
What we've learned so far or might have learned so far, depending on who you are..
Some of these things I've outlined you know as an obvious fact, some not so obvious. some may seem obvious to some but may not have been so plain to everyone. For instance we've learned that there's a Bible, aptly described as God's love letter to humankind.We've learned that there are devout groups of people of many differing views that believe in this Bible, that it is the very Word of God....
[These are notes from a 15 minute Bible talk given by brother Regan Balman on January 6, 2013.]
We've learned that the Bible has existed for hundreds of years, and some parts for several thousand years, and yet if we paid close attention, we should realize now that this book has not always been available to everyone and in fact only recently was it even in printed form if you look down the entire stream of time - only very recently - so it's a recent opportunity to study it.
Only recently was it even legal to own in many countries, and in some countries it is still a hard to get or banned book, available only under special circumstances.
That is because the God of the Bible, as we have discovered by now, is the God of Israel. He is the Jewish God. He is the Hebrew God.
In many countries Jews are hated, and so the Jewish God all the more so. This was true in ancient times, it was true during world war II, and it holds true today.
They are especially jealous of modern Israel because they excel in so many areas = of technology and medicine, agriculture, politics, art and entertainment.
Their economy is nearly the only ones on earth that is growing at this time, the rest are shrinking.
The fact that this God is written about in Hebrew sets the Bible apart from all other religious writings.
He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who are known from the Bible as the fathers of Israel.
And we have learned that there is something else that sets the Bible apart from other religious teachings - the fact that the God of Creation is One.
There is one single God alone. as it says in Deuteronomy 6:4: "Hear O Israel. Yahweh is our God. Yahweh alone."
So while the hindu religion speaks of thousands of gods, and the buddhist sects speak of no god at all,
the mormons say that we are god, that we started as gods and are on our way back to being god again...
the islamic religion teaches that Allah is god, etc. etc., only the Bible - the Judean Christian Bible, says that God is Yahweh - better known as Jehovah and that He is one single individual alone. This belief in one single God is called mono theism, and is the start of how Jews were set apart from their beginning.
And so we've also learned that there are people who study it and there are people who don't. This applies to groups as well as individuals.
Among catholics for instance it is most common for only the priests to study the religious teachings, which for them include more than just the bible, while the common lay person sitting in the church pews on sunday has little bible study in his or her life, and they rely on the leaders to teach them.
Among us, among Bible students, it is most often true that all do study or have studied somewhat, and in some cases quite a lot. and among the bible student groups, the importance of individual study is always stressed, that we are never to rely on a teacher to tell us what the truth is, but the importance of making the truth your own as we like to say.
And we've learned something about the study of this book. and how to go about studying it.
as it says in II Timothy 2:15 "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
We've learned that the Bible has existed for hundreds of years, and some parts for several thousand years, and yet if we paid close attention, we should realize now that this book has not always been available to everyone and in fact only recently was it even in printed form if you look down the entire stream of time - only very recently - so it's a recent opportunity to study it.
Only recently was it even legal to own in many countries, and in some countries it is still a hard to get or banned book, available only under special circumstances.
That is because the God of the Bible, as we have discovered by now, is the God of Israel. He is the Jewish God. He is the Hebrew God.
In many countries Jews are hated, and so the Jewish God all the more so. This was true in ancient times, it was true during world war II, and it holds true today.
They are especially jealous of modern Israel because they excel in so many areas = of technology and medicine, agriculture, politics, art and entertainment.
Their economy is nearly the only ones on earth that is growing at this time, the rest are shrinking.
The fact that this God is written about in Hebrew sets the Bible apart from all other religious writings.
He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who are known from the Bible as the fathers of Israel.
And we have learned that there is something else that sets the Bible apart from other religious teachings - the fact that the God of Creation is One.
There is one single God alone. as it says in Deuteronomy 6:4: "Hear O Israel. Yahweh is our God. Yahweh alone."
So while the hindu religion speaks of thousands of gods, and the buddhist sects speak of no god at all,
the mormons say that we are god, that we started as gods and are on our way back to being god again...
the islamic religion teaches that Allah is god, etc. etc., only the Bible - the Judean Christian Bible, says that God is Yahweh - better known as Jehovah and that He is one single individual alone. This belief in one single God is called mono theism, and is the start of how Jews were set apart from their beginning.
And so we've also learned that there are people who study it and there are people who don't. This applies to groups as well as individuals.
Among catholics for instance it is most common for only the priests to study the religious teachings, which for them include more than just the bible, while the common lay person sitting in the church pews on sunday has little bible study in his or her life, and they rely on the leaders to teach them.
Among us, among Bible students, it is most often true that all do study or have studied somewhat, and in some cases quite a lot. and among the bible student groups, the importance of individual study is always stressed, that we are never to rely on a teacher to tell us what the truth is, but the importance of making the truth your own as we like to say.
And we've learned something about the study of this book. and how to go about studying it.
as it says in II Timothy 2:15 "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
So we rightly divide by taking the time to look at each chapter and verse and even each word of every sentence to make sure we know what it is teaching us.
And we are learning, or should be learning, and most of us here certainly should know by now the value of knowing the truth of what the bible says, why do we want to learn it?
Because we want to live in a way that's pleasing to God ------and we believe He has our best interests in mind, so then His Bible we believe must contain some good advice for our lives, as it says:
in Psalm 86: 11 Teach me Your way, O Lord, that I may walk and live in Your truth; direct and unite my heart [solely, reverently] to fear and honor Your name.
and there are great rewards with such an attitude of mind and heart, as it says in:
We have learned thus far, in the first chapter of the first volume of the Divine Plan of the Ages, we should study the Bible in a certain way.
we should not simply speculate, or guess. "Well, maybe this is true, or maybe that is the truth, but how can we find out what is the truth?"
If we are sufficiently curious, it won't be enough for our thoughtful minds to simply say as many do:, , "oh there's good in all religions, but one is not better than another. Or as some say, all religions take you to the same place, they just follow a different path getting there"
Instead we should do as the first volume suggests to us - to take a very reasonable, clear and logical method of approach. an orderly, systematic study of the Bible and what it actually says in the first place. THIS should be our starting point, rather than just idle musing, or contenting ourselves just with what others say about it.
It first gives us a good reason to study it. On the surface it makes the claim to be the Word of God, who is the God of Creation.
So It begins with Creation. It starts from the perspective of nature, and it invites us to look around at our natural world, to study the plants and animals, and the history of those things. It speaks the start of the sea creatures, land creatures and birds and then mankind.
And what do we find when we look at nature? A perfect order of information and symmetry. Which is grand and sublime evidence of there being a God. Enough evidence to convince us that we are warranted in looking further for more, because the natural evidence has invited us to look for some more revelation, some other information, some letter or some book of secrets that sheds light on just who this Creator must be and what are His plans for the work of His hands - what are his plans for us?
Soooo, if we are honest with ourselves, and sufficiently hungry for knowledge, we will not be satisfied with anything less than the truth.
And so much of what we have learned so far is simply - how to search. We started at the beginning - "In the beginning" as it says in Genesis, and we work our way forward one verse at a time and study it, until we know more about the creator of our world as revealed in the Bible.
Ultimately In this way we hope to reach what is the grandest, most sublime, most elevated goal that any human being can or could ever aspire to, to know the creator, to know God, even to be one with the creator.
And if we have been paying attention, we've learned that there is a reward for engaging in this activity. Many rewards, blessings too many to count.
This comes from a study of the Bible, especially our weekly, or bi-weekly gatherings. Let's look at just some of the blessings of our meetings so far in one year.
First, the food is wonderful. Has anyone not noticed or not often thought as I have that if only the whole world could eat the way we do at our meetings there would certainly be no hunger. And it is delicious, from the snacks to the meals to the deserts, wonderful things.
More wonderful still is the gathering of friends, meeting each other, the warm smiles and hugs, the well wishes, the concern of our friends one for another.
The songs we share whether we sing aloud or just read the words, it is a special and unique blessing to be a part of people singing praise to God.
Still more grand and wonderful is the knowledge we obtain from our studies, and the act of sharing it between ourselves is a sharpening tool in the hands of God on the hard characters each of us possess.
Special conversations, certain appropriate words of knowledge or encouragement, can be shared from one to another, privately or in a group, and our very words can also be used by God for his purposes in shaping the lives of others.
And most grand of all, how wonderful it is to know, that these gatherings are the Lord's own personal preferred activity for His people, arranged especially for our lives, to benefit our lives, to bless our hearts, to grow our brains, to sharpen us, to shape our characters in a way that is Godward. Not downward, the way the world lives - but upward, toward living lives that God can use to bless others, --- first by us being blessed by His word, the Bible - as it says again in Psalms 19 verses 7 through 11 we read of this reward: This is what it can do for us:
Lastly what is greater, grander and more sublime than any other thing, in our meetings - is that they are sanctified and blessed by the one greatest act we can engage in, the greatest power that any human being can weild on earth - - which is prayer.
You've no doubt heard the phrase, "the power of prayer" perhaps too many times, because usually this is spoken by those who want to sell you something.
They miss the point entirely that the greatest power in prayer is that communion with God Himself - which is again, His will for each and every person on earth.
He wants us to be in a personal one on one relationship with Him, and that is the grandest, greatest most sublime honor and privilege than a person can receive.
To receive the invitation to faith in this God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob is to be invited to pray the way they did - the same way Moses did when he led the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt - God wants to lead us individually out of the slavery of mind and spirit that our former negative selves were mired in, and to go up to the figurative mount Sinai - where God spoke to Moses - and to talk to God, not from a high peak in the wilderness literally, but figuratively, to go to a special private place in our hearts and minds and talk to God in our bedrooms, in our closets, in private - one to one.
And we are learning, or should be learning, and most of us here certainly should know by now the value of knowing the truth of what the bible says, why do we want to learn it?
Because we want to live in a way that's pleasing to God ------and we believe He has our best interests in mind, so then His Bible we believe must contain some good advice for our lives, as it says:
in Psalm 86: 11 Teach me Your way, O Lord, that I may walk and live in Your truth; direct and unite my heart [solely, reverently] to fear and honor Your name.
and there are great rewards with such an attitude of mind and heart, as it says in:
| Pro 16:16 | How much better 2896 [is it] to get 7069 wisdom 2451 than gold 2742! and to get 7069 understanding 998 rather to be chosen 977 than silver 3701! |
| Eze 28:4 | With thy wisdom 2451 and with thine understanding 8394 thou hast gotten 6213 thee riches 2428, and hast gotten 6213 gold 2091 and silver 3701 into thy treasures 214: |
We have learned thus far, in the first chapter of the first volume of the Divine Plan of the Ages, we should study the Bible in a certain way.
we should not simply speculate, or guess. "Well, maybe this is true, or maybe that is the truth, but how can we find out what is the truth?"
If we are sufficiently curious, it won't be enough for our thoughtful minds to simply say as many do:, , "oh there's good in all religions, but one is not better than another. Or as some say, all religions take you to the same place, they just follow a different path getting there"
Instead we should do as the first volume suggests to us - to take a very reasonable, clear and logical method of approach. an orderly, systematic study of the Bible and what it actually says in the first place. THIS should be our starting point, rather than just idle musing, or contenting ourselves just with what others say about it.
It first gives us a good reason to study it. On the surface it makes the claim to be the Word of God, who is the God of Creation.
So It begins with Creation. It starts from the perspective of nature, and it invites us to look around at our natural world, to study the plants and animals, and the history of those things. It speaks the start of the sea creatures, land creatures and birds and then mankind. It begs us to look into our natural world and compare what we know of it to what the bible itself says about the science behind what we know, and then ask yourself, does it fit.
In the end, if we look at it objectively, reasonably, very scientifically, we find that the God of the Bible is also the God of nature.
It turns out or the claim has been made, He has written two wonderful books: The book of the bible, and the book of nature, and if are to prove the one, it must agree with what we know is true about the other. If not, then we have a problem, either an error in our reading of the bible, or an error in our understanding of the natural sciences, for they must agree if the bible is truly the word of God.
So we're asked by the Bible itself to look at the sky, look at the weather, look at the seasons, look at the stars, and ask ourselves if this is not evidence of the widsom of a grand Creator of the universe. And yes, the natural world around us speaks of God, as it says: in Psalms 19:
In the end, if we look at it objectively, reasonably, very scientifically, we find that the God of the Bible is also the God of nature.
It turns out or the claim has been made, He has written two wonderful books: The book of the bible, and the book of nature, and if are to prove the one, it must agree with what we know is true about the other. If not, then we have a problem, either an error in our reading of the bible, or an error in our understanding of the natural sciences, for they must agree if the bible is truly the word of God.
So we're asked by the Bible itself to look at the sky, look at the weather, look at the seasons, look at the stars, and ask ourselves if this is not evidence of the widsom of a grand Creator of the universe. And yes, the natural world around us speaks of God, as it says: in Psalms 19:
And what do we find when we look at nature? A perfect order of information and symmetry. Which is grand and sublime evidence of there being a God. Enough evidence to convince us that we are warranted in looking further for more, because the natural evidence has invited us to look for some more revelation, some other information, some letter or some book of secrets that sheds light on just who this Creator must be and what are His plans for the work of His hands - what are his plans for us?
Soooo, if we are honest with ourselves, and sufficiently hungry for knowledge, we will not be satisfied with anything less than the truth.
And so much of what we have learned so far is simply - how to search. We started at the beginning - "In the beginning" as it says in Genesis, and we work our way forward one verse at a time and study it, until we know more about the creator of our world as revealed in the Bible.
Ultimately In this way we hope to reach what is the grandest, most sublime, most elevated goal that any human being can or could ever aspire to, to know the creator, to know God, even to be one with the creator.
And if we have been paying attention, we've learned that there is a reward for engaging in this activity. Many rewards, blessings too many to count.
This comes from a study of the Bible, especially our weekly, or bi-weekly gatherings. Let's look at just some of the blessings of our meetings so far in one year.
First, the food is wonderful. Has anyone not noticed or not often thought as I have that if only the whole world could eat the way we do at our meetings there would certainly be no hunger. And it is delicious, from the snacks to the meals to the deserts, wonderful things.
More wonderful still is the gathering of friends, meeting each other, the warm smiles and hugs, the well wishes, the concern of our friends one for another.
The songs we share whether we sing aloud or just read the words, it is a special and unique blessing to be a part of people singing praise to God.
Still more grand and wonderful is the knowledge we obtain from our studies, and the act of sharing it between ourselves is a sharpening tool in the hands of God on the hard characters each of us possess.
Special conversations, certain appropriate words of knowledge or encouragement, can be shared from one to another, privately or in a group, and our very words can also be used by God for his purposes in shaping the lives of others.
And most grand of all, how wonderful it is to know, that these gatherings are the Lord's own personal preferred activity for His people, arranged especially for our lives, to benefit our lives, to bless our hearts, to grow our brains, to sharpen us, to shape our characters in a way that is Godward. Not downward, the way the world lives - but upward, toward living lives that God can use to bless others, --- first by us being blessed by His word, the Bible - as it says again in Psalms 19 verses 7 through 11 we read of this reward: This is what it can do for us:
| The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. |
| The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous. |
| They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. |
| By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. |
Lastly what is greater, grander and more sublime than any other thing, in our meetings - is that they are sanctified and blessed by the one greatest act we can engage in, the greatest power that any human being can weild on earth - - which is prayer.
You've no doubt heard the phrase, "the power of prayer" perhaps too many times, because usually this is spoken by those who want to sell you something.
They want you to believe that you should pray for yourself to be healed of illness, or to be blessed with money and possessions and things.
They miss the point entirely that the greatest power in prayer is that communion with God Himself - which is again, His will for each and every person on earth.
He wants us to be in a personal one on one relationship with Him, and that is the grandest, greatest most sublime honor and privilege than a person can receive.
To receive the invitation to faith in this God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob is to be invited to pray the way they did - the same way Moses did when he led the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt - God wants to lead us individually out of the slavery of mind and spirit that our former negative selves were mired in, and to go up to the figurative mount Sinai - where God spoke to Moses - and to talk to God, not from a high peak in the wilderness literally, but figuratively, to go to a special private place in our hearts and minds and talk to God in our bedrooms, in our closets, in private - one to one.
This is God's will for us, to commune with Him.
And finally, the one MOST IMPORTANT thing of all that we've learned in our studies so far, is that it has been God's plan, God's will, God's method, to center His entire plan around one single individual from among His creation. He first created "the Logos" - Christ as a powerful archangel - and together, God and the Logos were two special friends - alone in the universe - and through the active willing help of that Logos the archangel, using only him, God did create our world and everything and every one in it.
So now, if we've paid attention, we should know that there are two chief actors in the creation of the universe and of mankind and the maintaining of our world:
First is The One God - Yahweh, who alone is Most High over all the earth, and second is His Son, the logos, the One that He has seen fit to choose a special chief servant to create, to bless and ultimately to save all mankind, as we read in I Timothy 2:5 and 6
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
And finally, the one MOST IMPORTANT thing of all that we've learned in our studies so far, is that it has been God's plan, God's will, God's method, to center His entire plan around one single individual from among His creation. He first created "the Logos" - Christ as a powerful archangel - and together, God and the Logos were two special friends - alone in the universe - and through the active willing help of that Logos the archangel, using only him, God did create our world and everything and every one in it.
So now, if we've paid attention, we should know that there are two chief actors in the creation of the universe and of mankind and the maintaining of our world:
First is The One God - Yahweh, who alone is Most High over all the earth, and second is His Son, the logos, the One that He has seen fit to choose a special chief servant to create, to bless and ultimately to save all mankind, as we read in I Timothy 2:5 and 6
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
We are learning that he is also the savior of all mankind lifting us up from the fall experienced by our first parents, and will in due time raise us all up again from sin and death to a perfect human life and a perfect knowledge of God and His Son - As we continue to study, God willing, we will discover more and more about this chief character in the center of God's creation.These are just some of the things that we might know, or perhaps should know after one year studying together, though many more details could be brought forth. And may the Lord forgive anything said incorrectly. And may He add His blessing to us all.
for my girls...
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