Thus says the Lord: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.
But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'" --Jeremiah 6:16

 

19 July, 2006   comments: (0) Back To The Bible   Atheist: "Why Can't I Understand The Bible?" A reader by the name of Andri wrote-in yesterday, to ask whether it's possible for someone who considers himself to be an atheist, to understand the scriptures. Andri says that he does not believe in God, but has been learning many valuable lessons from the bible, ever since childhood. He visits Old Truth wondering why Christians keep telling him that he can't understand the bible simply because he's an unbeliever. He writes: [Dear Old Truth]: I want to address something that I have personally encountered. While I happen to be an atheist, I have read the bible myself a few times (there's always a generous member of the Gideon's foundation ready to offer me a King James bible), and I have tried to read it with various different frameworks of mind. The issue I want to address is the fact that although I have attempted to understand the bible as a Christian person would (I have attempted to discourse and listen to Christian interpretations to further understand it), I happen to still be an atheist. Now, since I haven't yet converted to Christianity, I have been accused of misunderstanding or not fully understanding the true meaning of the scripture that I read. I would also like to point out that even as a child I found many valuable lessons in the bible although I never chose to be a religious person myself. In fact I still believe there is no such thing as a supreme being, and not just in the sense of the Christian God. Despite this, I found many profound statements within the bible that I could live my life by, and have attempted to do. I have also heard some of the statements repeated by other religions, some of the statements being recorded earlier than the ones recorded in the bible. I simply do not believe all of them them exclusive to Christianity. Instead I believe them to be inclusive of humanity. Yet, even those parts of the bible I have been accused of not fully understanding, since I do not ascribe to using faith as a moral compass (which is not saying I do not have one). So I ask... is an educated unbeliever still entirely wrong, merely because he doesn't believe, while an uneducated Christian is right but unable to explain it, just because he does? --Andri M. Dear Andri: To some extent, you and the Christians are both right about the bible. There are lots of things that can be learned from the bible by unbelievers, in terms of history and even some moral lessons. And you are right to question some of the interpretations by "uneducated Christians", as you spoke of in your last sentence. Bernard Ramm wrote a whole book on how to interpret the bible properly, and he expressed similar sentiments when he said: "Relying on the Spirit is no substitute for learning to rightly interpret God's Word. Sadly, it must be conceded that an ignorant Christian is no match for a learned unbeliever. Reliance upon the Spirit must always be in conjunction with the best possible procedures of exegesis." As Ramm suggests, today's Christians often think that because they have the Holy Spirit (through conversion) that they will magically be able to determine a meaning for any scripture, perhaps through prayer or through some mystical inner prompting. This is simply untrue however, and even for Christians, learning the bible requires hard work and effort. So, I'm with you, up to that point Andri. But here's where the Christians that you've spoken to - begin to have a point. The true meaning of so many of the most important things in scripture can not be fully understood by unbelievers. The bible itself tells us this: "Now we [true believers] have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person [unbeliever] does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 'For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?' But we have the mind of Christ." (1 Corinthians 2:12-14 - [words in brackets are mine]) The Holy Spirit helps true believers to understand the scriptures, in a way that only true believers can. From the moment that I was converted at age seventeen, I began to see things in the bible that I had never seen before. It's not that they weren't there before, it's just that something had changed. And you will hear of many Christian testimonies that are just like that. Speaking of conversion, I want to address something else that you said. I'm not quite sure what you meant by "since I haven't yet converted to Christianity", but since there is a lot of modern error surrounding the idea of conversion, I thought I would address this. You see, being converted is not something that you decide to do, and then it happens. The truth is, God must make you Born Again ("born from above"); it's something that He does. Now if that's something that you really want, then it's likely the result of the Holy Spirit working in you. Since I don't know you, I have no idea of what you understand about your sin and the reality of Heaven and Hell. But I would encourage you to consider these remarks from the 19th century preacher C.H. Spurgeon, as he often addressed the unconverted: 'Before you leave this place breathe an earnest prayer to God, saying, 'God be merciful to me a sinner. Lord, I need to be saved. Save me. I call upon Thy name....Lord, I am guilty, I deserve Thy wrath. Lord, I cannot save myself. Lord, I would have a new heart and a right spirit, but what can I do? Lord, I can do nothing, come and work in me to do of Thy good pleasure. Thou alone hast power, I know To save a wretch like me; To whom, or whither should I go If I should run from Thee? But I now do from my very soul call upon Thy name. Trembling, yet believing, I cast myself wholly upon Thee, O Lord. I trust the blood and righteousness of Thy dear Son.... Lord, save me tonight, for Jesus' sake.' ' 'Go home alone trusting in Jesus. 'I should like to go into the enquiry-room.' I dare say you would, but we are not willing to pander to popular superstition. We fear that in those rooms men are warmed into a fictitious confidence. Very few of the supposed converts of enquiry-rooms turn out well. Go to your God at once, even where you now are. Cast yourself on Christ, at once, ere you stir an inch!' Thank you for writing Andri, please feel free to post any follow-up questions that you might have below. Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.331   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism