Why Do We Take the Bible Seriously?

The Bible is unlike any other book. It is basically taken five ways in our society.

People either ignore it altogether and dismiss it as being irrelevant to today’s lifestyle,
or they attack it with books and lectures disputing its Divine origin.
Then there are those who try to alter the Bible with new versions that are gender neutral or where God is portrayed as being female.
The majority of Christians are what Evangelicals call “nominal Christians.” They fit into the fourth category. Nominal Christians, and even some who are Born Again, choose, and even quote from, selected verses which are generally taken out of context, and which back up their own doctrinal ideas about religion. Scripture to the contrary is either ignored, assumed as allegorical, or its meaning is twisted around to convey the opposite of what is really being said.
We fall into the last category. This final group take the Bible literally. The only exceptions to this would be certain dreams (Genesis 40:1-22), visions (Acts 11:5-10), parables (Matthew 13:3-8), or special revelation (Revelation 13:11-15). For here the message is not meant for the general public, but only for those who have been given the understanding by God (Matthew 13:13-18 and Luke 8:10).

There is a great deal of proof that the Bible is the Divine Word of God, but we won’t go into it all now because those who refuse to accept the teachings of the written Word of God will also fail to accept its validity no matter how great the proof may be (John 5:43-44). As Paul stated, “... the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14 KJV). The words of Abraham in the account of the rich man and Lazarus also comes to mind (Luke 16:27-31).

There are those who will ask, disingenuously, “Did God write the Bible or did men?” The answer is simple, yes God wrote the Bible in the same sense that a business executive may call his secretary into his office for dictation. She takes the letter down in shorthand and then goes back to her desk to type it up. But who signs the letter, the secretary or the man who dictated it? Obviously the author is the one who signs it, for the message that is being sent is not coming from the secretary who prepares it but from the executive who gave it to her. These days, due to the popularity of computers and dictation machines, secretaries seldom take shorthand anymore, and the executive is just as likely to be female as male. But the principle is the same. No, God didn’t sit down with pen and paper and write out the Bible personally (although some have sarcastically suggested it). He didn’t need to. Our Creator had rare individuals who loved Him enough to become open channels through whom His Spirit could reveal the Holy Word of God.