Talking Snakes And Big Bloody Toes
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Numbers 23:19-God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
One of the most commonly voiced objections to the Bible being the Word of God is that its’ contents are too fantastic and-let’s be honest here-too bizarre to be considered realistic.
A man made from dirt?
A talking serpent in the Garden of Eden?
A man swallowed by a great big fish who then lives to tell the tale as he is vomited out like a bad meal?
Demons afflicting people?
A Man rising from the dead?
To many “enlightened” people in our modern world, the very idea of such strange and often supernatural events occurring seem far fetched and offensive (to say the least). Of courage, many of these same folks are often unaware of how modern science has continually confirmed the existence of God and provided ample evidence that the Bible is His Word.
Yet, how do we deal with these objections to the Bible?
First, let’s remember that since the God of the Bible exists, then supernatural and miraculous occurrences are not out of the question at all. Indeed, they should be expected! After all, we can reason logically from nature that there is an eternal supernatural Creator. Since there is a God Who exists beyond the laws of nature, then why would it be out of the question for that same God to be able to work beyond the laws of the nature that He Himself created (i.e., supernaturally and miraculously)?
Jeremiah 32:17-Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.
Second, the issue is not whether the miraculous and supernatural experiences described in the Bible could have occurred (since the God of creation Himself exists and can work supernaturally and miraculously if He so chooses). The issue is whether or not the evidence is credible to sustain the accounts of the supernatural and miraculous events recorded in the Bible. As the great Bible scholar, Homer Hailey, wrote many years ago:
“The function of reason per se is not to determine whether the fact was possible or impossible. Reason cannot determine whether one could begotten in the womb of a woman unimpregnated by the male sperm, or whether a dead body could be raised to life again. Rather, its function is to weigh the evidence that claims to sustain the facts. Reason must sit in judgment on the evidence and determine it valid or invalid, trustworthy or untrustworthy, strong or weak. When it has done this and has deduced a conclusion on the weight of the evidence, it has served its purpose. Will must then take over.” (Homer Hailey, That You May Believe, 19; Las Vegas, Nevada; Nevada Publications).
Let’s say that we are talking about the Global Flood of Noah’s time with someone, and they express disbelief that the Flood occurred. That is okay! We can reason together (Isaiah 1:18). Let’s break it down very simply:
Is the Bible the Word of God? The overwhelming amount of evidence leads to the undeniable conclusion that the Bible is indeed the Word of God (e.g., prophecy and fulfillment, the supernatural unity of the Bible, scientific foreknowledge of the Bible writers, archaeological confirmation, etc.).
Does the Bible teach that the Global Flood occurred? Proper exegesis of the Bible demonstrates that indeed is the case (cf. Genesis 6-9).
Therefore, the Global Flood occurred.
If the Bible is the Word of God, and if the Bible teaches X, then X is true.
It really is just that simple!
Finally, the study of context in many of these intriguing accounts shows us that they may not all be as “strange” as we would believe based on a casual reading of the text. The Bible was written for people living in a different time and culture then our own. It must be interpreted within the context in which it was written. One student of God’s Word has tried to apply those principles to his understanding of the Bible.
What has he learned?
“I can totally relate to anyone who thinks the Bible is strange. I agree that it contains some bizarre and even embarrassing things. When I first tried to read the Bible as a teenager, it seemed more like a work of fiction, a book filled with epic battles and angels, stories of demons, and even a red dragon.* My Bible had paper with this cool, shiny, gold edging, and I placed it on a bookshelf between Bram Stoker’s Dracula and J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. It seemed like a good fit there with my fantasy and horror books. During my college years, when I read and studied the Bible more seriously, I was still disturbed by some of the oddities I found, like the talking serpent and a talking donkey too.† At this point, I wasn’t just reading the Bible out of curiosity; I was seriously considering the claims of the Christian faith. Finding these bizarre things in the Bible, including worship rituals that involved killing animals and putting a dab of the blood on your right earlobe and on the big toe of your right foot, caused me to seriously question whether Christianity was really for me. I wondered, “What is this? Do Christians really believe this?”‡…Although you may not know me personally, I can say this very confidently to you: I would not be writing this book if there were no explanations for these Bible verses. If there weren’t reasonable responses, I likely would have become an agnostic and not taken the Bible seriously as God’s inspired words. When I was exploring the validity of Christianity and the Bible, I had to wrestle with questions like these and study to find the truth. I did not want to follow a cult, a wishful religion, or a mindless faith. I wanted to follow truth. I had no pressure from family or peers pushing me to ignore the difficult things or to believe that the Scriptures are true and good if they aren’t…. The good news is that there are responses to these bizarre Bible verses and difficult questions. You can be a thinking intelligent Christian and one hundred percent believe in the trustworthiness and inspiration of the Bible. Yes, these verses certainly do seem difficult to comprehend. However, I’ve learned that when we apply certain study methods and examine verses in their contexts, it can change how we view and read the Bible.” (Dan Kimball, How (Not) to Read the Bible: Making Sense of the Anti-women, Anti-science, Pro-violence, Pro-slavery and Other Crazy-Sounding Parts of Scripture, 7-9 (Kindle Edition): Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Reflective)
Adding this all together, when we find things in the Bible that defy belief because of our modern preconceptions, remember: 1). Since the supernatural God exists, then supernatural and miraculous events are entirely possible; 2). Since the evidence clearly establishes the credibility of the Bible being the Word of God, then the supernatural and miraculous accounts within its’ pages are accurate; 3). The context of each of these amazing accounts must be taken into account to ensure that we are correctly interpreting what we are reading.
Lord, thank You for the mysterious and supernatural parts of the Bible that challenge our often materialistic beliefs and preconceptions. Help us to grow in our study of Your Word and to better apply its’ teachings to our lives. We thank You! Amen.