Why do people not read the Bible? Here's some people's reasoning:
The Bible is boring because of the boring books in it. I've never read them, but they're old, don't affect me personally, and other people say they're boring, so I know they must be.
I've been studying Kings and Chronicles, and actually found them to be some of the most interesting things that I've read in the Bible in a long time. Why do I think they're interesting and most people think they're boring? Because most people don't read them right. They have the preconceived idea that they're boring, so if they do attempt to read them, they gloss over them and try to read them as fast as they can to get to the 'more interesting' or 'more relevant' books. Charles Spurgeon, one of the greatest preachers in history, once said "I would rather let my soul soak in half a dozen verses of the Bible all day than rinse my hand in several chapters." I like to read a chapter or a half a chapter a night and go as deep as I can. I look up the cities, the people, the armies and I try to come up with as many questions as I can. "Where was this?" "Why did they attack here?" "How much did that cost?" "How do we do this today?" Then if you ask a question, try to answer it. Reading the history books, like this, you get to know the characters, understand their world, empathize for them. Its not hard to spend 2 hours on a dozen verses.
Probably the thing I've learned the most is very, very relevant right now. Over and over again, 2 Chronicles shows that a leader's personal spiritual life has a huge impact on the whole country. When a leader is humble before God and obeys His commandments, when he looks for guidance to the One who knows our every sin, then God helps that leader and the country is blessed financially, wins its wars, and becomes the dominant force in the area. But when the leader becomes proud and believes that he does not have to support God's law, when he forgets that it was God who put him in that position, and that his purpose in life was to protect the innocent, stand up for justice, and proclaim God's glory, then his country would soon be engulfed in a war that they quickly and utterly lost (the leaders often died in the first battle), or they were plagued with disasters.
I wouldn't say that George W. Bush has had a perfect presidency, but I know that I would have probably would have done a whole lot worse. Could you do better? I certainly don't want to assign guilt to someone else or say these bad things happened because of so-and-so's sins. But God also knows bad things are going to happen and sometimes puts a man of faith there to deal with them, even though he didn't cause them. A godly king might have his country invaded, a plague hit, or rebellion within his own family. But that doesn't mean those things were his fault. All of that is between Bush and God. But I do know that if Bush does what God commands him, he will lead us down paths that may look really, really bad but are actually good for us. I believe that Bush is trying to do the right thing, which is why I will vote for him.
If he's ever read them, John Kerry obviously never got the same message out of Kings and Chronicles as I did. Kerry says he believes that abortion and homosexuality are wrong but is willing to let them grow. The Israelite kings, even the good ones, were always condemned if they didn't work to destroy the high places and idols throughout the country. Sin isn't a rock that just sits there if you ignore it. Sin is a weed, a cancer, that grows unless you take extreme measures to eradicate it. All Christians know that through experience. By saying that he condemns something personally but not politically, Kerry is either saying that he really doesn't believe they are wrong, or that he doesn't believe that a man's spiritual life and his professional life have any correspondence. If there was a sin that he could legally limit, but instead let it grow, then he would be condemned before God just as much as the kings of old were condemned for not tearing down the high places.
I'm not saying that if Kerry doesn't immediately outlaw homosexuality and abortions that we'll have another 9-11, but I am saying that all sins have consequences for other people and the more people you affect, the more people your sins will affect. God is just and sooner or later there will be a reckoning
My guess: John Kerry thinks Kings and Chronicles are boring.
PS. Here is my collection of random thoughts that didn't fit in anywhere. Sorry that I don't have the time to forge this into one well crafted paper like my English teachers would like, but I do actually have a test in five or six hours.
George Washington said, "It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible. Do not ever let anyone claim to be a true American patriot if they ever attempt to separate Religion from politics." I wish they would proclaim that to the churches around the country!
Once they got to the point of not listening to priests, prophets, and spiritual leaders, then the real trouble would begin. Now who do we know that is openly rebelling against his priests an spiritual leaders?
Here's another thought: Which do you think is going to be more likely to sin, the leader who thinks his sins could bring disaster his entire country, or the leader who thinks his sins have zero effect on others?
Post a Comment