Q&A: Part 2 - Isn't the Bible Just Mythology?

This Sunday, Simon Lace brings us the talk in the latest of our EBC services. We encourage you to reflect on the bible text and join us in the prayer that follows below.
 
The talk will be available via live stream at 11.00am on Sunday 14th August, on our YouTube channel.
 
Once you have listened, here are some questions to consider:

Reading:

Matthew 9:18 (The Message)
 
“Don’t suppose for a minute that I have come to demolish the Scriptures—either God’s Law or the Prophets. I’m not here to demolish but to complete. I am going to put it all together, pull it all together in a vast panorama. God’s Law is more real and lasting than the stars in the sky and the ground at your feet. Long after stars burn out and earth wears out, God’s Law will be alive and working.”



Prayer and Reflection:

Father God, thank you for the Bible, for your Holy Word, without which we would know of neither your Laws or your grace. Thank you that by your Spirit you inspired the writers of this collection of writings that is holy, that is set apart, because it tells us accurately about you – that you created the universe, you created all things, and you created us to live in loving relationship with you and each other.
 
Lord Jesus we thank you again for your sacrifice, that you put us right with Your heavenly Father, so that we too can be called His children and live eternally in the place you have prepared for us in your Father’s house. We thank you for your forgiveness and we receive it afresh today.
 
Help us, Dear Lord, to plunge into, to immerse ourselves and soak ourselves in the Bible, for we know that that which we soak ourselves in will drip out from us into the world around us.
 
In Jesus’ name. Amen.



Questions to consider:
1) Have you ever considered the idea of reading the Bible ‘literally’ in the sense of reading the different books and recognising that there are different genres of writing, or do you read the whole Bible as historical narrative?

2) Jesus often used parables to teach truths to His disciples. Do you consider the parables to be true ‘literally’ – and if so, how so?
3) Do you think we need to turn to sources outside the Bible to verify what is contained within the Bible, or do you accept that the Bible is already a collection of documents which verify one another and were later compiled to make “the Bible”?
4) The moral code contained within the Bible is widely accepted but without people necessarily believing in God. Without God, is there are basis for objective morality? If so, how so – who is to say what is right and wrong?
5) Do you think it possible that God could simultaneously create a world in which humankind has freewill and simultaneously for that world to be without evil and suffering?
6) Do you struggle to reconcile Old Testament Law with New Testament Grace? How do you reconcile the two?
7) On atheism, there is no reason, purpose, or hope on offer – we are all just stardust and everything that happens is down to chance. Since cannot tell us how something (matter, the universe) can come from nothing, or how life can come from matter, or how it is possible for life to exist without ‘fine tuning’… which view offers more hope and seems more rational to believe in – the Christian or the atheist view?
Simon Lace, 14/08/2022