Prayer: Six More Quotations, One More Story

Some of you liked the story and six quotations about prayer from my earlier blog. So here’s six more, followed by a story.

The first two quotes come from two Puritans:

Richard Sibbes said, "God can pick sense out of a confused prayer."

Thomas Watson said, "The angel fetched Peter out of prison, but it was prayer that fetched the angel."

Abraham Lincoln said, "I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me seemed insufficient for the day."

This one's from John Bunyan, the imprisoned pastor who wrote Pilgrim’s Progress: “You can do more than pray, after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.”

Robert Murray McCheyne said, "What a man is on his knees before God, that he is, and nothing more."

E. Stanley Jones said, "Prayer is surrender—surrender to the will of God and cooperation with that will. If I throw out a boathook from the boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God."

And now the story, from the life of George Mueller:

Things looked bleak for the children of George Mueller's orphanage at Ashley Downs in England. It was time for breakfast, and there was no food. A small girl whose father was a close friend of Mueller was visiting in the home. Mueller took her hand and said, "Come and see what our Father will do." In the dining room, long tables were set with empty plates and empty mugs. Not only was there no food in the kitchen, but there was no money in the home's account.

Mueller prayed, "Dear Father, we thank Thee for what Thou art going to give us to eat." Immediately, they heard a knock at the door. When they opened it, there stood the local baker. "Mr. Mueller," he said, "I couldn't sleep last night. Somehow I felt you had no bread for breakfast, so I got up at 2 o'clock and baked fresh bread. Here it is." Mueller thanked him and gave praise to God. Soon, a second knock was heard. It was the milkman. His cart had broken down in front of the orphanage. He said that before the milk spoiled, he would like to give it to the children.

What a powerful reminder that prayer is never secondary, it's always primary. It's not the last recourse, when options run out; it's the first and best recourse.


www.randyalcorn.blogspot.com
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Question and Answer of the Week: Is the Bible inerrant?

I believe in the inspiration and authority of Scripture, but I don't think this means I have to believe in inerrancy. The Bible isn't meant to be a textbook, and we don't need to believe in the details of the creation account, and the first man and woman in the garden, or about Jonah being swallowed by a whale. The Bible contains parables and metaphors. Do I really have believe it has to be correct in all the little details to be God's Word?

Usually when people say they believe the Bible contains errors, I ask them to name those errors so we can look at them. They may raise easily answered questions such as "Where did Cain get his wife?" But usually they can't name many supposed errors, if any at all. They often take the word of other people that the Bible contains errors, without investigating for themselves. I have investigated for myself, and I am convinced that when God says all Scripture is "God breathed" (2 Timothy 3:16), He means that it is all accurate and reliable. When He says that "men spoke from God, as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:21), He means that God was the source of their words and protected them from error.

My biggest problem with not embracing inerrancy is this: once we say the Bible contains errors, who decides what is true and what is false? A group of scholars, such as the Jesus Seminar group who cast votes on whether Jesus really said a certain thing (and decide he didn't, because as a loving person Jesus would not really say people are going to an eternal hell)? If so, then who is my real authority? Not Scripture, but these scholars. (And what is THEIR authority? Not Scripture, but themselves.)

Or do I trust my own judgment, my biases, my frail and faulty and ever-changing "knowledge," my desires and felt needs, and then conclude that because I want to leave my wife (I don't, by the way, she's terrific :), the passages restricting divorce are not really accurate, and come from the gospel writers' and Paul's restrictive conservativism, not from the loving heart of God. Or I want to live with my girlfriend, or my partner of the same gender, and I choose to believe the love and grace parts of Scripture, but not those that say such things are wrong. If I do this, then who is my real authority? Not Scripture, but myself (and "myself" is largely shaped by the current values of my culture).

Thomas Jefferson constructed a literal cut and paste Bible, that included what he liked and excluded what he didn't. (There was a great deal he didn't like—once you start cutting, where do you stop?) Who then was the authority? Not the Bible, but Thomas Jefferson.

We inevitably end up like the final verse of Judges: "There was no King in Israel; and every man did what was right in his own eyes." Unless God's Word is fully trustworthy, inevitably I must rely upon myself or others to decide which parts I should trust and which I shouldn't. If some of Scripture is false, I must develop some process whereby I determine which parts are true, since truth-seekers will not wish to embrace what isn't true. Then my authority is no longer God's Word, but my own judgment in determining which parts are true and which aren't.

Failure to believe in inerrancy must logically lead to my inability to trust the Bible as authoritative. Clearly those parts which are false—I speak not of parable or metaphor, but if Scripture actually affirms historical details that are not true—cannot be authoritative. I cannot rely upon what I do not believe to be accurate. I cannot place myself under the authority of that which is historically false. I cannot build my belief system upon the sand and chaff of historical error. (See Francis Schaeffer's Genesis in Space and Time on this subject.)

If I do not believe there was a first man named Adam created from the ground, as Genesis tells me, then I cannot believe that we all sinned in Adam, etc. Neither can I believe Christ is God, since he clearly believed Adam was a real first man, and if Jesus was wrong, I cannot trust Him, nor was he the perfect sacrifice for my sins.

When I hear Christians say that Jonah really wasn't swallowed by a fish, because that's just impossible, I consider the words of Jesus in Matthew 12:40: "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." So I guess if it wasn't true about Jonah, we don't need to believe in Christ's literal death, burial, and resurrection either. And more to the point, why should we believe Christ's claim to be the truth and speak the truth and "I and the Father are one" if he naively believed in what was false—that Jonah was actually swallowed by a fish?

To believe that Jonah wasn't swallowed by a fish may seem to us a minor point—but how can it be minor if it means that Jesus was WRONG? Theologically speaking, what is at stake is not just bibliology but Christology. Failure to believe in inerrancy will lead me to believe Jesus was mistaken in implicitly trusting Scripture—which means not only that the Bible is errant, but also that the one who died for me on the cross was errant. If he was, then the whole redemptive work of God comes tumbling down like a house of cards. But if Jesus was the infallible living Word, affirming the infallible and authoritative written Word (by which I mean inerrant, for if it's errant it isn't infallible or authoritative), then redemption is not a house of cards to be blown in the wind by every passing critic. Rather, it is a chain of rock-solid historical truths involving Adam and Even, a garden, a flood, Abraham, David, Christ, a crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and ascension, and a return of Christ that is as real and certain as all of these were.

As humans we are proud, and much of the efforts to discredit Scripture come from pride. Ironically, without studying Scripture or researching the actual facts in evidence, countless believers embrace the claims of the Bible's critics. Spurgeon said the Bible no more needed his defense than a lion did. The Huguenots said of the Bible and its critics, "Hammer away ye hostile hands; your hammers break, God's anvil stands."

When people claim to believe the Bible is inspired and authoritative yet do not believe it is inerrant, I know many of them are sincere, but I do think this logical inconsistency can only hang on temporarily. The person holding to it may not end up setting the Bible aside because of their belief that parts of it are not reliable, but their children and grandchildren will. Meanwhile, they trust themselves and others to sit in judgment of revealed Scripture—which, if it is breathed out from God, cannot be other than true, and if not true cannot be breathed out from God. So instead of sitting under Scripture's judgment, we set ourselves up as judges over Scripture. Not only is this inappropriate, I believe, but it also simply won't work in the long haul. It will lead to the problems of disbelief not only in the culture but also in the church.

Francis Schaeffer warned us about this thirty years ago. For those unfamiliar with Schaeffer, you can find excerpts from nearly all of his books at www.rationalpi.com/theshelter/sitemap.html


www.randyalcorn.blogspot.com
www.epm.org

Giveaway of the Month: Money, Possessions, and Eternity audio book

This month we’re giving away three copies of the brand-new Money, Possessions, and Eternity audio book, which is being released July 15.

Who wants to settle for fleeting treasures on earth... when God offers everlasting treasures in Heaven?

It’s time to rethink our perspectives on money and possessions. In this thoroughly researched and extensively updated classic, Randy Alcorn shows us how to view them accurately—as God’s provision for our good, the good of others, and his glory. Also includes PDF study materials.



Here’s how to enter: Leave a comment on this post by Sunday, July 26. (If you're reading this post on Facebook or Amazon or elsewhere, visit http://randyalcorn.blogspot.com/2009/07/giveaway-of-month-money-possessions-and.html to leave your comment.)

In order to qualify for the giveaway, you must include your contact information (a blog, e-mail address, or website), otherwise we cannot contact you if your name is drawn. (If you do leave an e-mail address, to avoid having it picked up by spammers, I recommend encoding it, such as: youraddress AT yahoo DOT com) Need help posting a comment? Click here for step-by-step instructions. For further assistance, contact me at stephanie(at)epm.org

The three randomly drawn winners will be announced in a blog post on Monday, July 27, so be sure to check back and see if you won.

If you're a previous winner, rather than entering, we'd encourage you to share this giveaway with friends who are not familiar with Randy's books and Eternal Perspective Ministries.

To check out Randy’s other titles available as audio books, visit the EPM website. (All audio books are also on sale from EPM during the month of July at a 40% discount.)

While you're visiting our website, be sure to learn more about Randy's upcoming book If God is Good—you can read an excerpt from the book and also pre-order your copy for the introductory price of $16.49 (retail $24.99).

Stephanie Anderson
Promotions Director
Eternal Perspective Ministries
www.epm.org

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Summer and Grandkids

Jake Stump, who'll turn five in August, LOVES the rope swing I put up for him and the other two older grandsons. He shrieks with delight as his feet touch the top of the fence. So fun to be with.

Matt Franklin turns five in November. Loves to hike with us in the "forest" near our house. A math prodigy and a wonderful kid.


















Ty Stump, Jake's younger brother. A sheer delight, who loves to play anything involving a ball. Just had a squirt gun fight with him. He won.


















Jack Franklin, youngest grandson, loving life. A joy. I look into his big eyes and thank God for the wonders of childhood.

Thank you, Lord for such wonderful blessings. "We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done." (Psalm 78:4)


www.randyalcorn.blogspot.com
http://www.epm.org/