The Bible Problem !!
- Servants Preparation
- Oct 13, 2023
- 5 min read
As we are starting the "Biblical Apologetics" course in our servants preparation program, let's understand what this course is about! and let's imagine the following dialogue:
Can and Would God Speak to You?
Coptic:
Are there any good reason to think that it is not possible for God to speak to You?
Donno:
First, “speaking” is a human act that requires a physical body. But God according to your faith is not physical !!
Coptic:
Let me ask you a question. Why must speaking require a physical body? Isn’t there a difference between vocalizing and speaking?
Donno:
I see no difference
Coptic:
Let’s start with this. If God speaks to you is there anything you would like for God to say?
Donno:
I can think of all things that he could answer for me. If there is a God, he would know the answer to every question and have a solution to every problem
Coptic:
So you think God would be able to solve our problems if he wanted to?
Donno:
I sure hope so
Coptic:
We could hope for it all we want. The question is, can we really expect God to solve our problems?
Donno:
Maybe God has other things to think about. Or maybe we aren’t that important to God. We are insignificant dust in comparison with the Creator of the whole universe.
Coptic:
Do you know that unintentionally you sound very similar to the Psalm that says “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him?”. But do you know what’s interesting about this question?
Donno:
What?
Coptic:
That the Psalm author is talking directly to God. He’s asking Him the question. You, on the other hand, are trying to work out the answer on your own. You are assuming that God does not exist and even if He does he would be disinterested, indifferent about our problems. Have you thought of asking God whether he cares about us and why are problems would matter for him?
Donno:
It seems we are going in circles. How can I ask Him, if I am not sure that He listens? I’ve started to get tangled in this web of your questions!!
Coptic:
Your question is whether God would be bothered with our problems. You think that God might not be interested in us. Right?
Donno:
I’m not prepared to assume that God has this sort of interest in humanity. My question is how that’s even possible. Doesn’t it make more sense to think that God is too remote from us to the extent that He would not be bothered by our problems?
Coptic:
Not at all !! On one hand, we are dwarfed by the immensity of the universe. On the other hand, the universe is a magnificent creation, a testament to God’s greatness. And included in this greatness is what it reveals about God’s intentions.
Look, when St. Paul was visiting Athens, he noticed evidence all around him that its citizens are very religious, but they were not in touch with the real God, he knew that they yarned to know God. Paul then tells them, “The God who made the world does not live in temples made by man, as though he needed anything ..”
Donno:
Stop right there! It sounds like the Athenians wanted a contact with God, their efforts to reach out to God probably didn’t count for much. But at least they tried. They gave it their best. But still God doesn’t need us.
Coptic:
That doesn’t mean we don’t need God. Let me read the rest of the verse. Paul pointed out that God “gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” God doesn’t need us. But he made us. God created the universe and provided the conditions for human flourishment. Does that sound like a God who is oblivious to the human conditions and is indifferent from our concerns? The Athenians were seeking God but were looking in all the wrong places. Paul tells them that God is not far from anyone of us and “in Him we live and move and have our being”
Donno:
It seems that we’ve lost the thread of our original discussion by talking about the Athenians. I think we were trying to figure our whether God would speak to us. Right?
Coptic:
Yes, you are correct. But what we have come up with so far?
Donno:
You seem to indicate that God is present, he made us, and he takes the initiative with us. I can agree to all these points but still the main question of whether He can speak to us is not answered.
Coptic:
I was trying to address your first worry that God would be indifferent. Why would God create us in the first place?
Donno:
I see the point. But can we go back to the main question?
Coptic:
Ok. if you ask me to explain how to get to the airport from here, would you settle for hand motions?
Donno:
That will be very confusing. I would expect you to tell me the directions using words
Coptic:
Who benefit from the words that are used to communicate, the speaker or the listener?
Donno:
The listener for sure.
Coptic:
So if the speaker is interested in communicating the correct message he has to express himself in a language that will be understood by the listener.
Donno:
I guess so.
Coptic:
If the speaker cares about the listener getting to the airport in time, wouldn’t he have to give him accurate directions?
Donno:
I believe so, because any wrong directions can make him get lost.
Coptic:
Great. Let’s take another medical analogy that may actually be very helpful.
Donno:
You are not answering my main question.
Coptic:
I think I already did. But let me use this analogy to make the picture clearer. Suppose we suffer, as humans, from a dreadful illness. We labor under the symptoms of this illness, some of us are aware that there’s a problem, other are apparently oblivious. God is our creator. He knows we’re in trouble. He can assess the seriousness of our plight. His diagnosis is reliable. It may be different that what we think. He also knows what must be done to cure our disease. We may prefer a different medicine, something more palatable. He may prescribe major surgery. God knows what the prognosis will be if we follow his directions and what it will be if we ignore his directions. We may think we know better when, yet we have no clue. Our disease may fog our minds and leave us with poor judgement. If God speaks, shouldn’t we listen?
Donno:
Maybe we should get a second opinion if the illness if very serious.
Coptic:
That’s cute. But that’s my point. Without the conviction that God has spoken in a way that very realistically diagnoses the human condition, we may limp along on a path that leads to destruction.
Donno:
I get the analogy and that God cares about us so He must have given us the correct instructions or words for our life with him. But how can we become so sure that these words haven’t got to us corrupted after thousands of years of oral transmission.
Coptic:
I am glad you asked this question?
You may think that this dialogue ends abruptly and without a closure. This dialogue addresses a simple question, “Would God speak to us?” But many other questions follow from this dialogue. It is a central dogma of Christians that the Bible is without error. Our Traditions and our church teaches that the scriptures are "infalliable" ...
But many people ask, “Is this even true?” If the scriptures were written by a perfect God, can it have any contradictions? Why the same story across gospels do not match perfectly? Why do the scriptures seem outdated when compared to modern science? What about modern humanitarian values? What are all these verses against sinners, against women, against homosexuals? Why do others think that they have such fundamentally different views of who Jesus was? and a tons of other questions!!!
In this "Biblical Apologetics" course we will try to address some of these questions. At the end of the course we hope to prepare you as a servant with a solid understanding and a solid base on which you can stand when dealing with these issues.
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