What The Bible Says
“What The Bible Says - Vol. 4 / No. 5”
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What The Bible Says
Vol. IV - No. 5 / August 1, 2021
COME AS YOU ARE, WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?
Often times the phrase “come as you are” is used in religious discussions pertaining to one’s approach toward the worship of God and has even been used as a motto and/or fundamental principal by some churches. What does this phrase suggest? Is it a biblically inspired teaching? Let’s see what God’s Word has to say about it.
When the phrase “come as you are” is used in relation to the worship of God, it suggests that all individuals are welcome and that there is no need of action to meet any special criteria for God to accept you (i.e. repentance from sin, dress, etc.). Although the bible teaches that all are welcome since Christ died “…once for all” – (Romans 6:10) and that “…the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men” – (Titus 2:11), it also shows in the parable of the wedding feast in Matthew 22 that one must make preparation in order to be accepted of God. Jesus began His ministry teaching the need for repentance as seen in passages like Matthew 4:17 and Mark 1:15 and states “I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish” in verses 3 and 5 of Luke 13. Repentance is often defined as: a change of mind that results in a change of action. This concept is taught in Ephesians 4:22-24 where the Bible states that we must “…put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt….and put on the new man which was created according to God…” This completely disavows the idea that God loves us “just the way we are” and that there is no need of action on our part to meet His standards. His standard is clearly identified in 1 Peter 1:16 where God says, “...be holy, for I am holy.”
We are NOT good enough the way we are, and God does NOT love the way we are. However, God DID love us so much that He sent His son Jesus who “…gave himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.” – (Titus 2:14). When people use this phrase “come as you are”, they are teaching the exact opposite of what God intended. God did not love us and sacrifice His son for us so that we could remain in sin and stay “just the way we are”. He sacrificed His son for us so that we would REPENT and TURN from who we are and become a changed, purified people that are zealous for obeying His word. With these teachings in mind, we MUST acknowledge that to be accepted by God, one MUST transform themselves – (Romans 12:2). The phrase “come as you are” is not only wrong, but is totally contrary to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His teaching on the necessity of repentance – (Acts 2:38). May we all imitate Paul and “…press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” – (Phillipians 3:14) and humble ourselves to meet all of God’s standards so that we can one day receive that crown of life spoken of in James 1:12.
—Jared Davis
CAN WE BE SURE OF THE ACCURACY OF THE BIBLE?
Has it ever concerned you that there might have been things added to or taken from the Bible? It is extremely important for us to know whether or not the book, known as the Bible, contains all of God’s word. What if one of the translators decided to change something? Is there some way we can be sure of the accuracy of the Bible we read today?
When the Bible was originally written, the writers did not write in English. They wrote in the language of their day which was Greek. Neither do we have the original manuscripts they wrote. That being true, it might cause us to ever doubt the accuracy of our Bible today. However, we do have hundreds upon hundreds of handwritten copies. The oldest New Testament manuscript dates back to within 50 years of when John wrote it. By comparison of all these copies, we can achieve a high degree of certainty concerning what was originally written. This would be like asking 200 men to copy by hand a particular book. While all copies may contain numerous errors, one could find what the original said by comparing all 200 copies.
Great care was exercised by the scribes and copyists down through the ages to be sure the original texts were duplicated. They realized the importance of maintaining minute precision in the transmission of God’s word from one generation to another. Some even counted every letter of the finished product to be certain no mistakes were made. Oftentimes the detection of a single error was enough to warrant destroying the entire copy.
Another fact for us to consider is if all the old manuscripts were destroyed, all but 20 verses of the New Testament could be reconstructed by taking quotations of Bible passages found in other ancient sources.
As the result of all this, we can be certain we have an identical facsimile of how the original text read. Yet, this brings us to another question: Since few of us can read Greek, how can we be sure what we read is an accurate translation? The best translations are those done by large groups of scholars of varied religious convictions working together on a translation. Thus the King James Version and the American Standard Version of the Bible are hard to beat for their accuracy. “Paraphrases”, like The Living Bible need to be avoided because these are the works of one man retelling the Bible in his own words.
It can be concluded that if we are selective in choosing what we accept as the Bible, we can rest assured in knowing the book we read is in fact the true and complete word of God. Let us also have faith in the statement of Jesus when He said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but My words shall not pass away.” (Mark 13:31)
—E.R. Hall, Jr.
***SENTENCE SERMONS***
Anger makes your mouth work faster than your mind.
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It may be that a dog is man's best friend because he wags his tail and not his tongue.
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The man who has not learned to say "no" will be a weak and wretched man as long as he lives.
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Church members are like cars; they start missing before they quit.
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You quickly lose interest in the church if you have nothing invested.
"What The Bible Says” is e-mailed twice a month. If you know of others who might benefit from the articles contained in this bulletin, we would be glad to have you submit their e-mail addresses and we will include them in the next mailing. If you are receiving this bulletin and do not wish to continue to do so, please e-mail us with your desire to be removed from the mailing list and you will be removed promptly. Continue to the bottom of this page for further instructions as to how you may contact us.
--- E.R. Hall, Jr.
SCHEDULE OF SERVICES
For The East Albertville Church Of Christ
meeting at
4777 U.S. Highway 431
Albertville, AL 35950
Sunday
Bible Classes …………..….…………… 9:30 AM
Morning Worship ……..…….….……… 10:30 AM
Evening Worship …………………........ 5:00 PM
Wednesday
Bible Classes …………..………........... 7:00 PM
Radio Program
Sunday
WBSA 93.5 FM/1300 AM ………………………….. 8:30 AM
Monday - Saturday
WBSA 93.5 FM/1300 AM ………………………….. 11:15 AM
Website: www. EastAlbertville.org
