Bible Myths?

I was trying to figure out what to post for my next blog entry when I read about the newest controversy in the Christian circle. Maybe you’ve heard about the blog that Michael Gungor posted about his beliefs about the Bible, and more specifically, Creationism. If you want to read for yourself what the commotion is all about, you can read it here at this link.

As a Christian and a musician, I felt it was important to address what Michael Gungor says on the subject of the Bible. I am a fan of his music myself. I sing one of his songs “Beautiful Things” during my performances.

That may change now with the new findings. I don’t want people to think I agree with this fellow’s Christian beliefs. I don’t understand how he can sing,” You make beautiful things out of the dust”, when he doesn’t even believe it. God made Adam from the dust of the earth.

Gungor, or any other Christian, can believe whatever he wants according to his own conscience.

But if you are in the public view in any fashion, you have a responsibility to be an example to those who are looking up to you. Whether you like it or not, you are a leader if you are up on the stage performing.

If you are a Christian, you are still responsible for being a good witness for the Lord Jesus Christ you serve. Forget those basketball players who make statements that they aren’t role models. Like it or not, they are either a good role model or a poor one.

With that being said, I have a problem with the manner in which Gungor expressed his beliefs.

He was making fun of Christians who believe in the Genesis account. He used humanism to defend his position  instead of the Bible. He called the Bible a bunch of mythical stories. He was arrogant and disrespectful in the way he defended his position. He came across to me as someone who didn’t read his Bible or study the Bible for himself. He made inaccurate statements about the Bible.

I’m sorry, but whoever his pastor should hold him accountable for his words and actions. His target audience is young people. The last thing you want to do is create doubt in young people’s mind about whether we can trust the Bible. They have a hard time in that stage of life discerning truth.

Churches are canceling their shows because they probably don’t want a Christian band planting seeds into their congregation’s mind that the Bible can’t be trusted. At least keep your mouth shut because you are not helping the cause of Christ.

If you want to talk about your beliefs, do it in a respectful manner.

Actually research the subject yourself instead of listening to what the media, or Facebook, or Oprah tells you is the truth. Since when is the world our final authority? Christianity is from the Bible. Jesus dying on the cross for our sins, heaven, forgiveness, and grace are from the Bible.

You can’t have a cafeteria style kind of Christianity that chooses which parts of the Bible are true.  Either you believe the Bible is the Word of God, or you don’t.

It doesn’t mean you understand everything in the Bible. It doesn’t mean you have to like everything in the Bible. Most of the critics  claiming the Bible isn’t true have not read the Bible or studied the Bible for himself/herself.

So I say to you, start reading and studying your Bible!

Discover truths for yourself. Know why you believe what you believe. Start memorizing verses. Have an answer for those that ask questions about your faith. Don’t quote unbiblical sources. Use Scripture.

So back to what Michael Gungor believes, I don’t agree with his beliefs, obviously. I am a creationist, and I don’t apologize for that. I believe in the inerrancy of Scripture. I have a Bible college degree and I have had the opportunity to study Scripture and biblical theology in depth. I still read and study the Bible on a regular basis. I can defend what I believe with Scripture and logic.

I don’t appreciate Gungor saying that no “reasonable person” takes the Bible literally. There are plenty of scientists that do. He is insulting those of us who are educated and believe in a God who created man and this world in 6 days. Yes, I also believe in the account of the worldwide flood in Genesis. Is it a pleasant thing to think about? No, but God said it happened. Moses parting the Red Sea. Joshua and the Walls of Jericho. The Birth of Christ. The Healing of the Sick. Raising Lazarus from the dead. Jesus dying on the cross. Jesus risen from the dead on the third day.

Picking and choosing which parts of the Bible you are going to accept is a slippery slope.

If you don’t believe the Genesis account of creation, then why would you believe in Jesus and his death, burial and resurrection? I admit, I don’t understand everything in the Bible. There are some difficult passage of Scriptures. There are some unpleasant parts of the Bible. But that doesn’t mean we lump everything together as myths.

If you don’t believe in the Word of God as truth, then you might as well give up on Christianity all together. Go find another religion that is formed from man made rules, salvation by works, and gods made out of gold or bronze. Otherwise, seek God and ask Him to show you the truths in His Word. Get in that Bible and start studying. There lots of resources out there to help you.

Gungor says that the Bible says the world was flat.

That is incorrect. The Bible says in Isaiah 40:22,” The Lord sits upon the circle of the earth.” Columbus sailed around the world because he believed what the Bible said. The rest of the explorers in his day were afraid of falling off the earth. Job 26:10 speaks of the circular horizon on the face of the waters. Science believed in bloodletting as a medical practice. The Bible says that the life of the flesh is in the blood.

My husband and I don’t agree on some things in Genesis and in Revelation. I won’t get into that with you here. But the point is, he has enough sense to have Scripture to support his position. “What about this verse? This is why I believe this way.” He doesn’t quote a scientist, or secular humanists, or any other worldly source. He reads his Bible, and the Lord speaks to him.

We discuss things we disagree on and maybe we can learn something from each other. At minimum, we can see where the other person is coming from. It is done with respect and love. Are we going to change each other’s minds? Probably not. That isn’t the point. We are both seeking the Lord and the truth from His Word.

Some things to keep in mind:

Jesus and the apostles quoted from Genesis, and mentioned people in the Old Testament. If you don’t believe Jesus, then who are you going to believe?

The lineage of Jesus Christ is mentioned in both Gospels all the way back to Adam. These are real people in the lineage, not make believe.

One of the laws of thermodynamics states that when you make a copy of something, such as reproduction, you lose information. The law of entropy says the world is in a constant state of decay. Things don’t get better, They get worse. That is a scientific fact.

If you want to have a conversation about these things with me, I will be glad to share with you what I’ve learned. I used to be an evolutionist, and then studied creationism as an adult. Like I said, I don’t tolerate anyone being disrespectful.

If you want to explore on your own, Answers in Genesis is a great resource to use when studying the authority of the Bible, Creationism, Noah, and any other Biblical subject. They have done real research on these matters. Check out their website and their response to Gungor here.

They have invited Gungor to come to the Creation Museum, offering free lodging, free tickets to the museum and a question and answer session with Phd scientists who are Creationists. I hope they take the generous offer. I would. If you haven’t really researched creationism vs evolution for real, then you don’t really have a leg to stand on when debating someone on the subject.