Enjoying the Old Testament

The other day I was listening to part of an apologetics panel from a conference that took place in May (I didn’t listen to the whole thing, but it’s here). One of the participants said something that caught my attention.

The question basically was, how do you react or respond when someone asks you a question that stumps you? In other words, what goes through your mind, or how do you deal with it when someone asks you a question about Christianity that you can’t answer.

One of the members of the panel was Michael Licona. Now I don’t know much about Licona . . . I know I’ve heard the name before. But apparently he is a professor at a Baptist university, and a well known apologist.

So anyway, Licona began to answer, pointing out that he had a lot of unanswered questions (don’t we all!). Then he said basically that since he’s convinced that Jesus rose from the dead, some of the less important details don’t matter so much.

Ok, I agree to a point. In other words, if you have a mountain of evidence that God’s Word is true, just because there’s one question you can’t answer at the moment doesn’t mean you should instantly throw out everything. That’s not the way knowledge works in any field.

Of course, there could be a bit of a problem here, as we’ll see in a moment.

Here’s what he said next:

So yes I have a lot of unanswered questions. Yes, there are some things in the Bible that trouble me, honestly. I don’t like to read the Old Testament. But I’ve learned to put things into perspective. If Jesus rose from the dead, Christianity is true. Period. That helps me keep the main thing the main thing. So I don’t worry about a lot of those things anymore. They don’t really bother me nearly as much because it’s all in perspective. Now, I’ve studied the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus, and I’m thoroughly convinced that it happened. So these other things just don’t bother me.

Michael Licona [source]

Wait a second here. “I don’t worry about a lot of those things…” “These other things just don’t bother me.” What “other things” is he talking about? Really – the only thing that matters is that Jesus rose from the dead?

So – how do we know He rose? How do we know what that means? Well, it’s the Word of God – the Bible – of course. So if Jesus rose from the dead, and all the rest of the Bible is in doubt – can’t I just say,“Wow, weird things happen!” Why does the resurrection have any meaning at all?

In fact, he also said,“Christianity is true even if it were to be the case that some things in the Bible aren’t.” Really? Which things? And how do I decide which things are true? What if the things about the Hittites are true, but the statements about justification are not?

Of course, he didn’t say that some things weren’t true. But it makes you wonder – if God did not communicate some things properly, how do we know which things we should believe?

But that’s not what caught my attention – it was this phrase – “I don’t like to read the Old Testament.”

This is a Bible scholar, teacher, and apologist. Any warning lights going off here for anyone?

I understand that there are challenging things in the Old Testament – and have you read the New Testament? If you think the OT is challenging, maybe you should really start thinking about what the NT is saying! But that being said, to say that you don’t like reading it, in general, is a huge problem.

Jesus said,“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27) The sheep recognize the voice of the Shepherd. That’s why David said things like “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day” (Psalm 119:197).

The whole Bible is God’s Word to us, and it is incredible. If someone has questions, fine, let’s talk about them. But if a Christian is saying that they don’t like to read the Old Testament, I would recommend that they cut down on their activities for a while and spend some serious time in repentance and prayer.

I don’t know why Michael Licona said this. It could be that he’s throwing a bone to those who criticize Christianity based on their understanding of the OT – “See, I agree with you – but I’m still a Christian!” I don’t know. But all of God’s Word is breathed out by His Spirit. It’s all true, and it’s all – oh well, let’s just quote the verse we’re all thinking about…

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

I’ve spent a lot of time in the Old Testament this year. Do I have questions still? Of course! Anything given by God is liable to raise some questions in our puny minds. But I have also seen how beautiful and life-changing the Word of God is, in every one of the 66 books.

Yes, sometimes you will need to find tools to help you understand things – studying the Bible can take some work. But it’s worth it. It’s the voice of God, calling to his sheep. Don’t miss out on the treasure of God’s Word – all of it.

I hope that there’s a turn around in Licona’s life, and that he’s given the time to let God do the work. And may God give us all grace that we may be transformed to love His Word – all of His Word – more and more every day.