In addition to God's revelation of Himself through the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, God's Word also records the response of those to whom the revelation was given. Indeed, God has made Himself known in a variety ways. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead.

In the beginning was the Word:
the Word was with God
and the Word was God. - John 1:1 -

For what can be known about God is perfectly plain to them since God himself has made it plain. Ever since God created the world his everlasting power and deity - however invisible - have been for the mind to see in the things he has made. - Rom. 1:19-20 -

While God is revealed in His creation and through the inner voice of man's conscience, the other means by which He has made Himself known is through the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible by His mighty acts and in the words of His messengers and spokesperson. Either of these ways is incomplete without the other.

In the Old Testament record, none of the mighty acts of God is emphasized more than the 'Exodus' God's deliverance of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. As He delivered His people, God repeatedly identified Himself.

Then God spoke all these words. He said, "I am Yahweh your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 'You shall have no gods except me.'" - Exodus 20:1-3 -

If they had been delivered with no explanation, the nation of Israel would have learned little about the God who redeemed His people. The Israelites might have guessed that in such events as the plagues of Egypt and the parting of the waters of the Red Sea, some supernatural power was at work on their behalf. But they would not have known the nature of this power or God's purpose for them as a people.

God also communicated with His people, the nation of Israel, through Moses, to whom He had already made Himself known in the vision of the burning bush. God instructed Moses to tell his fellow Israelites what had been revealed to him. This was no impersonal force at work, but the God of the ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In fulfillment of His promises to them, God was acting now on behalf of their descendants. In communicating with His people, God revealed both His identity and His purpose.

This pattern of God's mighty acts and the prophetic word interacting with each other continues throughout the course of scriptural/biblical history. The Babylonian Captivity is a good example of this process. A succession of prophets warned the people that if they did not mend their ways or repent their sinful ways of life. Captivity would come on them as judgment. But even during the years of the Captivity the prophets continued to speak, encouraging the captives and promising that God would deliver them from their plight. The prophets were God's primary spokesmen to the people of Israel in Old Testament times. But they were not His only messengers. Priest and sages, wise men, were other agents through whom God's will was made known. The teachings [Oral Tradition] of many of these are preserved in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible. [Written Tradition]

Behind the writing lay periods of time when these messages were circulated in spoken form. [Oral Tradition] The phenomenon and stories of the patriarch were passed from generation to generation by word of mouth [Tradition] before they were written. The messages of the prophets were delivered orally before they were fixed in writing. Narratives of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ were repeated orally for two or three decades before they were given literary form. But the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible owes its preservation to the fact that all these oral narratives were eventually reduced to writing. Just as God originally inspired the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, He has used this means to preserve His Word for future generations.

The first person in Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible to write anything down was Moses. God instructed Moses to write as a permanent memorial the divine vow that the name of Amalek would be blotted out.

With the edge of the sword Joshua cut down Amalek and his people. Then Yahweh said to Moses, 'Write this action down in a book to keep the memory of it, and say in Joshua's hearing that I shall wipe out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.' - Exodus 17:13-14 -

From that time until the end of the New Testament age, the writing of the many books and parts of the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible continued.

Amazingly, none of the original scriptural/biblical documents - referred to by scholars as the "original autographs" - has survived. No scrap of parchment or papyrus bearing the handwriting of any of the scriptural/biblical authors has been discovered. But before the original documents disappeared, they were copied. These copied of the original writings are the texts on which current translations of the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible are based. The process of copying and recopying the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible has continued to our time. Until the middle of the 15th century A.D. all the copying was done by hand. Then, with the invention of printing in Europe, copies could be made in greater quantities by using this new process. This made the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible available to many people, rather than just the few who could afford handmade copies.

The word of God is something alive and active: it cuts like any double-edged sword but more finely: it can slip through the place where soul is divided from the spirit, or joints from the marrow; it can judge the secret emotions and thoughts. No created thing can hide from him; everything is uncovered and open to the eyes of the one to whom we must give account of ourselves.

Since in Jesus, the Son of God, we have the supreme high priest who has gone through the highest heaven, we must never let go of the faith that we have professed. For it is not as if we had a high priest who was incapable of feeling our weaknesses with us; but we have one who has been tempted in every way that we are, though he is without sin. Let us be confident, then, in approaching the throne of grace, that we shall have mercy from him and find grace when we are in need of help. - Hebrews 4:12-16 -

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -