The Bible - some interesting facts

The Bible contains 66 books, written by 44 authors over a period of about 1500 years. The 39 books of the Old Testament were composed between 1400 and 400 B.C., the 27 books of the New Testament between A.D. 50 and 100.

The Bible is the best-selling book of all time. How many Bibles do you think are sold in one year? 150 million! There are over 4 billion Bibles in print and yet most people have not yet heard the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Knowing that the Bible is written by God, is there any evidence to prove this supernatural words and of the Bible? There is. From history, archaeology, science and prophecy we have a lot of evidence to show that the Bible is indeed the word of God. Let's look briefly at it.

Historical evidence: First of all, they are over 24, 000 ancient copies of portions of the New Testament. The closest in all other books is Homer's Iliad, which has 643 ancient copies

Secondly, the Bible itself does not have any contradictions within it.
Thirdly, the external evidence for the Bible is incredible. There is a Roman historian named Tactitus and a Jewish historian named Josephus that both support the historical accuracy of the Bible. Also, there were 17 secular historians, who wrote about the death of Jesus by crucifixion. This could not have been made up by men, and shows that external historical records support the Bible.

Finally, no one has been able to identify one historical mistake anywhere in the Bible. If man did write the Bible, we surely would have found mistakes after 2000 years. But there are none.

Archaeological evidence: There have been more than 25,000 archaeological findings relating to people, places, and events in the Bible. And believe it or not, not one of them has contradicted anything in the Bible. That in and of itself is incredible proof of the Bible's trustworthiness.

So if we can believe the historical and archaeological evidence for the Bible, why do you think it's hard for us to believe the spiritual part of the book? Well, let's investigate and see.

Fulfilled prophecies validate the Bible:
Did you know that approximately 25% of the entire contents of the Bible is prophecy. That means about 25%, predicts future events. And to this date, every single one of them has come true to the smallest detail, except the remaining prophecies about the return of Jesus. Statistically, there is no way any man can predict the future with 100% accuracy.

Travelling Lightly - Part 2

Travelling Lightly - Part 2 - Baggage

So here we are to explore what baggage we are carrying on this pilgrimage and why we carry it, whilst we know we will not need it.

The first part of this baggage is our Own Thoughts and Opinions, and they are indeed the heaviest kind and the most destructive, we can carry. In aviation parlance it is known as carrying dangerous goods - like explosives.

Have you heard these remarks from yourself or other people?

·    I thought that ....

·    If I had known that ...

·    But I was taught to ....

·    Nobody told me .....

·    I will never .....

·    It does not make sense to me ....

·    Beware of him .....

·    This theory is not proven ....

·    It can't be God talking to me ...

·    That is clearly wrong ....

The other is our opinions :

·    This team is the best ...

·    I don't think it will work ...

·    I like ....

·    You cannot trust ....

·    Beware - it has happened to a friend of mine ...

·    These people are .......

·    These churches are ....

·    I have been through this, and let me tell you ....

·    Take my advice ....

These are the basis of our thought processes and they control what we will believe and what not and what our attitude towards things is.

Most of these thoughts and opinions are based on our perspective of our previous experience, and you can bet, having seen only one side to this with our limited vision, we are mostly wrong.

An easy example to demonstrate this is just listening to a person discussing why his team lost the last match. His team was the best yes, but ....

We get so wound up and intoxicated by the strength and exuberance of our own knowledge and wisdom that we cannot see the wood for the trees.

Let us look at some examples from the Bible.

God wants Moses to do this exciting, historical exodus, but rather than listening and doing he has this argument with God relating to his previous experience and his pre-conceived ideas :

Exo 4:10  And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.

Exo 4:13  And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.(Get somebody else)

God's Angel spoke to Gideon :

Jdg 6:13  And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.

Jdg 6:15  And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.

The prophet ELisha tells Naaman to wash himself on the Jordan River to cleanse him from Leprosy  - here are his opinions :

2Ki 5:11  But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.

2Ki 5:12  Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.

Jesus Christ tells Peter that he will deny Him and that He is about to die :

Mat 16:22  Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.

Mat 16:23  But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

Mat 26:35  Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee.

You and I go around with the same types of opinions, thoughts and apologies, and we miss the blessing which is laid away for us.

If we wish to have an exciting walk with God, we need to forget what we have learned because God moves in mysterious ways.

This luggage withholds us from a free and exciting walk with God.

Next time before you utter that stereotyped excuses, first think and say - why not. Someone once said - People dream of impossible things and say - How can that be, but I dream of impossible things and say - Why can't it be.

Just a personal thought from my own experience :

I have been to many Churches in my life, and when joining each Church, I had to learn fast what the policies, rules, beliefs, do's and don'ts of that Church is, and why all the other Churches are wrong. Then I used to cling to that framework for life and death, believing it to be the do all and end all of my salvation, only to go to a next Church and find that that was all wrong, and here your next set of beliefs are .... and so it went on for almost 50 years, until I came to the realisation that these opinions only add to the luggage I carry. So these days I am travelling quite lightly with regard to these. There is nothing true in life and in the Church, as the truth is only in Jesus Christ - so much so that Pilate in desperation asked Jesus Christ - What is truth? Here is a learned man who thought he knew the truth, but in this crisis hour, he realises that there is no such thing in human affairs.

We need to know that these pre-concieved ideas is a built in mechanism to protect us from the dangers of this world - to not fall into a trap someone else fell into, but there are no danger in serving God - so let go and let God have His way !!!

Skatryk kerke in `n brandarm wêreld (Beeld 09/09/29)

Rykdom hou `n groter bedreiging in vir die kerk as armoede.


Paul Verrayne het nou die dag by `n konferensie oor teologie in die stad (aangebied deur Pen) gesê dat die kerk in Suid-Afrika waarskynlik net soveel eiendom soos die staat besit en bygevoeg: “And we all know what Jesus would have done with that!”

Die afgelope tyd het ek vir `n hele paar kerk-ooms gevra waarom dit dan nodig is dat gemeentes sulke groot somme geld op belegging moet hê. Hulle antwoord was dat dit `n sekuriteit is vir die moontlike maer jare wat voorlê, `n belegging in die toekoms van die kerk.

Travelling Lightly - Part 1

Travelling Lightly - Part 1 - by P.K.Odendaal.

A variation on the theme is the crux of creativity, so, after writing a blog on Minimalism, I am back to spiritual things and wonder how heavy is our load on this pilgrimage we are on. What luggage have we brought along, and who carries those we can't. Why can we be minimalists in the spirit.

Maybe I should not even try and figure out, because the load we carry for someone else is not heavy - remember the song - He aint heavy, his my brother.

But it is really the load we carry ourselves for ourselves that is soooo... heavy.

Back to scripture :

Mat 23:4  For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

What are these loads. Lets look at our houses, which are temples of God, and see what we have which we do not need to carry. Maybe we should start at our  store-room where we have heaped up the bitterness and accusations against our fellow men, but on second thoughts - that would be too painful. We will rather carry it than discard it with pain. So leave that for a moment.

What are we carrying that would be of help to us when we enter that Celestial City? Do we fit the decription of the dog in 'The Prophet' where he talks about giving ?

And tomorrow, what shall tomorrow bring to the over-prudent dog burying bones in the trackless sand as he follows the Pilgrims to the Holy City?

I can think of quite a few things that one can carry that would be useless to us when we enter that City. These things are :

1.     Earthly possessions, wealth and vast amounts of money.

2.     Bitterness and accusations.
3.     Sins we think are too painful to confess.
4.     Emotional pain and other baggage we are too afraid to address here on earth.
5.     Wordliness and fashions and that which is fashionable.
6      Hatred and racial hatred.
7.     Hardness of heart. The seed of the Holy Spirit will not grow on the stoney places of our heart.

There are many others, and maybe you can help me with some which I wish to address in this blog series.

I don't know about the future, but know Who holds my hand

I don't know about tomorrow, I just live from day to day.
I don't borrow from it's sunshine, For it's skies may turn to gray.
I don't worry o'er the future, For I know what Jesus said,
And today I'll walk beside Him, For He knows what is ahead.

Many things about tomorrow, I don't seem to understand;
But I know Who holds tomorrow, And I know Who holds my hand.

Ev'ry step is getting brighter, As the golden stairs I climb;
Ev'ry burden's getting lighter; Ev'ry cloud is silver lined.
There the sun is always shining, There no tear will dim the eyes,
At the ending of the rainbow, Where the mountains touch the sky.

I don't know about tomorrow, It may bring me poverty;
But the One Who feeds the sparrow, Is the One Who stands by me.
And the path that be my portion, May be through the flame or flood,
But His presence goes before me, And I'm covered with His blood.

Many things about tomorrow, I don't seem to understand;
But I know Who holds tomorrow, And I know Who holds my hand.

THE PRACTICE OF SELF-SACRIFICE IN MARRIAGE

"It is easy to say we love God when that love doesn't cost us anything more than weekly attendance at religious services. But the real test of our love for God is how we treat the people right in front of us--our family members and fellow believers. We cannot truly love God while neglecting to love those who are created in His image." (Commentary from the Life Application Bible in reference to 1 John 4:20-21)

Our Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated LOVE to us, in its truest form. The Bible says: "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility

Religions and Philosophies - Part 3 - Buddhism

Religions and Philosophies - Part 3 - Buddhism
by P.K.Odendaal - 3 May 2011.

In this part we will be looking at Buddhism, which is regarded by some as a religion, contrary to its own claims, and it has a following of about 400 million people - more than the number of Protestants belonging to congregations. It is the second oldest philosophy in the world, only exceeded in age by the Judaic/Mosaic one).

The movement was started bySiddharta Gautama who was born in ca. 560 B.C..