Central Truth

The Bible is the Word of God! If it is seen as anything less, it cannot have the effect on us it is meant to have.

---

Reflections

As I was flipping through channels the other night I came across a commercial for some weight loss pill. It consisted of skinny person after skinny person coming and telling a ten second testimony on how they were once large, but now, thanks to the drug, they were small again. At the end a man in a white medical coat walked up with a stethoscope around his neck, clipboard in his hand, and told me that he's a doctor and the weight loss pill is safe and effective, a legitimate way to lose weight. To the untrained TV watcher, this commercial would be a very effective advertisement. I mean, there are at least ten people who used the drug and it worked amazingly and then a real, live doctor endorsed it. I will never have to exercise or eat right again!

However, whenever the doctor is up there, it is important to read after the asterisks at the bottom of the screen. For this doctor, the asterisk read "This drug has not been approved by the FDA. This doctor is a med student at such and such university and not a real MD." Anyone who reads the fine print of the commercial would immediately see the commercial for what it really is, an advertisement ploy to give a false sense of credibility to an incredulous pill.

Paul, when he came preaching to the Thessalonicans, brought a similar message. He showed them a number of people who were lost and then, as a result of Christ, found. Afterward he would come and say, "I'm an apostle and I speak on behalf of God when I tell you that Jesus Christ is Lord." But if there were an asterisk underneath Paul flashing, "He does not actually speak on behalf of God," his words would carry the same weight as the not-so-real doctor in the weight loss commercial. We would be foolish to believe the Bible if it weren't God's word. It would be a bad self-help book and nothing more. But since the source is God, the Bible has incredible credibility.

---

Discussion Questions

1. What difference does it make if God is the true author of the Bible?

2. How has God's word affected your life?

3. How have you ever given more weight to something people say versus what God says? If so, why?

4. What are some things that God says in the Bible that make it difficult to believe?

---