God on Mute 2
Last week we talked about when God seems to be mute, and not talking to us
This week we're talking about when we push the 'mute button' on God:
The Bible is the best-selling book in the world & most widely distributed book
We own Bibles, but what do we know about what's in it?
Is that in the Bible?
- Cleanliness is next to Godliness.
- This, too, shall pass.
- Look now at the behemoth.
- God helps those who help themselves.
- Escaped by the skin of my teeth.
- God will not put more on you than you can bear.
- Money is the root of all evil.
- The Lord works in mysterious ways.
· Job 19:20; 40:30
Gen 3:1. Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?"
First question asked sowed a seed of doubt about God’s Word
Since then, the enemy has perpetually sowed doubt about God’s Word
People believe things about the Bible – without having ever read it
· 27% of Non-Christians believe the Bible is a dangerous book of religious dogma used for centuries to oppress people
· 19% of Non-Christians believe the Bible is outdated with no relevance for today
Video of Ex-pastor:
God was silent in his life, apparently
He says that the Bible is just another method of controlling Black people.
The internet recruits and radicalizes
1 Peter 3:15. Always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you.
What the Bible says about Slavery
He who kidnaps a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hand,
shall surely be put to death. – Ex 21:16
Listen to the voices of Black slave’s voices about how the Bible was used:
Federal Writer’s Project, a collection of interviews with former slaves 1934 - 1941
Preserved in the National Archives
Marster preach to de white folks Sunday mo’nin. Den, at night, all de marsters roun’ dat country sen’ dey slaves, an’ he preach to us. He hab two fav’rit tex’es he uster preach from to de slaves. One was, “Serv’nts, obey your marsters.”
De other tex’ was, “Thou shalt not steal.” He preach dat over an’ over, to de slaves. Dey couldn’ read deir Bibles, so dey hatter b’liebe jis what he say.
Since I’s got to readin’ an’ studyin’, I see some of de chu’ches is wrong, an’ de preachers don’ preach jis’ like de Bible say.
- Jack White (Courtney Jackson)
Marster neber ‘low he slaves to go to chu’ch. Dey hab big holes out in de fiel’s dey git down in and pray. Dey done dat way ‘cause de white folks didn’t want ‘em to pray. Dey uster pray for freedom. I dunno how dey larn to pray, ‘cause dey warn’t no preachers come roun’ to teach ‘em. I reckoned de Lawd jus mek ‘em know how to pray.
- Ellen Butler(Pam Steward)
I’s learn to read de Bibl, an’ my chillum larned to read an’ write, but our white folks didn’t believe in slaves larnin’ anything. Dey thought hit would make de slaves harder to keep slaves, and to make dem wuk.
- Sarah Wilson (Nyasha Hill)
It could be dangerous for a slave to read the Bible
It was especially dangerous to translate the Bible
The OT was written in Hebrew to the Hebrews – so no translations needed
Tanakh: acronym of the first Hebrew letters of the 3 divisions of the Hebrew Bible
Torah, Nevi’im (Prophets), Ketuvim (Writings)
These books were fixed before the birth of Christ
Septuagint – Old Testament in Greek, 3rd Century BCE
New Testament – letters, written in Greek by the Apostles
In the 1st century, the Church collected, read & circulated these writings
Early Christians embrace the Jewish Scriptures
Vulgate – Latin translation in the 4th Century AD
Ethiopian Bible – Ge’ez, in the 4th Century Ad
The Bohairic Coptic Bible (Egyptian) dates to the 4th Century AD
The Syriac Peshitta Bible (Syrian) dates to the 2nd Century AD
John Wycliffe hand-wrote the first English language Bible manuscripts in 1380.
Known for his opposition of the Catholic church and its extravagance
He believed that the Bible should be available to everyone, in the common language
Literacy was the key to the emancipation of the poor.
The Catholic Church tried to control access to the scriptures.
The Bible was in Latin, a language no one read.
Thus, they could claim the Bible was the director of some of its evil practices:
Selling indulgences & selling release from ‘Purgatory.’
The Constitutions of Oxford in 1408 made it a crime to translate, read or own the Bible without the permission of the Bishop. punishable by charges of heresy & death.
The Pope was so infuriated by Wycliffe’s Bible translation that 44 years after died, the pope ordered his corpse dug-up, burned and scattered in the river
It was NOT having the Bible that allowed for control & manipulation
William Tyndale translated the first printed Bible into English, from Latin
Ignorance of the scriptures is ignorance of Christ
The Catholic Church hired bounty hunters to find & stop him.
They burned every Tyndale Bible they could get their hands on
Whey they eventually caught Tyndale, he was put in jail for 500 days.
He was convicted as a heretic, strangled, then burned at the stake
When you understand the history of Bible translations, you’ll see…
It was about freedom & knowledge – not control & oppression
King James Authorized Version was translated by 47 Church of England scholars
The Catholic Church
I’m Protestant
I am a Protest Movement
God on Mute
Trying to shut Him up
Or make you doubt His Word
Why I can trust the Bible
· I am watching over (guarding) My word to perform it. – Jer 1:12
· Heaven and earth will pass away, but
My words will by no means pass away. – Mark 13:31
· Jesus said, “It is written”
The church was terrorized & brutalized for the first 300 years
Sawn in half, burned at the stake, crucified, put in the arena with lions, boiled in oil
There was no Biblical canon at the Council of Nicea
The focus of the council was the deity of Jesus
1 Tim 4:1
Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith,
giving heed to deceiving (seducing) spirits and doctrines of demons