Bible Q & A

Ancient Source Tells of the Beginning of the Universe

In the time before written history, when information about past events was passed verbally from generation the generation, almost all cultures told of the creation of the universe and of its creator. Over the millennia, the stories grew more fanciful, turning from fact into myth. Though hints of the original story survived, the facts seem to have been lost - or have they?

One group of people first recorded the history of the universe in written form many millennia ago. Their writings have unique qualities to them. Their writings do not have a mythological or fanciful but rather a clinically detached, truthful tone to them. Their writings also do not contradict current verifiable scientific facts, even when scientific knowledge during the time of their writings' emergence did indeed contradict such scientific fact. The histories, written or verbal, of all other ancient cultures contradict current verifiable scientific fact. This non-contradiction of fact seems to verify the truthfulness of their writings. Their writings could even be considered of supernatural origin, since no person or persons alive could have written so accurately. In the past, when scientific theory (as opposed to verifiable scientific fact, which has never contradicted these writings) has been shown to contradict these writings, it is these writings that have always been vindicated.

The writings of this ancient culture are some of the oldest discovered and they are certainly the most complete and specific. Nothing else even comes close. It's as if these writings were supernaturally dictated and preserved. They do bear hints of a resemblance to many of the world's oldest cultures' mythology, which should be expected if that mythology still carries hints of original fact. The hints of a resemblance to many cultures' mythological stories further verifies the truthfulness of these writings. These writings appear to contain the material common to many ancient cultures' mythology. These common parts are most likely the factual parts. If they were pure fantasy, it is unlikely that even a few cultures would have common material.

The characters in these writings are more accurately portrayed than even relatively modern histories. The heroes are portrayed to be quite human, sometimes making terrible mistakes amidst honorable accomplishments. The heroes do not grow more legendary as time goes by, which happens in all other histories of the past, including histories from but a few decades ago. This further verifies the truthfulness and objectivity of these writings.

The textual accuracy of these writings is unsurpassed. Copies that have been separated by a great distance and a millenium of recopying are nearly exactly the same. When compared to any other writings, which may change by 50% in a few hundred years of copying, these writings are supernatural in their preservation. There's no better word than "supernatural" for these writings. It's as if these writings were so important to future generations that they could not be lost or mangled.

The application of these writings have resulted in what is sometimes termed a "religious" adherence and belief but the term is misleading. "Religion" is too exclusive to describe the scope of these writings. These writings appear to have been written for all mankind, not for one specific group. They also appear to have many supernatural aspects and are even purposeful.

These writings describe the common history of all mankind. That's why the mythology of most ancient cultures contains hints of these writings in them. Those ancient cultures' experiences are written about in these writings. These writings appear to be a purposefully preserved message for all mankind. So what is the message of these writtings?

These writings claim to be a communication from a higher power, the creator of the universe, who is commonly known of as God. The message of these writings is one of true, unmerited love. It is the story of how the creator of the universe created mankind to commune with Him. It's in mankind's very nature to be with God - but something happened a long time ago. Mankind decided to separate himself from his creator. His creator is perfect and mankind soiled himself such that his creator could not accept their communion and still be perfectly just.

The creator, by His very nature is perfectly just. Mankind faltered to a point which justice required punishment and separation from his own creator. It appeared as if mankind could not ever be reconciled to his creator. The creator, by His very nature, is perfectly loving as well as perfectly just. The creator wanted so much to reconcile mankind to his nature, which is communion with Him. But mankind deserved punishment for his actions. Perfect justice demanded it and perfect justice could not be denied.

Since mankind deserved punishment, punishment was inevitable. It would have to be meted out but God Himself would receive the punishment for all mankind. To allow a reconciliation of mankind and God, God would do this. Mankind's nature was to commune with God, now mankind's nature could be fulfilled. A perfect, sinless God would become "sin" for mankind. The immensity of this sacrifice could never be understood by mere mortals. The pain and suffering of God would be incomparable to the most pain suffered by any person has ever endured, incomparable to all the pain and suffering mankind as endure throughout the millennia. Not only was God to take on all mankind's sin, past and present, He would die with it. He would bury it so deep, even He would forget about it. Justice would be served and mankind would be reconciled to God.

So is God dead? Since He took mankind's sin and died, is He still dead? No, He is in fact, alive! After He was tortured and died, He came back to life. He conquered death so that mankind would not have to die in sin. Now when a person dies, he or she can go to be with God forever. No positive, joyous experience can begin to compare to living with God forever. It's mankind's fulfillment of his very nature. It's what mankind was created for.

How does one apply God's great sacrifice to his or her life? God made it relatively simple. All a person has to do is accept God's sacrifice. A person must believe in God and choose Him as his or her savior and make Him in charge of his or her life. Nothing could be more natural and easy. And what a life one would have with his or her creator at the helm and his or her very nature realized. This does not mean a person will have a prosperous life in the way mankind thinks of prosperousness. Those who fight against their creator will fight against anyone who communes with their creator by accepting their creator's great sacrifice. But such resistance matters little when one thinks of an eternity with his or her creator. Those who fight against their creator will die in their sin. If a person does not accept his or her creator's great sacrifice, he or she will not be saved by it. The creator will not force people to be saved. Everyone has a choice. If a peson chooses to fight and rebel against his or her creator, he or she will have an eternity of suffering because of his or her own sin. The creator suffered for all mankind, why would anyone choose to suffer as well? It would be like going to court for a crime you know you have committed which is punishable by death. The judge pronounces you guilty because he is a just judge. While you are walking out of the courtroom to be executed, the judge calls you back, takes off his robe and presents himself to the executioner in your place. You are free to go, all you have to do is accept it. You might say that an innocent man should not suffer for you but God is innocent and He has already suffered for you. All you have to do is accept it.

So what are these writings I keep mentioning? It's the collection of books commonly called the Bible. The Bible consists of 66 writings or books and is an amazing, supernatural collection of the creator's communication to mankind. These writings tell of the creation, mankind's fall into sin and separation from God as well as the sacrifice God made when He came to earth as a man named Jesus almost 2,000 years ago. They also tell mankind must be done to be saved:

"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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son" (Jesus speaking; John 3:16-18)

"...Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off..." (Acts 2:38-39)

There's no set formula or magic words, just tell God something like the following (He can hear you and is listening, hoping you will accept His sacrifice):

"God I've blown it. I've sinned and I'm sorry. I accept your son's sacrifice on the cross for my sins and I accept Him, Jesus, as Lord (ruler) of my life and my living Savior who rose from the dead. I believe it when you say all I have to do to be saved and have my sins forgiven is ask. I ask now. Please help me live my life for you and please send your Spirit into my heart to help me do so. Thank you. I ask this in your son Jesus' name."

If you've sincerely prayed the above prayer, please e-mail me at wwcw@wwcw.org and let me know if you need a Bible or need to get connected with a church to complete your commitment through water baptism. I will help you get started in your new life if you need the help. If you sincerely prayed the above prayer, I'd like to be the first to say "congratulations," you are now set aside as one of God's own, to spend eternity with Him.

If you are not ready to pray the above prayer, ask God to help you in your search for Him. It is a worthwhile search that will have eternal consequences. It's definitely worth the time it will you take to look into this further. You owe it to yourself to look into it. What have you got to lose? You have everything to gain.

Mark Harpt
Editor
WWCW

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