101: Is the Bible True? (Sunday, July 3rd, 2022)

OT Lesson: Isaiah 34:16-17 (CEB)

Consult the Lord’s scroll and read:
Not one of these will be missing;
none will lack its mate.
God’s own mouth has commanded;
God’s own spirit has gathered them.
God has cast the lot for them;
God’s hand allotted it to them with the measuring line.
They will possess it forever;
they will live in it from generation to generation.

NT Lesson: 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NLT)

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realise what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

Sermon

Introduction

Good morning. It is a day early, but Happy Independence Day. Independence is very important. The political and diplomatic independence is super important. Korea, or Joseon Dynasty back then, lost independence and occupied by the Japanese empire for thirty-six years, being constantly exploited, abused and oppressed. With that experience, most Koreans truly understand the importance of national independence. Here in this wonderful country, we are thankful to the founding fathers and mothers who established the independence and laid the foundation of this country. As much as the national independence is important, personal independence and freedom is also important. We dream and work together for the day when the true independence for all people living in this country is achieved—the independence and freedom socially, legally, economically, financially, culturally, and in every possible way.

Super Salad

Especially, today, I want the independence for us from the confusion concerning the Bible. The confusion sometimes comes from the misunderstanding or lack of understanding. I had several occasions of confusion mostly because of my misunderstanding of English. Once I went to the Olive Garden in Winnipeg, a fine Italian restaurant. I don’t think we have one in town, but it is a super nice restaurant where I go once or twice a year. So I went to the Olive Garden in Winnipeg, Canada. A server came, my friend and I ordered. Then the server asked me, “Soup or Salad?” Because he spoke too fast, I heard it like ‘Super Salad?’ I thought to myself, ‘super salad, sounds very healthy.’ And I told him, ‘Sure, I’ll take that.’ The server told me again, ‘Soup or Salad?’ And I replied again, ‘Yes. That sounds great. I’ll take the super salad.’ Then the server hesitated a bit and told me again, ‘No, I mean… S.O.U.P… or… S.A.L.A.D? Which one?’ Then I realised that it was not a super salad but ‘soup or salad.’ Well, to my defence, that was my first time dining at an Olive Garden. I don’t get confused any more because I now know it.

Organic

When I was in high school in Korea, I walked to school everyday—hour and half one way. The school was on almost top of a mountain at an undeveloped area back then. There was a so-called shack village. Poor people were living in shacks made out of thin wood panels and cardboards. Those were illegal but they could not afford an actual housing. And one day my friend and I were passing by one of those houses, and an old lady were growing some veggies. My friend asked her, “Are these organic?” She said, “whaaaaat?” My friend asked her again slowly, “Are … These … Organic …?” She asked us back, “What’s that?” So my friend initially thought about explaining it but then he gave up and just paraphrased his question, “Oh, I mean… are you growing them well.” Then the old lady finally answered us. By the way, in the ghetto area, the language is usually coarse, so viewer discretion is advised. Anyway the old lady said to us, “Of course you dumb ass. I used tons of pesticide.” Right… organic. That conversation was confused because of lack of understanding as well. So likewise, we may have lots of confusions when we read the Bible because of either misunderstanding or lack of understanding. So let us review today a few cases and examine whether the Bible is true or not.

Is it Motel?

Let’s go to Luke 2:7. It is the Christmas scene when mother Mary was giving birth to baby Jesus. The Scripture reads, ‘And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the INN.’ Because of this word, INN, all nativity plays and films show Mary and Joseph going one street to another to find a vacancy in a MOTEL.

First of all, in Near and Middle Eastern area, hospitality to strangers is the key to their culture. We can find that from Abraham in Genesis 18 when he was welcoming three strangers. In 2014, I was in Israel and Palestine while the war between Israel and Gaza was on-going. I tried to go into Gaza but failed and was stopped by Israeli soldiers. The city was severely bombed. And after the war, one of my friend’s friend went there. He was a journalist but he disguised himself as an NGO worker because Israeli government did not allow any journalists in Gaza. That guy went into Gaza with one of the Palestinian guide. And there was a half destroyed building. And a guy on the second floor, topless, was yelling at him in Arabic. The journalist thought to himself, “oh shoot. That Arabic guy must have gotten his home bombed and now he is angry and yelling at me.” And he asked his Palestinian guide what that guy is yelling about. And the translation was this: “Welcome to Gaza. Please come up to my humble house. I’ll treat you with a cup of tea. Sorry that I don’t have any cookies. But the sun is too hot. Please come up and get some rest in the shade.”

This is the story of 2014—several years ago. Back in 2,000 years ago, hospitality was much more important and it is very unlikely that Joseph and Mary struggled to find a place. It was just too crowded because of the census. Imagine a big reunion of your entire relatives at your house. Let’s say, you have five rooms in your house. But seven cousins’ families came over. One or two families have to stay and sleep, not in a bedroom, but on couches in the living room. The Greek word κατάλυμα (kataluma) is actually a guest room, not a motel or an inn. So Mary and Joseph were simply not able to stay in a guest bedroom but they stayed in the garage. For your information, it was not a detached garage, but an attached garage.

Carpenter?

Same thing happens with the word carpenter. Because the Bible says Joseph and Jesus were the carpenters, we imagine them making tables, chairs and shelves out of lumber. Even the 2004 film, ‘the Passion of the Christ’ depicts a scene with Jesus making a wooden table and chairs. By the way, I am not saying anything against carpenters. I love them. (When I was young, I’d listen to the radio) The Greek Bible uses τέκτων (tekton) for carpenter. The well-known English word Architect is from this Greek word. Arch means head. So architect is head τέκτων. And, τέκτων is a builder, especially a stone builder. And thus an architect is a head builder. Jesus came to this world to become the true builder who was to build the true temple in three days. And to proclaim that, Jesus chose the τέκτων as his occupation, because he is the true builder.

Does the Bible contradict itself?

Some people say that Bible contradicts itself. At some point the Bible says not to marry gentiles, and at other place the Bible says it is OK. At some place the Bible says that all the descendants of Moabites are cursed. At other place the Bible says they are blessed. By the way, David is a descendant of a Moabite woman. Those people who claim that the Bible contradicts itself bring several more examples. And I believe that it is because of the misunderstanding or lack of understanding about the nature of the Bible. Even those people with Ph.D may lack understanding. I don’t care if they have Ph.D or not. I used to drive semi truck in Canada, and the semi drivers in Canada called ourselves PHD—Professional Highway Driver. So in a sense, I had a PHD.

Let’s imagine that somebody asks you how to come to the church. You need to give him the direction to the church. You then first ask him back where he is located. The guy says that he is at Walgreen. Then your direction should be like this: “Drive down South on Lebanon Street. Right after the County Court, make a left turn.” 

Let’s say that t here is another guy who calls you with the same question, and this guy is at the Starbucks. Then your direction should be like this: “Drive up North on Lebanon Street. Right before the County Court, make a right turn.” 

So in literal way, those two directions seem contradicting with each other. One says South, the other says North. One says After the court, the other says Before the court. One says Left, the other says Right. So those two directions are totally opposite and contradict with each other in every sentence. Right? Well, no, it is not. Both directions are correct and pointing to the same destination. They look different and opposite because the initial starting points are different. The same thing applies to the Bible. Even though sometimes the Bible looks like weird and contradicting itself, it is not. The Bible was written to and for many different people in many different places. The directions may seem contradicting each other but they all have one destination—heaven. To get the right navigation from the Bible, we first need to know where we are standing and located. When we fully and entirely understand the Bible, we will surely know and realise that the Bible is the true Word of God and perfect in every sense. It is us lacking understanding, not the Bible.

Is Bible Myth?

There has been one topic constantly being debated for over two thousand years. Some people say that the Bible is true. Some others people say it is just a myth, nothing but one of the ancient texts like Greek mythology. Some scientists ignore the Bible. Some others scientists became Christians while studying quantum physics. In 2014, I excavated in two places in Israel, and worked with two different archaeological professors. One was Dr. Yosef Garfinkel at Lakish and the other was Dr. Israel Finkelstein at Megiddo. Dr. Israel Finkelstein is an archaeology professor at Tel Aviv University. He says that there was no Exodus because there is no archaeological proof of exodus. On the other hand, Dr. Yosef Garfinkel who is an archaeology professor at Hebrew University says that there was exodus because there is no archaeological disproof of exodus. Similar to this, large portions of the Bible have no proof for it scientifically and archaeologically. And at the same time, there is no disproof against it as well scientifically and archaeologically. What shall we do then?

Pontius Pilate

Many years ago, many historians and archaeologists used to say that Pontius Pilate is not a real person, but a fictional figure. The Roman empire is well known for being obsessed with keeping records. And the scholars could not find the name of Pontius Pilate anywhere in the Roman archives. And because of that, many people said that this guy is fake, not a real person, and thus the entire Bible is a myth and nothing but a fictional story. Many Christian scholars could not say a word about it because there was no proof for Pontius Pilate and yet at the same time no disproof as well.

In 1961, a lime stone was found behind the stage house of the Roman theatre at Caesarea. This is a photo that I took in 2014, which is the replica of the stone at the place where it was found. The real stone is safely kept in the Israel Museum. The stone’s inscription says in Latin, “DIS AUGUSTIS TIBERIÉUM PONTIUS PILATUS PRAEFECTUS IUDAEAE FECIT DEDICAVIT” which means in English “To Divine Augustus Tiberius, Pontius Pilate the Prefect of Judea has dedicated…” So finally we have one evidence about the existence of Pontius Pilate. So now, go out and try to find those scholars, historians, and archaeologists who claimed that the Bible is myth because there was no Pontius Pilate. There is none now. Many times the Bible may look fake having no proof, and tons of scholars always say there is no evidence for this and no evidence for that. But I say, it is just we have not found the evidence and proof yet.

Adam and Eve

I know it is getting longer and boring, but let me say this one. This is the last, I promise. Many people including Christians have trouble with Genesis. Many of them cannot take it. God made the whole world in six days. God made Adam and Eve, and entire human race is the descendants of that one couple. Many of those details are hard to believe and beyond our understanding. And even some so-called Christians make fun of it. Well, I am not here to force you to just believe and take it as literal. But I just want to share with you one interesting scientific fact.

Project Genographic

There was a huge project in 2005 named Genographic, sponsored by IBM and National Geographic, led by Dr. Spencer Wells. I also participated in that project. They collected and analysed the DNA of over 800,000 people from more than 140 countries. They even went to the tribe of Zulu in Africa, and all other known tribes in all the continents and islands.

The purpose of the project was to figure out the origin of human kind in their way, that is the group evolution. Their theory was that the huge group of apes evolved altogether, while the Bible says that there was only one couple from where the entire humanity came. So they were to disprove the Bible. But after all the research and analysis of all the DNA, they found that the entire human race has one female mother and one single male father. I cannot talk about it in detail now because if I preach any longer than this, you may feel like you are a hostage. We may discuss about it in the Bible study later. The project team traced the mother side ancestry using mitochondrial DNA, and father side ancestry using Y Chromosome DNA. All mitochondrial DNA converged into one woman which the scientists named “Mitochondrial Eve.” And all Y chromosome DNA went back to one man which they labelled as “Y Chromosome Adam.” This is scientifically true and you can google about it. So those project people might have been embarrassed because they wanted to say that the Bible is fundamentally wrong, but instead they proved that the entire humanity actually came from one woman and one man. And yet they still say in their statement, “Well this does not prove the Bible is right.” I believe personally when human academics and science are advanced fully and developed enough, then they will also prove that the Bible is right and true.

Conclusion

Friends, human knowledge is very limited. The science is changing constantly. Once they said that the universe is shrinking, now they say it is expanding. Once they said that there is no such thing like black hole because it is theoretically and mathematically impossible, now they say that there are billions of billions of black holes in the universe. Not that the science lied to us but they are advancing, finding and learning new things. With our small brain, we may not be able to fully understand the universe. Human intellect is laughable when it comes to the size of the universe. The universe is literally beyond our imagination. And the creator God who made all these is bigger and greater than the entire universe. That great and awesome God gave us the Bible, which is His Word. The Bible is true. As Isaiah declared, “the Word of our God shall stand forever!” My sisters and brothers in Christ, believe the Bible and receive Jesus Christ and His love into your heart. Amen.