1/18 Wisdom from the Word

Why Do Men Reject The Bible?
Voltaire was an 18th century French philosopher who was consumed with hatred for the Christian religion and for the Bible. He once said, “If we would destroy the Christian religion, we must first of all destroy man’s belief in the Bible.” From the beginning of time Satan’s war against God has centered its arsenal upon God’s Word, for all that men may know about God must be revealed by God Himself. In our present day, Satan’s strategy has not changed. The modern combatants of Christianity still follow this same path. The satanic assault of our day is still bent on the destruction of men’s faith in the Word of God.

Charles Darwin popularized the theory of evolution with his book Origin of Species. It might fascinate you to know that Darwin was not a scientist. Most of his formulations about evolution were penned upon his five year voyage around the world on a ship called the H.M.S. Beagle. In his 1887 autobiography, Darwin revealed some of the attitudes which I believe are at the heart of his advancement of evolution. Modern science has come to accept these refutable claims as “good science”. However, I believe Darwin was motivated by a hatred for God and His Word, more than he was motivated by a love for science.

Darwin wrote, “I had gradually come by this time to see the Old Testament, from its manifestly false history of the world, with the Tower of Babel, the rain-bow as a sign,…and from its attributing to God the feelings of a revengeful tyrant, was no more to be trusted than the sacred books of the Hindu’s, or the beliefs of any barbarian…” He went on to write, “I can indeed hardly see how anyone ought to wish Christianity to be true; for if so, the plain language of the text seems to show that the men who do not believe, and this would include my Father, Brother, and almost all my best friends, will be everlastingly punished.” In light of this, Darwin described the teaching of eternal punishment as “a damnable doctrine”.

This reveals much about the opponents of the Bible: they refuse to accept what it says, so they must attack what it says. If the Bible can be relegated to the common place of literature or antiquarian writings, then it is no more than the musings of mad men, containing nothing of eternal value. If they are going to eradicate the idea of accountability to God, then they must eradicate the Bible that God wrote.

It has been well said that “Men do not reject the Bible because it contradicts itself, but because it contradicts them.” To this I echo Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “Aye, there’s the rub”. From the common atheist to the theological liberal, those who attack and call into question the Word of God do not do so because of their desire to know the truth, but because they have seen the truth of God’s Word, and its light has manifested both their error and their evil!