God told Abraham to ‘look now toward heaven and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them:’ and he said unto him, ‘So shall thy seed be.’
Some think that the patriarch looked up and just couldn’t do it, an impossibility. That would be fine by me, as that would certainly be a daunting task, still not possible today with computer help, telescopes or any other tool under the sun.
However, I think there is something more to the narrative, and the exchange went like this after God told Abraham to look toward heaven and count the stars.
And Abraham said: ‘Count them? Lord I don’t see any stars.’
And of this account what followed? Simply one of the greatest truths in the entire word of God: Abraham believed the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness.
Maybe a reverential pause is in order here, first for the Creator telling a man to ‘count the stars if you are able,’ secondly for the fact that Abraham believed in God’s promises of the unseen and unknown that was counted to him for RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Ah yes, thus we see the essence of faith: The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. If anybody cares, read the account yourself in Genesis, and draw your own conclusions.
Oh how people of the world try to assault God’s promises. Oh how man tries to make God null and void. Oh how precious faith is attacked by the godless. Can man succeed? Yea, like the moon may be destroyed with a rubber band by a petulant child.
Paul speaks of ‘that faith’ of Abraham as a reminder that God has no problem keeping His own word in spite of man’s unbelief, insolence, and mockeries.
The just shall live by faith.
The Lions Den 
I love this and needed this reminder. Because I am an attorney people can’t understand how I just accept the bible as true with what they say is no evidence. It’s crazy how they try to appeal to my intellect when they are asking me about my faith. That’s why I loves Jesus, He says it better and smarter than anyone ever could.
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No evidence? Ha, they haven’t been entirely honest with their conscience, There is evidence in everything if interpreted correctly. Just have to follow the bread crumbs eh?
‘In Him we live, move and have our being.’ But the Lord says it better…………..? oh yeah, after all, His understanding is infinite.
Tkx M.
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So true. Faith is believing in the things we can’t see, but we know they exist. Thank you for another great post.
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How do you “know”?
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John, john, john, (since this will fall on deaf ears, I post this for they in the crowd)
While your reply is appreciated, your incessant attempts at finding flaws in scripture are truly tiresome, so I refer you to what was said some time ago:
—Certain folks demand answers from scripture, Sola scriptura! they shout, while at the same time deny the authority from scripture which gives the answers their only merit. Look at the supreme lack of logic being engaged, where the precursor to the question, guarantees ANY answer as completely unacceptable.
There is no correct answer to the atheist under his own terms.—-cs
and:
—-If five thousand so-called scholars said the gospel of Matthew cannot be trusted, I would show you five thousand liars, and God’s word correct. If seven thousand so-called archaeologists said Nazareth did not exist, and that there were not tombs of the Gadarenes, I would show you seven thousand liars, and God’s word correct.—– cs
You may debate elsewhere, but please know, if Satan found no flaw in God’s word, you HAVE NOTHING but your insolence, so you may as well not waste your time.
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I understand that Christians would take God’s word over man’s. The question is not whether the creator of the universe should be trusted over man, the real questions are:
a) how do you know the Bible is God’s Word?
and
b) how do you know there is a God who could have inspired the Bible in the first place?
If the answers to these questions do not depend on objective evidence or proof then faih itself is subjective, and should not be presented as fact or indisputable truth for that matter.
No disrespect intended.
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Those are old questions. Both have been asked and answered innumerable times. Put your questions in Google, and you will find answers on both sides.
Ultimately, however, the Bible itself answers both questions, but we have to read it with the right attitude. When we read the Bible just to prove it wrong, we can find the proof we want. We will see what we want to see.
Of course, you can say the converse is true. If we read the Bible wanting to believe it, we will ignore any evidence it is false. Yet belief in the God who inspired the Bible is humbling. Whereas belief in an idol empowers us, belief in God requires us to love Him with everything we can give Him.
God is not easy to believe in, and those who do believe believe because He is True.
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Those weren’t objective answers to either question, but I respect the way you phrased it.
Many former Christians like me eventually reached the place where we started to read the Bible critically, not necessarily looking to prove it wrong. I was so intent on proving it RIGHT that I ended up realizing that it wasn’t reliable only after exhausting every theological explanation for the problems with it. Regardless of what presuppositions we have about the Bible, the contradictions in it are not merely in the eye of the beholder.
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I came to the Bible in my 50’s. By the world’s standards, my life was not a mess. I had just run into personal problems for which I had no answer for. I had begun to realize I am powerless.
Nevertheless, I did not sudden want to become a Christian. I read the Bible first, and I began to realize it really does make sense.
You say there are problems with the Bible. I think the problems reside with us. You say there are contradictions in the Bible. I think the contradictions are just something we are too lazy or too prideful to resolve.
Think about Adam and Eve. Think about Satan. They knew God existed. They had communed with Him directly. And still, in pride — because they would be God — they sinned. And don’t we know why? Isn’t their sin also our sin?
Until we can say God is God, and I am not — until we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength — we will always have a problem with God. We will find the necessary humility to accept God as our God to difficult to bear.
Yet we are what we are. Not today, not tomorrow, and probably not any day in the near future will I be able to say I love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. Today I can only say with certainty that I know I need God, that creation is too big, and I am too small. But that is a start. That needs give me the courage to ask Jesus to come and make me His hands and feet, and the Bible helps me to form the faith I need to allow Jesus to make me perfect.
Do I understand the Bible completely? No, but the God who inspired the Bible understands me, and I can see that demonstrated in the Bible.
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I appreciate the thoughtful response. I have a different approach, but that’s what life is, a bunch of different approaches. I’m for educated decisions on faith. People should know there are issues with the Bible (there are, and they don’t reside in our minds), but what someone chooses to do with them is their choice and I respect that.
Peace.
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I just read this at The Culture Monk, and I cracked up.
The Bible is church dogma, and the Bible is the best proof that Christianity is true. Prosser is essentially demanding that Christians debate on his terms.
zande, if you don’t want to believe what the Bible says about the Patriarchs, the Exodus from Egypt, and the conquest of Canaan, nobody can make you do so. But I will give you this much credit. You are least willing to bring the matter up for discussion, albeit just for ridicule.
That you would even expect archaeological evidence to survive from the passage of nomadic shepherds through this world is kind of weird. The Bible itself is far more than we have any right to expect — but you discard that out of hand.
I believe we have found the remains of the some of the cities the Hebrew conquered, but interpreting that sort of evidence is difficult, at best. Given what the Bible says happened, it is laughable to suggest Hebrew slaves were fondly remembered in Egypt. In fact, after the Hebrews left, the Egyptians probably eradicated any trace the Hebrews had ever been there. Therefore, the chance any historical memory of the presence of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt would have survived in Egypt is low. That’s just the nature of human beings; we don’t want to remember what fools we have been. In any event, slaves generally don’t leave much of a record of their passage through this world, and when the Hebrews were in Egypt, they were slaves.
The Hebrews came from somewhere. Even the secularists agree they conquered someplace. You may find this reference interesting =>http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/archeology-hebrew-bible.html
PBS is hardly proChristian, and they usually so blinded by their ideology they don’t know what they are talking about. Nevertheless, even those people concede there is some truth to what the Bible says. They just can bring themselves to concede God’s role in writing it. They are too sophisticated for that.
🙄
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That was really well said, colorstorm. I have that same rubber band shooter and alas, it does not reach the moon.
Meanwhile I shall attempt to solve the riddle of Abraham’s alleged fictional status, now firmly established in a newspaper declaration written by his own DESCENDANTS. No, no I shall not do that, that is simply too funny to contemplate. 😉
However, the article referenced was a bit more interesting than that and really spoke to some of the archaeology digs going on that do seem to aligning themselves rather well with scripture. It’s the existence of these digs that are starting to challenge that “..broad agreement among archaeologists and Bible scholars that there is no historical basis for the narratives of the Patriarchs..”
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Insanity, I’m impressed, you actually did some research!
I’m afraid to say though, that you’ve completely misread the article. The only area where there is still a live debate regarding biblical archaeology (which the article addresses) is whether or not Judah had an urban society in the 9th Century BCE, which relates to concepts of the United Kingdom. That’s it. That’s all there is. The Patriarchs, Egypt, Moses, Exodus and Conquest are dead subjects in the field of serious archaeology. They were dismissed as myth well over two generations ago, and nothing has changed in that time to alter this consensus.
Now, the United Kingdom narrative is interesting, but it has nothing at all to do with revelation. Sorry.
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nice ib
Oh my goodness how many times do we need to be reminded that the age old whisper’ ‘Hath God said?’ has influenced every promise of God.
Did scripture say the king will ride into Jerusalem on a donkey? Naw, it was just a fluke, complete coincidence.
Yea me too I’m stickin with God’s eternal word over the Enquirer, excuse me the daily papers that say Abraham never lived, which also would mean: ‘no promises for you!’
As far as the sites, I can dig it 😉 I could care less if nothing is found. I think its called, ahem, the word of the day, ‘faith.’
‘If the ordinances of the MOON depart from before me……………….so Israel shall cease from being a nation.’ -God
(Now it’s gum bands and duct tape, only available from the town of Meebottery)
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Let me get this straight, you’re trying to belittle 100 years of exhaustive, professional, peer-reviewed biblical archaeology and scholarship (most of which was actually conducted by Christians) by thumbing your noses at an Israeli newspaper article?
That’s hilarious! Really, really strange, but hilarious nonetheless!! 🙂
Would you like me to detail the evidences?
Tell me, are you aware of what the Settlement Period even refers to?
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Well lets see John, since the New Testament explodes with ‘The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, son of David, the son of Abraham..’
Other than that, yep, no agenda for finding what one wants when you want a God of your own image.
No Abraham, no Christ, pretty clever wouldn’t you say. Once more John you have nothing. THE WORD OF GOD STANDS COMPLETE.
You could bring every assault under heaven and not change one word or promise of God.
(By the way, I got a message for ‘stats booming,’ and if you are linked to others being moderated, there is a possible answer too)
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“God’s word has no flaws. God is. Christ lives. You are a sinner. Death is proof. Resurrection is hope.”
…And we’ve always been at war with Eastasia.
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What’s over? That you’re not interested in “evidence-based reality”? Oh, I’m already well aware of that.
*edit-
Why do you even blog then? What purpose does it serve? You’re not interested in learning, you’re not interested in educating yourself, so why bother hosting a public forum?
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Well, lets see jZ, why bother hosting a public forum?
Hmmm Let’s see….processing….. thinking……. scanning the memory files……….oh, got it:
‘BLENDING THE ISSUES OF LIFE WITH THE TRUTH OF SCRIPTURE’ as it clearly reads on the header.
Note that it is NOT blending the UNtruths of scripture, which necessarily rules out your lame inferences.
As I said, you have nothing, and the word of God STANDS. You will run out of hammers and the scriptures will lose nothing. Why? Well, you see, there is a God in heaven………….
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Colorstorm, really, deleting comments? Deleting comments that lay out the “facts”…. I really thought you were bigger than this, but obviously I was wrong.
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Its simple jZ, like the hot dog company, I answer to a higher authority than you.
My faith would be meaningless now wouldn’t it, if it wasn’t valuable enough to defend.
You mock Adam, Noah, you mock the patriarchs, you mock the prophets, you mock Christ, you mock the apostles, you mock the Spirit of God, you mock the people of God, you mock the throne of God, and you want people to bow down to you?
No thank you. There are many other places where people do not care about your wiles, but I am well aware of the roaring lion.
Your toxic suggestions are not getting free PR.
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Faith…faith…without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God. Saved…thru faith. ..faith is the bomb. Nice Brother.
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The bomb? Ha.
‘Impossible.’ Kinda narrows it down eh.
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Yessir…rules out all the other options…especially our pathetic little efforts.
Why do people resist so strongly? Reminds me of an old Fleetwood Mac song….Go Your Own Way…just sayin.
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You resist truth all day long , Wally. Maybe you would like to answer your own question?
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Hmmm…you appear to be confused again Ark. I possess the truth..that finger you point? Pay closer attention to the three pointing back at you.
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Your view is simply based on faith, nothing more, and this is conditional on you confessing you are a ”sinner”; whatever this is, but failure to do so and you will be doomed.
All nonsense without a shred of evidence to back it.
The truth is, what you believe is based on a foundation of unscientific nonsense.
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And that comment on the other hand…was backed by the latest technology. Yes…I am full of faith. Thats all it takes my friend. ..and that includes you. Back to work now for me….peace.
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I wonder why Fundamentalists are so frightened of non believers, Wally? What’s your view on why you moderate?
EDITORS NOTE: Why the need to moderate certain people? You may want to ask your ‘seek and destroy’ brethren who have no intention of addressing a post. How do I know? Well lets see, submitting post after post after post after post………………etc, without as much as waiting for a reply; meaning ahem, a clear agenda of disruption.
Frightened? Of what the great NOTHING? This site is not a toxic landfill. Appears much of this has rubbed off on this poster as well.
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Why do I Moderate? Have you read your own comments Ark? When you froth at the mouth…I moderate
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Yeah W, like we have to permit the pillaging of a town and the good people. Right, we must ‘approve’ they whose only desire is to break through and steal.
The lies of devildom are not getting free press at my expense. Abraham never lived huh. Clever, insidious, nefarious, for that rules out the Messiah now doesn’t it, son of David, son of Abraham!
We are not ignorant of his devices, and I have one word: Begone..
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Shake the dust from our feet, right Brother?
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So..Ark? Do you speak to your mother the way you speak to Christians on here?
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ColorStorm – You have no obligation to allow critics to post insulting comments. So don’t let these silly critics guilt you.
And yes, ironic though it may be, Atheists and other Secularists spend a great deal of effort trying to guilt Christians for believing in Jesus Christ.
Think about it. Jesus teaches that all can be forgiven — that we can be freed from sin. All we have to do is love God and each other. Each secularist, on the other hand preaches his own brand of Reason. To be “reasonable” in a Secularist’s eyes, we must enslave ourselves to his system of Reason. Moreover, some of these ridiculous Secularist even protest the need to love their neighbors. Against all logic and human history, they actually think reason alone sufficient.
Frankly, I think what God expects from us is far more tolerable and reasonable. He is far more generous than any man.
Before we were born, God knew every fiber of our being, and still He loves us. What caricature of reason justifies ignoring the love of a God who offers us so much?
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CT- I’m ok with insults, no big deal.
‘delusional, retarded, brain dead, should have been aborted, blah blah blah.’
Misinformation, bad interpretation, bias,
and poor teaching is one thing.
But to say on this site that the Lord Christ is a liar, well, there’s a good chance that comment will make the landfill.
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john zande – So how do I respond? What you have written is what I call scatter gun logic. It contains so many unproven assertions I would have to write a book to reply to them all, and I still would not know I had actually replied to the question at hand. For example, what does this assertion mean?
Genesis says Esau is the father of the Edomites. So chapter 36 in Genesis is wrong? Because you say there is no controversy, there is no controversy. Yet here we are discussing that controversy.
I am not archaeologist, but I think it is safe to say that archaeological evidence is hit and miss. Sometimes the evidence is there, and sometimes the evidence is just a gap, disappeared to the ravages of time. Sometimes we have evidence, but we don’t know what to make of what we have.
As for the camel. => http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/february-web-only/latest-challenge-bible-accuracy-abraham-anachronistic-camel.html
Give it time. If there is anything to be discovered, then some archaeologist will eventually discover it. Kind of like that lost Hittite empire. Meanwhile, I think we have a controversy, and I am good with that. Because it has a better record than the archaeologists, I think the Bible is right.
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