The Bible stands far and away as the greatest book in history. No other book has had a greater influence on civilizations, historical or modern, than the teachings, people, and God of the Bible.
The Bible should be treasured above any thing the world possesses, but instead it is routinely mocked and criticized. The reason for the disdain of the Bible is because it puts the wisdom of this world to an open shame. It is an embarrassment. It makes professors of wisdom look like fools.
“Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools…” – Romans 1:22
The Embarrassment of Inspiration
Firstly, the Bible claims divine inspiration: every recorded word is God breathed. These “scholars” categorically deny God’s inspiration of the Bible.
The idea that man needed God’s help with anything, especially elementary things like right and wrong, life and death, is an embarrassment to those who would like to claim wisdom as their own. This is why secular philosophy curriculums start with the Greeks and not God (an obvious beginning of wisdom).
Even so-called Christian leaders deny the divine inspiration of scripture desiring to worship their own scholarship more than God’s revelation.
The party line for the denial of divine inspiration goes like this: the Bible was written by men. Strangely, it doesn’t take a genius to understand that men penned the words that God inspired in the Bible. Don’t let this statement of the obvious distract you from the source of their greater embarrassment.
The greatest embarrassment to the “wise” of this world is not that some people believe the Bible to be the very words of God. Bible believers are easily passed off as ignorant by those with a few degrees next to their name. If you can see past the scoffing about creationism, patriarchialism, ethnic cleansing, and ridicule over Cain’s wife, you will see the mockery as a mask for a greater embarrassment.
The Greater Embarassment
Denying the divine inspiration of the Bible is tacit recognition that the book which has made the greatest impact in human history was written by ancient men over two thousand years ago! What an embarrassment to modern scholarship!
The current zeitgeist is that modern thinkers are at the historical peak of wisdom and knowledge. Sociological textbooks teach that religion is a throwback to ancient ignorant times and irrational superstitions.
Yet, the wisdom of the Bible persists for thousands of years spanning geography, culture, language, and advancement. Civilizations, as well as people, without exception, rise and fall to the degree that they respect its teachings, dispensationally considered. The secularization theory of history has failed.
If the Bible were not inspired by God, then the only alternative is that these ancient men of faith actually conceived in their humanity the timeless wisdom beyond the understanding of many modern thinkers. This is not something you will find this world admitting any time soon, but you can read the Bible and see the truth for yourself.
The Greatest Embarrassment
There is only one thing more embarrassing than modern scholars being forced to admit that the greatest book in history was written by men without a single Ph.D. It almost pains me to point it out. More embarrassing than this are the Christians who believe the Bible is divinely inspired and contains the greatest wisdom ever revealed to this world, and yet do not believe we possess one Bible perfectly preserved in any book today.
While giving credit to the Lord for inspiring the Bible, they would deny the providential preservation of the same book. This shame makes the Bible’s claim to inspiration only that – a claim. The words are not as important, the doctrines become less significant, pretty good is good enough. Their faith really is man made.
Inspiration without preservation is the greatest argument against God I have ever confronted, and it embarrassingly comes from pulpits. What an embarrassment to believe God inspired the Bible, but could not protect it through time.
Thank God he wrote the greatest book of all time and I have a copy on my desk with every word preserved. The book I hold is an embarrassment to many, but in truth it is the word of God which daily works effectually in us that believe.
Article Index Published: July 30, 2011
Last Modified: January 26, 2017