Today's Bible Study, Authored by Arthur Cincotti. 02/27/2022
Listen to our Bible Study Discussion at: His Story Podcast
His-Story
“I will be their God,
and they shall be My people.” Jer. 31:33
The Christian faith is
the saga of a people in search of their God, while, at the same time God is
wooing them unto Himself. The Scriptures begin and end with a wedding. Gen.
2:24 / Rev. 21:2
Unlike the “holy books”
of other religious systems, the Bible is a narrative with all the elements of
such.
Setting: Creation; Jn. 1:1-3, Rom. 1:20
Period: Time, with some inferences to previous time.
Jde. 1:25 NLT
Plot: The redemption of man; Rom. 3:24
Conflict: Man’s resistance; Rom. 5:8
Main Characters: Jesus Christ; Col. 1:17
Everyman; Rom. 3:23, 5:12
Satan; Eze. 28:2
Angels; Heb. 1:5
Climax: The cross; Col. 2:15
Conclusion: Gathering the “elect”; Heb; 11:40
Other religious texts
largely consist of injunctions and philosophical ideas of how to live
righteously with, in some cases, narratives woven in as examples.
In Hinduism, for
instance, their holy books, the four vedas, are divided into either Shruti
(what is heard) or Smriti (what is remembered). Smriti are usually heroic tales
and the obstacles the heroes faced.
Muslims accept the
Pentateuch (first 5 books of the Bible), which are largely narrative, but they
claim that the Jews corrupted them.
The Quran is divided
into chapters called “surah’s”.
All religious systems
claim their “holy books” to be divinely inspired.
Hindu’s believe that their scriptures have always been in
existence and were discovered by wise men who were in profoundly meditative
states of mind. At first writing down the Vedas was forbidden. They were
formally documented during 1500-500 BC, which is known as the Vedic Period.
Gautama Buddha lived around 563 to 400 BC. He was a Hindu who,
upon his “awakening” rejected the authority of the Vedas and the cast system of
Hinduism. Though today there are many versions of Buddhism, classic Buddhism is
atheistic. His teaching are not extent and don’t appear in print until 400 years after his death.
Islam claims that the Quran was given to the prophet
Mohamed by the angel Gabriel. Islam is a closed system which means that its
claims to divine authority are exclusively within its writings. Therefor, the
Quran claims to be divinely given because Mohamed says it was, and Mohamed is
god’s prophet because the Quran says so.
None of these claims are well substantiated
Christianity, in
contrast, is an unbroken narrative from the creation to the prophetic end times.
It’s historic accuracy
is unprecedented among ancient documents.
The divine use of many
prophets as instruments of revelation place God
as the centerpiece and author of all said, and not one man.
The accuracy of prophecy
buttresses the Divine authorship.
The central figure is
clearly manifest throughout the narrative.
Being a narrative, yet
unfulfilled, it invites us in to have a personal roll to play. Col. 3:4
The Bible also,
internally declares its divine authorship; II Tim. 3:16; II Pet. 1:21
In contrast to a
collection of abstractions, we are caught up, finding purpose and total
fulfillment in all that Christ has promised.
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