AUTHORITY (1)-5 Minutes Bible Study - Authority

5 Minutes Bible Study - Authority (1)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avIxpkQP1oQ
Faith1316
November 13, 2009
AUTHORITY by Dr. Harold Sala
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3

In spite of the fact that most of us rebel against it, authority in our world is as necessary to the survival of the human race as good nutrition and clean air. When everyone is a "law unto himself" there is no law; anarchy eventually leads to chaos, and chaos to annihilation. From the time a child voices his first, Why not? until we defy the probability of death in our old age, we constantly challenge boundaries. While that may not be altogether bad, its certain without some kind of established order, there could be no civilization.

In the realm of religion, the issue of authority is critically important. Who says that you should believe this or disbelieve that? Your parents? Your pastor or religious leader, or your conscience? Is challenging the status quo a right or rebellion? At the same time, it seems to me that a great many today, perhaps yourself included, lack any rational foundation for what they believe. For example, why are you a Christian and not a Buddhist, or a Muslim, or an animist? Why do you believe what you do?

Some appeal to their experience saying, "I feel it down in my heart!" (On Easter Sunday morning millions of believers sing, "You ask me how I know He lives, He lives within my heart.") Or "Well, this is what I think!" not realizing that others, apart from Christians, also base their beliefs on experience and feelings. Most individuals involved in cults are convinced in their hearts that they are right. The person whose beliefs are resting simply on feel-it-evidence is on shaky ground. Your security is at the mercy of someone with the facts.

Is there a valid basis of validating experience, or determining what to believe? For almost 2000 years, there has been an authority by which men and women have a basis for Christian doctrine and teaching, a core of evidence against which everything can be measured: it is the Bible. But in recent years even this has been challenged. When Western Reserve University sent out 10,000 questionnaires asking, "Do you believe the Bible to be the Word of God? 7,442 responded. Of these, 82% of the Methodists, 89% of the Episcopalians, 81% of the United Presbyterians and 57% of Baptists and Lutherans said, "NO!" The majority of those who responded challenged the authority of the Bible.

Sadly enough, there is often more faith in the pew than in the pulpit, but does that mean that some religious leaders know something which lay people don't, or have they been taught by blind leaders of the blind?

The facts still assert the authority of the Bible regardless of the prevailing winds of unbelief which attack it. The case for the authority of the Bible is two-fold: internal evidence supporting this authority, including what the Bible says about itself, its unity and indestructibility; and external evidence, which includes the correlation of prophecy and secular history, manuscript evidence, the verdict of archaeology, the evidence from science supporting the authority of the Bible, and, finally, the pragmatic test what it does to those who follow its teaching.

May I leave you with a closing thought? This issue of authority is vital when it comes to your personal faith. You can afford an ignorance of many things, but not an ignorance of what the Bible is all about. Why? Simply put, everything you know about God, what you know about Jesus Christ, His resurrection, and what lies beyond the grave hinges on this book, the Bible. The matter of Biblical authority is not a casual matter for discussion: it is an issue that is crucial to our lives.

Resource reading: Isaiah 40