In the Beginning Was Information (19 page)

Scientific results:
It is useful to employ linguistic findings as well as historical background information for a better understanding of the text. Even with the best erudition it might still happen that the essence of the message remains hidden. We wish to emphasize that the so-called "historical-critical method" is not a suitable approach for understanding the Bible.

Spiritual understanding:
The Bible is a spiritual book which was formulated under the supervision of the Holy Spirit. In the same way, its understanding is also a spiritual process requiring the collaboration of the Holy Spirit.

Personal attitude:
The Lord opens the Scriptures for those who seek (Matt. 7:7; Luke 24:25) and who obey (2 Cor. 10:5). Access is denied to those who regard themselves as wise; those who are haughty and hard of heart exclude themselves (Exod. 4:21; Isa. 6:9–10; Ezek. 2:4; Matt. 13:15; John 7:17).

Biblical concepts:
The overall conception of the Bible is that it is easy to understand (2 Cor. 1:13). Jesus used many parables
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to illustrate difficult spiritual relationships.

When one reads philosophical treatises, legal expositions, or political declarations, one too often gains the impression that more things are obscured than are explained. The Bible is composed in such a way that a child can understand the fundamental assertions and be blessed through the Word. The only condition is that the heart must be open, then the following is applicable: "Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear" (Matt. 13:16).

There are also difficult passages in the Bible. When God said, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways…. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isa. 55:8–9), then this also applies to His Word. Many passages cannot be understood now, but their meaning will be revealed when, for example, the prophetically designated time has arrived.

Fullness of ideas:
The English Bible (KJV) contains 783,173 words, a number which is fairly limited, but the scope of its ideas is unbounded. In exceptional cases one might read a secular book two or three times, and then its contents will be fully known, but the Bible is inexhaustible, and even at a hundredth reading, new ideas and relationships are revealed. After many years of intensive Bible study, Spurgeon testified [S10]: "The copiousness of God’s Word is just as unbounded as its comprehensiveness. During the forty years of my own ministry I have merely touched the hem of the garment of divine truth, but what power flowed out from it! The Word resembles its Originator: boundless, immeasurable and infinite. If it were your task to preach throughout eternity, you would always find a theme on whatever topic may be required."

Inexhaustible:
The semantic wealth of the Bible is so great that no human life is long enough to deplete it. There is, however, a unifying thread which keeps everything together.

4. Pragmatics:
If the recipient (man) breaks off the message received from the sender (God) at the semantic level, then the purpose intended by God will be missed. The goal of the information in the Bible is that man should be moved to action. Jesus placed an extremely high premium on this aspect of information: "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock" (Matt. 7:24). When deeds are not forthcoming, the Word becomes a judgment. This aspect is expounded in the parable of the ten "minas" (talents), where Jesus gave the unambiguous command: "Put this money to work …until I come back "(Luke 19:13). The obedient servants were amply rewarded; He said to the first one, "Well done, my good servant! …Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities" (Luke 19:17). The one who did nothing, was condemned: "I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow?" (Luke 19:22). Our deeds are judged by God (Rev. 20:12), and according to Matthew 25:31–46, Jesus will distinguish between two groups of people only: those who acted, and those who did nothing. The first group was invited into heaven: "Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world" (Matt. 25:34). The reason is given in verse 40: "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

The second group is sent into the eternal fire because "Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me." The message of James 1:22 becomes clear in this regard: "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." Heinrich Kemner said justly that in the last judgment we will mostly be found guilty for what we did not do. "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins" (James 4:17). Also in the Old Testament Moses, as instructed by God, identifies the pragmatic requirement on which life depends: "Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. They are not just idle words for you — they are your life" (Deut. 32:46–47).

We now use two illustrative examples to explain a false and a correct pragmatic attitude toward the Bible.

Example 1:
There is an East Prussian story
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about a teacher who discussed Matthew 5:39: "If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also" during a religious instruction class. One farmer was rather indignant when his son told him this, and when he met the teacher in a meadow he put this command to the test. He asked the teacher whether he practiced that which he taught the children. The reply was, "But of course, it stands in the Bible." The farmer then lashed out and struck the teacher down with a powerful blow to his face. When he struggled to his feet, the farmer quoted, "Turn to him the other also," and dealt him another heavy blow on his left cheek. Being a Bible student, the teacher countered with, "With the measure you use, it will be measured to you — and even more" (Mark 4:24), and in his turn struck the farmer. This resulted in an exchange of blows where every blow was accompanied by a biblical quotation. At that moment, the landowner traveled past and saw the fight. He stopped and sent his servant to investigate. The servant ran to the combatants, watched them for a while, and then walked back at a leisurely pace. He reported that nothing much was the matter, they were only explaining Holy Scriptures to each other.

Example 2:
A blind septuagenarian African woman had a French Bible which she loved very much. She took it to the local missionary requesting him to highlight John 3:16 in red. This he did, without knowing her purpose. The blind woman then sat at the school gate and asked the emerging pupils whether any of them knew French. Being proud of their knowledge of the language, they answered in the affirmative. The woman then showed them the underlined verse, requesting them to read it for her. They complied eagerly. When she asked them whether they understood these words, the answer was "no." The woman then explained the meaning of this central biblical assertion: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." It is known that 24 men became evangelists through the ministry of this woman [J2].

5. Apobetics:
From the point of view of the sender, a process of information transfer has only been successful when the purpose intended for the recipient has been achieved. All aspects of information are inextricably interlinked. It is thus insufficient when everything runs smoothly up to a certain level, but the final level — the purpose — is not attained. Strictly speaking, any information level is only a stepping stone to the next higher level: Language is solely a means for achieving the semantics purpose. In its turn, semantics leads to the pragmatics level, and, in the last instance, pragmatics is only a preparatory stage for the apobetics. In chapter 4, this purposefulness of information is described as the most important aspect. This is especially true of God’s message in the Bible. He has certain objectives with the Bible, of which we mention some special ones.

a) Perception: Who is God?
Without the Bible, we would have known very little about God. We could deduce His existence and His power from His works of creation (Rom. 1:20), but nothing would be known about His person and His nature. The Bible thus has the purpose of making God known to us. It is obvious that all polytheistic representations are false: "I am the Lord, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God" (Isa. 45:5). God is love (1 John 4:16), life (1 John 5:20), and light (1 John 1:5). He is holy (Isa. 6:3) and hates sin so much that it carries the death penalty (Rom. 6:23). We are abundantly informed about God’s Son and His function as Savior, and also about the Holy Spirit who leads us in all truth. Jesus is the only way to God. In the words of Martin Luther, "If you do not find God through Christ, you will never find Him, even if you search everywhere else."

b) Perception: Creation was purposeful.
When we read the first two chapters of the Bible, it becomes clear that creation was systematically planned and made purposefully. Man is the crowning glory at the pinnacle of creation. Seen in the light of the Bible, Nietzsche’s anti-apobetics is empty and not based on reality: "Man is a thread tied between animal and superman, a thread stretching above an abyss" (Zarathustra). According to the New Testament, however, everything was created by and for Christ (Col. 1:16).

c) Perception: Who is man?
Alexis Carrel, a Nobel laureate, wrote a book with the title
Man the Unknown
. Apart from the Bible, we cannot fathom who we really are; our true nature would remain a mystery. The well-known German author Manfred Hausmann (1898–1986) testified as follows: "Every time I open the Bible, I am astounded anew by its depth and many-sidedness. The picture drawn of man is found nowhere else. Man is encompassed in his entirety, his greatness and his pitiableness, his tenderness and brutality, his glory and his darkness. No other book reveals such appalling and such splendid things about human nature than does the Bible. The background meanings of the stories told in it are inexhaustible." We learn from the Bible that we were separated from God through sin and are now on our way to hell. Everybody needs to be saved, and the religions encourage us to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps — self-salvation. On the way to judgment, we are met by the One who is the "antidote" to sin: Jesus! If we understand ourselves in this light, then we know who we are.

d) Manual of instructions for life:
God has prepared the best purposes and greatest blessings conceivable for our earthly life. He is concerned about our happiness in marriage, in our family, our career, and our nation, and desires to bless us with success in everything, so that the words of the Psalmist are applicable: "Whatever he does prospers" (Ps. 1:3). God’s will for us is the best, as indicated in uncountable ways. The upright will be prosperous (Prov. 2:7), those who hope in Him will be strengthened (Isa. 40:31), and all who are weary and burdened will find rest (Matt. 11:28). There is only one answer to the question why God does this, namely "I have loved you with an everlasting love" (Jer. 31:3).

A machine will not operate properly in the fashion envisaged by the inventor, unless the instruction manual is obeyed. How much more then do our lives become a mess when we disregard the instructions for our life as provided by the Creator? This type of information can be regarded as operational information, as discussed in chapter 7. The Bible is the only instruction manual for a blessed and full life; the condition is briefly and simply formulated: "By living according to your word" (Ps. 119:9).

e) Signpost pointing to heaven:
The highest purpose ever formulated is that God desires eternal communion with each one of us. Earthly blessings are only a minute foretaste compared to the richness of eternity. We are invited to enter heaven. The suffering and death of Jesus was the price paid for sin, so that we will not be lost. When Jesus rose up from the grave, this sacrifice was honored by God. Now anybody can get into the lifeboat which will reach the other coast, because God does not want sinners to be lost, "but rather that they turn from their ways and live" (Ezek. 33:11). God sent the Lord Jesus "as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood" (Rom. 3:25). Everyone who calls on His name (Rom. 10:13) and who receives Him (John 1:12), has crossed over from the death penalty of sin, to eternal life (John 5:24). The way to heaven is just as simple as it is sure: The Bible is the
only compass,
and Jesus is the
only way
. Anybody who turns to Jesus is saved. He then becomes a child of God and at the same time heir to heaven (Titus 3:7). This decision cannot be postponed. Bezzel once said, "The pardoning power of grace is unlimited, but it still depends on the moment."

Missionary and native:
After every sermon, a missionary called on the congregation to choose Jesus. When urged to repent, someone who attended regularly for several years always responded with, "Next year." One day he became seriously ill, and the missionary brought him the required medicine with the instruction that it should be taken a year later. The native then said that he might be dead before that time and needed the medicine right now. The missionary replied, "You care for your body, but what about your soul?"

Many people, when seeking a goal for their life, are worried that it might be a failure. Our life has attained its highest purpose when we bind it to God; then all searching becomes unnecessary because of this consummation. Spurgeon once uttered the striking words [S9]: "Man’s heart has only enough life to pursue one goal fully. Nobody can serve both God and mammon, because there is not enough life in one’s heart to serve both."