Contents
Preface iii
Introduction 1
In the Big Inning 11
The Characters 17
The Problem 31
Job, the Heart of the Bible 37
Human Attempts to Solve the Problem 43
The Gospels, God's solution to the problem 47
The Concluding Section 57
Summary 61
Excerpt
Introduction
The Bible is a compilation of 66 books, poems. letters, and stories. It has philosophy, and other literacy forms. At first glance it is fragmented, unorganized, contradicting itself, and subject to the irony that it has both authority and confusion. What does this idea indicate about the God who inspired it? With 1,600 years and numerous writers to plagiarize, He has failed to write a coherent volume. This is a type of blasphemy, and a rather stupid comment. Why worship a God who can't even wrote a good book? How can anybody be, at the same time, all-knowing, all-powerful -- and incompetent? There must be some resolution to this quandary.
There is, but it's not very complimentary to mankind. The Bible has a clear, unmistakable, and coherent outline, a central theme that flows unchanged throughout, and all the elements of a great novel, but it requires a strong constitution to accept it and a clear mind to recognize it.
What makes a great novel? The best book all have certain things in common. First they have a central theme. Then they have a clear plot, a crisis, and a resolution. There must be a villain, a problem, and its solution. Moreover they must have a dynamic tension that allows the story to progress smoothly from one section to another. All the elements must be clearly stated, and there must be no loose ends that make us ask questions about what else happened. Despite all appearances, all these elements are present in the Bible It is coherent, well-written book.
It os easy to fail to see the forest for the trees. It is easy to see the overall organization of any book if we dissect it and take each part separately. When we do this to the Bible we find that we have studied it, but not read it. Such study leads to some interesting concepts that take the place of the overall lessons of the Bible. Seventh Day Adventists accept the major lessons of the Bible, but add 21 more. They make an idol of the seventh day. That idol takes the place of, and supercedes the Biblical teaching that God is love - a love not dependent on which day of the week is holy.
