"IT'S
like wallpaper paste," she muttered.
"It's semolina," I told my daughter.
"Salmonella," retorted her older brother, "that's
food poisoning."
"Well I don't like it," she said. "But
you haven't tasted it," I reasoned.
"I haven't tasted it," she replied, "because
I don't like it."
We laugh at childish reasoning to unsampled food. Yet
our attitudes as grown ups are not very different. So
many people adopt exactly the same attitude to the Bible.
They do not believe it so they haven't read it!
This book asks you to be fair. It asks you to set aside
preconceived notions. It asks you to give the Bible a
"hearing".
It is not the intention of this book to "defend"
the Bible. We shall not present proof for its reliability
and accuracy, for two reasons. One is that other books
do that and do it very well. The second is that you do
not defend a tiger. A tiger speaks for itself. The Bible
claims to be the word of God. It too speaks for itself.
The object of this book, then, is first to urge you to
open the Bible. It asks you to take a look, or another
look, at what it says. Sample it. Become more familiar
with it.
Some years ago there was a series of talks locally about
the Bible. Several people came and asked if the series
could deal with the contents of the Bible. They had read
the gospels often enough. They Were familiar with some
of the other well known stories too. Yet they did not
feel that they knew the book as a whole.
"Tell us about some of these more obscure books,"
they said. "What are they about?" "Give
us a summary so that we can see what the Bible is saying."
"We want to know where its teaching leads."
So that was what we did. The
first section of this book is going to do that too.
Then it will examine very briefly some of the reasons
people give for not reading it. "It's full of contradictions,"
they say. "It's not reliable:" "It's
out of date:" "It's too long. I don't have
time."
Some of these complaints must receive attention, but
later. We would not dream of criticising the works of
Shakespeare if we had not first read them. Nor would
we accept the opinion of anyone else who hadn't studied
his subject first.
We shall therefore concentrate on getting a good general
picture of the Bible. Then we shall be in a better position
to evaluate its claims.
The Bible is the only surviving history book about the
life and work of Jesus Christ. It is the only source
of information about the Son of God.
For this reason the second part of this book is about
the Lord Jesus Christ. No other single person has made
such a mark on history as Jesus. He is unique. He is
not the far-removed figure of stained glass. Neither
is he party to a "live and let live" society
where anything goes. Jesus was a real man, yet he is
the glory of God. His devotion to the standards and
will of his Father have won him a place at God's right
hand.
The simple Bible truth concerning the Lord can help
us to find ourselves. Stripped of its mystique and the
fables of many years it can help us identify with him.
It can give peace of mind for the present and firm hope
for the future.
The Bible is also the only book which offers an escape
route from death. There is scarcely nothing that men
and women will not do to save life. Yet in the Bible
the issues of life and death are fully explained - and
largely ignored.
That is why our third section looks at You. It examines
some of today's values and attitudes. It suggests that
we should take a long hard look at our priorities in
the light of the Bible's teaching. The word of God and
the life of Jesus demand that we rethink, and perhaps
restructure, our lives.
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