WHEN HARVARD HEARD THE GOSPEL

  By Dr. M. R. Dowler

At the age of sixty-nine, Simon Greenleaf died on the day I would be born 103 years later. He came from good stock; his maternal grandfather was a godly preacher in colonial America. Simon had an inquisitive, detail-oriented mind; he graduated from college at age sixteen and became a lawyer at age twenty-two. But the legacy of Simon Greenleaf is summed up in two sterling achievements---he was one of the founders of the Harvard Law School (1817), and more importantly, he produced one of the earliest defenses of the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, entitled An Examination of the Testimony of the Evangelists by the Rules of Evidence Administered in Courts of Justice (1846).

Despite his godly heritage, Simon Greenleaf came to faith in Christ late in life. As an agnostic professor of law at Harvard, Greenleaf was challenged one day by one of his law students about the validity of the resurrection. Being no stranger to evidence, Greenleaf plunged into a passionate mission to prove once-and-for-all the ridiculous myth of Christ’s resurrection. But a funny thing happened---surrounded by thousands of pages of evidence (historical, cultural, scientific and biblical) that proved the resurrection to be absolutely true, Simon Greenleaf came to realize he was sinner in need of the Savior he was trying to disprove. Dr. Simon Greenleaf, renown legal scholar humbly bowed his head and accepted Jesus as personal Savior and Lord.

The resurrection of Christ is the very foundation of Christianity (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) that sets it apart from every other religion in the world, because no other religious founder than Jesus arose from the dead. Christ’s resurrection fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies (Psalm 16:8-11; Acts 2:24-31), the prophecies by Jesus Himself (Matthew 16:21), and is pictured in the story of Jonah (Matthew 12:40). The church itself was founded on the resurrected Messiah.

Theologically, we cannot be saved without a belief in His resurrection (Romans 10:9). Our spiritual justification is guaranteed because He arose (Romans 4:25), and our own resurrection is guaranteed because of His (2 Corinthians 4:14). The Bible is very clear that anyone who denies the truth of the bodily resurrection of Jesus denies the definitive truth of all the scriptures. For many years Simon Greenleaf unwittingly did that, but a funny thing happened on his way to disproving the resurrection. He had a personal encounter with the risen Lord and he was never the same. None of us ever are. Think about it.

FORGIVENESSS COMES WITH A CATCH

By Dr. M. R. Dowler

The Boy Scouts was founded in 1907 by Baden-Powell in England. The Cub Scouts followed seven years later allowing younger boys to participate in scouting. Cub Scout and Boy Scout badges were awarded by completing a designated activity outlined in their respective manuals. One such activity is Compass and Map Reading. The Cup Scout manual teaches basic compass and map reading, while more advanced instructions are presented in the Boy Scout manual.

Anyone who has ever held a magnetic compass knows the four points N, S, E and W (called cardinal directions) stand for north, south, east and west. Geographically, the north and south poles are the only two fixed points on the map, exactly 12,430 miles apart. East and west have no fixed points. The reason for this anomaly is that when one travels east or west no distance can be measured, they ultimately interchange (east becomes west; west becomes east).

God resides in the north (Isaiah 14:13; Psalm 75:6) from which His glory descends (Job 37:22). However, all four cardinal compass directions are mentioned together eighteen times in the scriptures. One of the most significant references is a description of the gates in the glorious future New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:13). But it is the east-west direction that we focus our attention today. King David wrote of the wonderful promise of God concerning forgiveness, “As far as the east is from the west, so far as He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior (Romans 10:9) your sins (past, present and future) have been forgiven.

Although there are many dimensions of forgiveness, the fundamental purpose of forgiveness is reconciliation. Interestingly, the Bible tells us that God forgives both nations and individuals, but He never forgives without genuine repentance (Luke 13:2-3; 2 Chronicles 7:14). And hell itself is proof that God does not forgive everyone. Conditional forgiveness is a theological principle taught throughout the scriptures. Jesus explained conditional forgiveness in the Sermon on the Mount; simply stated, conditional forgiveness is---forgive and you will be forgiven (Matthew 6:14-15). So look toward the east and thank God your sins are gone never to be found, and then look around to forgive others who have wronged you. Think about it.

DID ADAM HAVE A BELLY BUTTON?

By Dr. M. R. Dowler

Today we address the silly and inane. The theological and physiological question is---“Did Adam and Eve have a belly button? You may be thinking who cares; and if you are, you may be right. Adam and Eve’s navel (or lack thereof) is certainly not the world’s greatest imponderable, but there may be more to this silly question than meets the eye.

Logically, why would Adam and Eve actually need a belly button? Neither had a mother, therefore they wouldn’t need a navel. But think about this---Adam and Eve were perhaps the world’s first tourist attraction. Adam lived 930 years (Eve’s longevity is unknown); can you imagine how many wanted to see this strange phenomenon? And what a wonderful opportunity for Adam and Eve to tell others of the consequences of sin and the story of creation itself. Adam’s lack of a belly button is also a testimony of the impeccability of God. Because it is impossible for God to lie (Numbers 23:19), He would not have implied that our first parents came from a mother’s womb.

Mankind, male and female is the crown jewels of God’s marvelous creation (Psalm 139:14), created with intricate detail and design in the very image of God (Genesis 1:26-27) with infinite worth, dignity and moral uprightness (Ecclesiastes 7:29; Ephesians 4:24). Interestingly, the word “image” in the original Hebrew is “tselem” meaning likeness or resemblance. So does man look like God? Hardly; the Bible tells us God is a spirit (John 4:24). But we can (and should) resemble Him in grace, goodness, mercy and holiness.

Theologically, the image of man is somewhat of a mystery in that part of God’s image is in all people (saved and lost) and can never be destroyed (Genesis 9:6; 1 Corinthians 11:7; James 3:8-9). It is quite a compelling thought that the unrepentant lost will take a portion of their Creator’s original image with them to hell. For us, Adam and Eve may have used their uniqueness to the glory of God. The lesson for us is---Find out what’s unique about you and tell others about how God made you special. Think about it.

CHARLOTTE’S WEB AND THE BIBLE

By Dr. M. R. Dowler

Tucked away in my desk is a little book entitled The Elements of Style by White and Shrunk. Time Magazine said it is one of the 100 most influential books of the modern day. The Elements of Style is the essential guide to good writing. The book was written by a man whose name might not be familiar, but his work certainly is. E. B. White was a newspaper editor and author of children's books. His two classic books are Stuart Little (1945) and Charlotte’s Web (1952). William Shrunk was E. B. White’s college professor and mentor who first published the style book in 1918; White updated the manuscript in 1959.

The word Bible comes from the Greek word “biblon” meaning “book” and points to the authority of the scriptures over all other religious works. Today when we encounter a secular authoritative book, for example, the quintessential book on say, bird watching, it is common for someone to say it is the “bible of bird-watching.” Webster’s Dictionary agrees--“bible” (small “b”) is defined as a book held to be authoritative in its field. The Elements of Style is the writer’s bible.

Every writer, whether they be a newspaper reporter, a novelist or even a blogger has their own particular writing style. I once tried to read a Tom Clancy’s novel but got bogged down within the first hundred pages because of all his voluminous detail. That’s his style of writing. Brevity is my writing style. Interestingly, we see various writing styles in the books that make up the canon of scripture. Theologically, most of the forty human authors of scripture were not secretaries taking dictation from the Lord.

God did write His Ten commandments with His own finger (Exodus 31:18), but most of the time the human authors were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21) and/or God-breathed upon (2 Timothy 3:16). And within these two unique methods of divine inspiration, God allowed them to write in own their particular style   For example---Luke was a physician whose gospel flows with detail, much as a doctor would communicate. Paul was a astute theologian whose epistles epitomizes his highly-intelligent mind. Theologian Norman Geisler explained it best, “God orchestrated this divine concurance between their words and His so that what they said, He said.” Think about it.

CAN YOU HANDLE THE TRUTH?

By Dr. M. R. Dowler

Today we visit Hollywood and the truth, two subjects you wouldn’t normally associate together. The media has been covering the recent Academy Awards, not so much for the actual awards but rather more for the controversial statements of the host. However, on the noble end of the motion picture industry we cite the American Film Institute (AFI), a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving motion picture heritage for future generations. The AFI categorizes the top movies into genres, as well as collecting notable facts from the movies. One such AFI collection is the 100 most memorable movie quotes.

Time and space does not permit a listing of all 100 quotes, but here is a small sampling---#2 “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse” (The Godfather, 1972); #6 “Go ahead, make my day” (Sudden Impact, 1983); #8 “May the force be with you” (Star Wars, 1977); #23 “There’s no place like home” (The Wizard of Oz, 1939). I won’t mention the #1 quote, suffice to say it was the next to the last line in the classic 1939 film Gone With the Wind. However, I’d like to focus on the #29 quote, Jack Nicholson’s famous rant, “You can’t handle the truth!” (A Few Good Men, 1992).

The Hebrew word for truth is “emet” which interestingly contains the first, middle and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet and points to the elements that form life, character and theology itself. The word emet comes from the Hebrew verb “aman” which means to support. Think of the foundation of a building supporting the weight of the structure. The stability of the structure is only as good as the strength and endurance of the foundation.

We welcome standards in most areas of our lives. We use standards, or rules of conduct (AKA truth) in our everyday interactions. Trouble is---our standards change. But God’s standards---His absolute truth never changes. The Lord Jesus Christ, through His eternal Word is the source of all absolute truth (John 14:7; 17:17). In fact Jesus Himself referred to God the Holy Spirit as “the Spirit of truth” (John 14:17; 16:13). So the theological challenge today is---Can you handle the truth? Do you even know the absolute truth? You definitely won’t find it in Hollywood (or Washington DC). The absolute truth is as close as the Holy Bible. Check it out…it can change your life. Think about it.