Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good morning, dear people.

It’s another cold freezing morning…but clear and beautiful. It’s about time for some breakfast, then I’ll get to delivering a cord of firewood, followed by carrying on with some serious tree work. Yesterday, I did a couple hours of serious tree climbing that called for limbing up to about 70 feet…and slept like a log last night because of it.

Blessings on your day.

Love, Dad/Ray.

Within this little two-chapter volume, I notice that this phrase has appeared five times (1:5,7; 2:15, 18)—“give careful thought.” As I GIVE CAREFUL THOUGHT to this phrase, it occurs to me that we may have just identified the most universally common core cause for human failure on planet earth—failure to “give careful thought”—the built-in responsibility attached to the Creator’s investment of His own “image and likeness”—which my careful thought renders as HUMAN INTELLIGENCE. Think about it. As you do, what are your thoughts?

This may be a bit of a rabbit trail, but I’m inclined to subject this line of thought to some dialogue I had yesterday with a very nice lady who serves as a Hospice Nurse. The people group with whom she works are mainly seniors on their way out—those with terminal health issues not expected to live much longer. So her primary job description, in her words, is “to help her patients be as peaceful and comfortable as possible as they face their end.” This is definitely commendable work, in my estimation, and calls for special levels of compassion. However, I don’t think I could function well within the required parameters of that official position—if the job description prohibits any emphasis on BIBLICAL TRUTH. My careful thought reasons that if BIBLICAL TRUTH is not TRUE, then Bibles really deserve to be burned. If the Bible, as well as Jesus Christ, claim to be TRUTH, but they, in fact, are not TRUE, is that not simply a big fat LIE? Is there something wrong with my careful thought?

Consider again the most well-known evangelistic verse of the Bible—John 3:16. I won’t quote it here because I’m sure you can. Notice what it does not say. It does not say, “whoever has a terminal illness,” or “whoever is made to feel peaceful and comfortable,” or “whoever really wants to go to heaven—if there even is such a thing as conscious existence after death.” It does say, “whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” That, of course, implies the well-established BIBLICAL TRUTH that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)—meaning, we’re all a bunch of sinners in need of a Savior—and what we do with this BIBLICAL TRUTH determines everything else.

What if Billy Graham had adopted a WHATEVER GOSPEL?—and his basic message was, “Whatever, whatever, whatever—and you will gain whatever.” How many lives would have been transformed? How many eternal destinies would have been affected? For that matter, what if Jesus’ message was basically the same—“Whoever believes whatever will have eternal whatever?” What a wonderful whatever to live and die for!

Perhaps I will end with my biased opinion based on my best effort of careful thought: I don’t really believe people are supposed to have peace who are not in fellowship with the “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).