From the Pen of Paul. . .

The Incomparable Book

The Bible is this earth's most precious possession. So immeasurably great is the contribution it makes to humanity's needs, were all other books ever written to suffer destruction and all worldly wisdom they contain to perish, the glorious, unfading light which its holy pages radiate would continue in undiminished fashion to illumine fully the way to heaven. Without it, though we were possessed of all the worldly wisdom of the ages and had at our fingertips all the knowledge of all the books in all of the great libraries of the world, the door of heaven would forever be closed to us.

It is unique, incomparable and utterly without comparison—preeminently, The Book, wherein divine mysteries are made plain, Deity is revealed to man, and man to himself. From its inexhaustible stores of heavenly wisdom there unceasingly flows an unquenchable spirit enabling all those who fully imbibe to resist every attack by the devil, to see by its power truth triumph over error, purity over corruption and righteousness over evil; by its examples, the motivation which springs from its remarkable influence it wrought in the lives of those great characters who espoused it, the record of which remains for our edification and emulation. The indomitable will of a Galilean fisherman, an exile on lonely Patmos, the Lord in the court of Pilate and the martyrs who suffered sword or flame take us far, far beyond the powers of mortal mind to estimate the influence the events thus chronicled have exerted in the lives of those who follow. (Heb. 11:32-40).

To it, its faithful devotees turn again and again in hours of need and ever find in its sacred pages its thrilling and never-failing message of hope and comfort. No crisis, no trial, no trouble in life ever arose it cannot resolve. The young, when first realizing its power for good, the mature, in need of guidance in life's perplexing problems, and the old, in seeking the comfort which can come only through the realization of a better and more enduring home in the skies, all turn to it and find, in lavish abundance, the message for which their hearts sigh. In hours of sorrow, through long nights of weariness and pain, and in death's inevitable approach, it is always there to soothe, to sustain and to provide the peace which passes understanding.

In a world where all that is peculiar to it is mortal and corruptible, only the incomparable book is immortal, incorruptible and eternal, being wholly unaffected by the flight of the centuries and the erosion of the ages which all material things must eventually suffer. The majesty of once great Babylonia, the glory of Greece, the power of Rome, their great cities, their powerful armies and their flourishing civilizations have long since perished and live only in memorials and books of ancient history; and if the Lord delays His coming, our own proud land and civilization will go the way of the peoples of past millenniums and suffer the destiny of those ancient kingdoms of which only faint traces yet remain. It may indeed be that in some distant age a curious student from some faraway land will dig into the mouldering ruins of one of our great cities, seek to translate some fading inscription on a crumbling memorial excavated from some mound covering artifacts of our day and age in an effort to learn something about the people of the 20th century. Should he chance discover in his archaeological search a buried capsule containing a copy of God's holy Word, its message of hope, of comfort and of salvation will be as potent and precious as it was when fresh from inspiration's pen it came. "For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of may as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: but the word of the Lord endureth forever." (I Pet. 1:24-25).
—Guy N. Woods
Questions & Answers
Vol. 2

Note: Brother Woods was a scholar and a dedicated student of the GRAND OLE BOOK that he wrote about in the above article. Re-read it slowly and let your appreciation for God's marvelous Book increase.
—Paul M. Wilmoth

From the Preacher's Viewpoint. . .

Satan

"Was 'loving' Jehovah kind, good, compassionate, merciful, or just when (by Bible account) He produced Satan and planted the tree of good and evil, with its inevitable curse, when He foreknew?"

God never produced Satan. God did not make the devil the devil. Satan became Satan of his own accord and will. The Bible indicates that Satan was once one of God's angels (II Pet. 2:4). He rebelled against God and wanted God's position as supreme ruler of the universe. God at no time has ever been in the evil work of Satan.

God did plant the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden. When God made man He made him with the ability to choose between good and evil. Had God made him any other way he would not have had the freedom to choose. Man would have been a robot and not man as we know him. God did not deceive Adam and Eve about the tree in the midst of the garden. He told them about it and warned them against eating the fruit of it. Satan is the one that deceived Eve (Gen. 3:1-7). The tree of knowledge did not bring on the suffering but Satan going against God and leading the first couple to partake thereof did. The fact that Adam and Eve disobeyed God brought on the curse. God had nothing to do with this. Satan took the lead in this matter. The tree of knowledge was not evil but good. God has never created an evil thing. He is not in that business. All that God has done is based upon justice and that which is right.
—Malcolm L. Hill

The Serpent's Temptations

"Was Jehovah's 'infinite love' a resounding success by failing to provide security—Adam and Eve—from the serpent's and evil fruit's temptations?"

God would have provided security and strength for Adam and Eve had they looked to Him for such. The truth about the matter is that they did not seek to do God's will in this matter. They wanted to do their own will instead of His. The serpent told them to eat of the forbidden fruit and they would be as God (Gen. 3:5). This appealed to their foolish pride and got the upper hand of them. God will not build a hedge around His people so that Satan cannot tempt them. If God did this, then man would not have the ability to choose. God's people have always lived in a world where they could choose of their own will. The forbidden fruit was not "evil." The Bible nowhere says it was. In fact, all that God has ever created is good (Gen. 1:31). Disobedience to God's will always brings on heartache and suffering.

The fellow asking this question would have everyone in misery and suffering, if we followed him. One would think, by the way he is asking this question, that he knows how to run the show much better than does God. However, I have never seen one like him that did not.
—Malcolm L. Hill