NT Framework - Humanity! Nope.

Is human authorship the answer for how we got the Bible? Can modern people know better than Jesus who authored the Bible? In essence, is human wisdom superior to all else?

More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com 

This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).

Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and
our series on the New TestamentFramework.
Today a smaller, bite-sizedpiece from the larger lesson.
We hope you enjoy it.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
A very different way of thinking.
The Bible never permits thistype of separation.
But Bacon came along and hesaid all knowledge one century
after the Reformation, when theBible became the central point
of knowing.
Now you can't get any knowledgethat direction, because all
knowledge is only accessiblethrough your own personal
experience and experimentation.

(00:31):
Now this got pushed to itslogical conclusion with a man
named John Dewey.
So I'm going to skip ahead tohim and talk a little bit about
this guy, john Dewey.
In the early 1900s, the first50 years of the 20th century,
this guy was the most importantperson in the history of

(00:55):
American public education.
No one has influenced Americaneducation more than this man,
even down to this day.
John Dewey, you know him becauseof the Dewey Decimal System
right in the library, if youdon't, if you still go to
libraries these days.
But the code system on thespine of the book, right, help
you find a book.

(01:15):
That's the best thing JohnDewey ever did.
What he did from 1930 to 1950was write 50,000 articles,
50,000 articles published andcirculated throughout the US, as
well as travel and do seminarsfor those 20 years, which are

(01:42):
the backbone of all Americanpublic education.
What Dewey did was he tookFrancis Bacon to his logical
conclusion.
He was a strict, logical, verylogically rigorous person.
For that I guess he's to becommended.
Right, but most people are notwilling to go as far as as John
Dewey was.
He said that the only thingthat is true for you is

(02:07):
something that you have directlyexperienced.
In other words, put it this wayIf 500 people on one occasion
say that they saw that Jesusrose in his resurrection body,
he would say that's only truefor those 500 people.
It's not true for anybody else.
You have to directly experienceit for it to be true for you.

(02:34):
He was the master of relative.
All truth is relative, and mostpeople were never not willing
to go that far.
Now he would say that themaster of relative, all truth is
relative.
Okay, all right, and most peopleare never not willing to go
that far.
Now he would say that you couldexpand your experience or
knowledge by usinginstrumentation like a
microscope to see things thatyour natural eye can't see, or a

(02:58):
telescope to see things furtheraway.
But you know, the only thingsthat are true for you are things
that you have actuallypersonally experienced.
So this, this became a huge,huge problem in our society
because now.

(03:18):
That's all you ever hear peoplesay.
Well, that's true for you, youknow and you, and it makes no
impact on them.
If you talk to them aboutChrist, this cross resurrection,
I mean, it's like water off aduck's back.

Speaker 1 (03:33):
They don't even care because they didn't have any
direct experience.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
They haven't had this spiritual encounter that you've
had, so to speak.
So it's not true for them, ithas nothing to do with them.
That's your thing, okay, greatfor you, and they just move on.
That's all a result of Baconand later Manuel Kant, who we
didn't talk about, but then, ofcourse, john Dewey.
Now what did this do for thestudy of the Bible and what's

(03:59):
happened with the Bible?
Let's take this to the second.
I skipped this, but let's goback to it Now.
There's two types of criticismof the Bible.
This is just an area of studyof the Bible Lower and higher.
These are the two areas.
The first area, lower criticismof the Bible, is something I

(04:21):
accept.
This is something I engage inevery week in studying the Bible
.
This is the study of manuscriptevidence to determine the
original reading.
You know, I said earlier, wehave the original autographs.
Those were inerrant.
That's what we mean when we sayinerrant.
But then, of course, since thenyou've had copies and we've got
thousands of copies.

(04:41):
We're not really too concernedabout all that.
But there are differences in themanuscripts, like what we call
variants right, a variant.
So you have to check and see isthere a variant here?
I think I saw one last week in1 Corinthians or the week before

(05:03):
last week which I could go backand share, but it was the
difference in one letter whichturned the word from mystery to
something else I can't remember.
But oh, mystery and testimony,because the Greek words are only
like, really one letterdifferent.
It didn't really impact themeaning substantially, but you
have to study these and checkthe variance.
So people who are doing thisare looking at variance.

(05:25):
You know things like the endingof Mark, which is a big one
Mark 6, 16, 9 through 20.
What's the right ending of Mark, which is a big one?
Mark 6, 16, 9 through 20.
What's the right ending of Mark?
You know, because there's fourdifferent endings of Mark.
The KJV only is in debate.
Have you ever read the prophecy?

(05:46):
Very insistent that the KingJames Version is the only right
version of the Bible.
But hey, nobody here isquestioning whether the Bible is
God's Word.
Everybody who's having thesediscussions believes the Bible
is God's Word.
So lower textual criticism isfine.

(06:07):
All we're trying to do here isjust try to make sure we have
the right text, the best text.
That's all we're doing Now.
Higher criticism this isdifferent.
These are people who studied theBible, to determine who really
wrote it.
Who really wrote it and how wasthis human book put together?

(06:32):
This human book that's a resultof bacon, okay, because now
science is the avenue toknowledge, right?
So we approach the Bible thatway and we start to ask

(06:54):
ourselves how did the Bible cometogether from a purely human
perspective?
See, we don't accept, you know,god and all that kind of stuff
and the possibility of a personoutside this universe who can
speak into it.
I mean, that's a crazy idea.
That idea has long beenrejected, that God, if there is

(07:18):
one, could actually speakabsolute ideas in human language
.
That is totally rejected.
That is not even considered anormal thought for a human being
to possibly have.
They do not think that Godcould speak absolute ideas in
human language because theythink that humans will taint

(07:39):
everything.
So that idea is not evenaccepted.
So they have to approach theBible as if it was just written
truly by just human beings.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with
Jeremy Thomas.
If you would like to see thevisuals that went along with
today's sermon, you can findthose on Rumble and on YouTube
under Spokane Bible Church.
That is where Jeremy is thepastor and teacher.
We hope you found today'slesson productive and useful in

(08:13):
growing closer to God andwalking more obediently with Him
.
If you found this podcast to beuseful and helpful, then please
consider rating us in yourfavorite podcast app, and until
next time, we hope you have ablessed and wonderful day.