The text is not open to alteration in order to bring it into harmony with this point of view or that. There are hundreds of scholars quick to detect any interference with the book. Thousands of pens are poised ready to indict any attempt to meddle with the words. The Bible is unique, using the word in its proper sense — there is one Bible. In every nation it is the same and the Bible’s unity is intact.That there are many Churches seems equally self evident. There are some who say that there are many names but the church is one. This is a verbal device to hide the divisions. The different names do stand for different causes. True, they are alike in some respects but the differences are real enough. There is a difference of teaching between one church and another, and sometimes the difference is very substantial, even fundamental. Then sometimes within the same church there are ideas and practices which contradict each other. In any case the effect speaks for itself — somebody seeking to find the true church is puzzled and perplexed and forced to cry at last that they cannot make up their mind when faced with so many different churches clustered around one Bible. The problem is intensified by the fact that the differing churches all claim to have based their teaching on the one Bible. How has this situation arisen? (more…)
The subject of this post is partly objective and partly subjective: that is to say, partly factual and partly a matter of judgement. One Bible-Many Churches is surely indisputable? Does it matter what we believe? is open to discussion. It seems sensible to begin where there is likely to be the greatest measure of agreement — that there is one Bible. Surely this is manifestly true? Of course there are several versions and many translations — but one Bible, whether the language is eastern or western, ancient or modern.
The view of planet earth, seen from outer space, is very beautiful indeed. Confirmation of this has come from the astronauts who have gazed upon it. The earth is the fairest jewel in God’s creation and it is the chosen place in the whole universe where He has promised to reveal His Kingdom in all its glory. That is why it is so beautiful.
The earth, of all the planets in the solar system, is the one that is perfectly suited to all forms of life and the one that orbits at exactly the right distance from the sun to provide comfortable conditions for the human race.
The Bible — Sole Source of Information
The Bible alone can explain why this should be. The reason is that the Creator “formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord, and there is none else” (Isaiah 45:1 8).
We think it is logical to assert that if there is a Great Designer, and if He created a race of beings to inhabit this planet and no other, then there must have been an ultimate objective in His mind. Happily, we have not been left to guess what that goal might be. From the day that God put a human being on this earth, His one supreme purpose was that His creation should willingly respond to His own perfection:
“For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14).
The final stage in fulfilling that intention is what the Bible describes as THE KINGDOM OF GOD ON EARTH.
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