Sometimes I enjoy reading comments of online news articles
that deal with religion. Whether
on CNN, Fox or ESPN (which is becoming more and more political) there is always
a host of banter between Christians and atheists. At one point in my life such atheistic comments would have
caused me to become angry. Now I
am just amused. I guess
foolishness amuses me!
Inevitably
the atheist says to the Christian, “Stop using the Bible to make your
point. I don’t believe in the
Bible.” This is problematic for
several reasons, but one of the greatest is the failure to recognize the power
of the Bible. Even if the atheist
doesn’t believe in the divine nature of Scriptures, he ought to have a greater
awareness of the many connections between claimed prophecies and their (the
atheist would add ‘supposed’) fulfillment.
Take
our first reading today from Wisdom: “Let
us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he
sets himself against our doings, reproaches us for transgressions of
the law and
charges us with violations of our training. He professes to have knowledge of God and
styles himself a child of the LORD…He
calls blest the destiny of the just and boasts that God is his
Father…Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God
will take care of him.”
The various texts of the Bible were not written by one
man in the form of a novel. Even a
secular reading of the Scriptures will reveal a host of authors and many genres
of literature who wrote in different times, cultures and places. This only adds to the impact of ‘supposed’
prophecies and their ‘supposed’ fulfillment. The book of Wisdom itself was written several hundred years
before Jesus Christ and even the atheist ought to be impressed by the
connection between it and Jesus!
And for we believers, such a fulfilled prophecy should
only strengthen our faith.
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