Cultures change, laws change, generations come and go, but the Word of God is as relevant today as it was when it was first written. Or is it? The Bible is not a history book, a psychology text, or a scientific journal. The Bible is the description God gave us about who He is, and His desires and plans for humanity. The most significant component of this revelation is the story of our separation from God by sin and God’s provision for restoration of fellowship through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross. That being said there is a catch: Bible was written by humans like you and me and not by the hand of God as we’re led to believe. Thus the Bible is about as accurate and true as say the Harry Potter series or Game of Thrones. Little wonder then that the French philosopher Voltaire said that in a hundred years from his day the Bible would have passed into the mists of history as people became more liberated and enlightened and realized that the greatest book ever written was fiction. Today a group of people known as the Jesus Seminar tells us that huge sections of the New Testament are not genuine but were concocted by writers who weaseled their own thoughts into the canon. Others have attacked the names and dates and events and numbers in the Bible, and proclaim that the book is riddled with errors. People who accept human evolution out of some primordial soup ridicule the very idea of creation as a throwback to an age of barbarians and illiterates. And, of course, priests and preachers will keep their jobs as long as they can continue to make you believe in the Bible. Such attacks on the reliability and relevance of the Bible can be very persuasive. Yet as far as reliability is concerned, it’s only fair to note that the Bible contains the best-documented text of any volume in human history. But is the ancient book really relevant to the issues of our frenetic, post-modern world of microscopes and satellites? This is a question asked by those who are racing through life with little time for reflection on their destiny or why they are here. But for those who are unexpectedly slammed onto a hospital bed, life takes on a much different quality. Suddenly in the long, agonizing hours punctuated only by the clicking of a heart monitor, there is time to reflect on a new set of questions, timeless questions that have not changed much through the centuries. What, or who is on the other side?
Story by Tiana Brooks.