The Bible is “myth” seems to be the mantra of many of the new atheists today; with media and numerous blogs all adding their voices declaring that “the Bible is a work of fiction.”
These challenges to the Scripture are nothing new; throughout the history of the church we have seen the veracity of the Bible called into question time and time again. The Scriptures can be trusted, it isn’t a work of fiction, it is not mythology. Rather, it is a true historical record; and it is the inerrant and infallible Word of God.
The Church needs to stand upon this basis. It must speak with authority when it comes to the Scripture; we must set forth before a questioning world that the Bible is trustworthy. What we must not do is pour petrol onto the flames of scepticism and give more ammunition to the claims of those who argue the Scripture is fiction.
When it comes to Christmas, churches throughout the world have a wonderful opportunity to make known the truth of the nativity, and to present it in a serious manner. The incarnation, God becoming a man, is something we should gaze upon with wonder. It is something we should pause to consider, as we realise that Jesus is Immanuel, God with us.
Sadly, one of the largest churches in the Baptist Union of Queensland, Riverlife Baptist Church (formerly Kenmore Baptist Church), decided that they would join the ranks of the mocking world by turning the coming of Jesus into a circus act.
Christmas is one of those times when the community decides to make their semi-annual pilgrimage to church, on those occasions we need to faithfully present the gospel; but what Riverlife decided to do was put on a show, “O Little Clown of Bethlehem.”
Yes, you did read that correctly, Riverlife Baptist decided to make the story of the coming of Christ a clown story. With those casted as the angels, Mary, Joseph and the wise men all acting out the nativity as clowns.
Nothing screams to an unbelieving world, “We don’t believe the Bible,” quite like making the birth of Jesus a flippant, and blasphemous sideshow.
Sadly, today the modern church has embraced the notion that in order to win the world you must become like them. No longer do they care about feeding sheep, instead they have become false convert factories that are only interested in entertaining goats. Treating God as reverent and Christ as a precious treasure is spurned for nothing more than a few laughs. Man is lifted up, whereas God is trivialised.
But wait a minute! Doesn’t the Bible tell us in 1 Corinthians 4:10 that we are to be “fools for Christ”? No, it doesn’t tell us to be fools for Christ, but it does tell us that the world will think our stand for Jesus is foolish. If we read on in 1 Corinthians 4, we see that Paul tells us how he acted in the face of opposition, it was precisely that kind of response to persecution which is considered foolish.
What we do not see is Paul putting on a bright red clown nose and marching up to his opponents and seeking to entertain them. The Apostle Paul took his calling seriously; he proclaimed the truth in a non-compromising manner, and as a result the people thought him foolish. Perhaps they would have liked him if he had compromised, and sought to be friends with the world (James 4:4)?
When churches don’t take the Bible seriously, how can we ever expect the world to take the Bible as truth? We need a new reformation.
Aaron Raymond is the Chief Editor of Particularly Baptist, and a former Pastor of a Baptist Union church.
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