The Right Spirit

2CO 3:17-18 NIV

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

If there has been anything that has generated so much controversy through the ages, it is the Word of God. So many books have been written criticising its contents, many speakers have, in various fora, tried to water down the truths expressed in the Bible, arguments have ensure over the accounts of stories in the Bible, yet it keeps going strong. Its contents are timeless, its stories have a historical basis and foundation, and its pieces fit into the larger picture of what God has been doing in the past and is still doing now, and what is yet to come.

Why then do the contents of the Bible generate so much heat and controversy? Why has it been difficult for people to accept its truths? Why does it appear as if it is difficult to understand what God is saying atimes? I believe that the response to this questions are found in the extract before us. To understand a product, the best reference point is the maker of the product. The fact that you can use the same product for other un-related functions does not mean that the product was made for those un-related functions. The maker had a desire to achieve and set out to fulfil that desire by making the product. He alone prescribes the use, functions, limitation and features of the product. The consumer has to buy and apply the product as advised, in order to derive maximum satisfaction from that product. Any other thing is a waste of time and resources.

I believe that this is the root of our problems with the Bible. We have spent money acquiring Western education,  we have a functional brain and we can logically process issues. Because this works well with some secular issues, we think that we can apply the same principles to the Bible. We read the words and want to reduce its mysteries to the level of our sin-polluted carnal minds, trying to put God in a God and predicting how he would move or do things. We look at the Bible through eyes that are blinded and shielded from knowing the truth, and we think that by ourselves, we can know the truth. We assume that God is like man, with a rational and logical output, and can be understood by clear, precise and