Reflecting back on the past year, much has transpired since I started this blog; just to name a few, a presidential election, the selection of a new pope (Francis I), several mass murders, etc. I’ve asked myself several times: Where do I want this blog to go? Has it become what I want it to be? To be honest, they’ve been tough questions for me to fully answer. I’ve wrestled back and forth because I don’t want this to become a single-focused blog, yet at the same time I can’t help but feel there must be someone to counteract the counterfeit. Very few are counteracting the daily deluge of what’s being written about God’s character or the Holy Spirit, so I press on. Yet I also realize I can’t do this on my own, so every now and then I post articles from others who share similar thoughts. At times I don’t agree with everything each article says, but feel the meat of the article is worth repeating.
That brings me back to the question, what do I want this blog to be, or where do I want it to go?
Perhaps in my little corner of the world, I can be a means for God to help others see through the mire and muck released in cyberspace. The past year, my righteous indignation meter has peaked and subsided many times. Something so sacred and lovely as God’s Word (the Bible) has been so marred by so many people, it’s saddening. Yet time and time again, God in all His love, patience, and long-suffering never forces anyone to cease their misuse of it; nor does He punish those who do.
In Islam, according to Dayton Daily News1, “When a Muslim writes down even a few verses from the Quran on a piece of paper [it doesn’t matter what], that [piece of paper] immediately gets that same protected status” as the Quran. Also, a person who mistreats the Quran can be severely punished. This is because, “Most Muslims believe that the Quran is the literal word of Allah as recited to Muhammad through the angel Gabriel. Muhammad, according to tradition, recited perfectly what the angel Gabriel revealed to him for his companions to write down and memorize. Muslims hold that the wording of the Quranic text available today corresponds exactly to that revealed to Muhammad…”2
Christianity is quite the contrast to that. Christians — followers of Christ — must truly follow in Christ’s footsteps. Christ set the example while on earth. He did not punish, kill, zap, or whip people for abusing God’s word then; had He done so, just about everyone would’ve died, especially since Romans 3:23 tells us “all have sinned…” but not only that, it finishes by saying “…and fallen short of the Glory of God.” The New Living Translation renders it, “…we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” Because of our sinful state alone, we all deserve death (see Romans 6:23). But Christ did not destroy our forefathers, nor does He destroy us today for distorting or perverting God’s Word. Instead, He constantly tries to woo us from our sinful state. Though it hurts God, He allows us to profane His words all the while, longing for us to turn to Him. The Bible is just a means to an end — to save people*3. People are more important to God, than the words in His book.
I can only but offer my simple words as an offering to God in hopes He can use it to guide you the reader, to His truth, bypassing all the sludge out there. There is truth and power in God’s word, and I challenge you to prayerfully seek God with all your might, with all your heart, and with all your soul and allow Him to direct all your paths.
Your Friend!
Notes:
- Ohio’s Dayton Daily News – http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/local/local-chaplain-played-vital-role-in-war/nWhTm/ (accessed Friday, 15 March 2013) [↩]
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_the_Quran (accessed Saturday, 15 March 2013) [↩]
- *I realize this may conjure up thoughts and illicit grimaces on your faces, but hear me out on this. The Bible reveals God’s character, and from that revelation the ultimate goal is to draw us to, have us love God, and by loving God, we will change our hearts, seek Him and thus be saved. God’s character, the lessons from others in the Bible, and the story of Jesus (Redemption), and even preaching the everlasting Gospel is about saving people. Therefore, looking at it from that angle, the Bible thus becomes a means to an end…to save people. [↩]