Gaining Respect

The Inevitable Return of the Bible

Christina Odone has written a piece in The Telegraph lamenting the pall of ignorance about the Bible that lies upon the UK.  She writes:

Almost a third of children do not know their Adam from their Noah or that David slew Goliah. The Good Samaritan is a stranger and the Nativity just a Christmas play.  The latest Bible Society findings prove that the West has erased its Christian heritage from public life. I'm not surprised – only saddened that No God Zone, my e-book on the subject, has been vindicated. After decades of concerted efforts by secularist zealots, the Bible is a truly alien subject. Future generations will look on "the greatest story ever told" and think it is a 1965 movie starring Charlton Heston and Max von Sydow.

We know to what she refers.   Fifty years ago UK (and NZ) society was fundamentally informed by the moral teachings of Scripture.  Marriage was between a man and a woman.  Blasphemy was shameful and offensive.  Homosexuality was sinful.  Swearing truth-telling oaths upon the Bible in court was a serious matter. Abortion was murderous.  People generally were familiar with the twenty-third Psalm, the Lord's Prayer and the Beatitudes.  No longer.  Now the Bible is just one more book.
 

The extraordinary, subversive book, with its lessons on charity, compassion and respect for others inspired generations to rebel against tyrannies of all kinds – dictators, addictions, vices. Men and women dedicated their lives to its teachings – and were ready to die for it. But today it seems that a host of martyrs lost their lives in vain: the Bible is just another book that sold more than the Hunger Games trilogy at some point.

Should this concern us?  Yes and no.  There are deleterious consequences to any society which is ignorant of God's holy law.  But what is the remedy?  More Bible in secular schools?  We do not believe so.  Not the real remedy.  Such measures can only be palliative and may be actually harmful--there is never any neutral ground.  A secular society will admit the Bible into its discourse if, and only if, it is presented as a book of myths, fables, and quaint ideas.  So, for our part, we don't want to be involved in any disrespectful, dishonest treatment of the Bible out of common cause with the regnant paganism of our day. 

The Word of God is forged to be such in the hearts of human beings, by the will of God through the powerful working of the Holy Spirit.  People are called by God into faith.  They are regenerated, moving from death to life.  And when that happens, the soul embraces the Bible for what it truly is: the very Word of God  Himself. Here is the Bible's self-testimony on the matter:

Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for

All flesh is like grass
And all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
And the flower falls,
But the word of the Lord remains forever.

And this word is the good news that was preached to you.  (I Peter 1: 22-25)

The Bible will eventually become once again a revered book.  This will happen as more and more people become Christians, believing upon the Lord Jesus Christ from the depths of their intellect, emotions, and will.  And what will cause that to happen?  When God calls them out of darkness into light. When God thus stretches forth His hand, none can gainsay him.  As the ancient catechism has it:

What is effectual calling?
Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, He doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the gospel.

This is the tide--the only tide--which will restore the Bible to its rightful place in society--which is to be right at the heart of its counsels, convocations, confabulations and colloquies.  The tide will wax again, for what we call the Great Commission will be carried out.  It is ultimately in God's hands, and the love of the Father for the Son will see it done.