Due to the anxiety and stress under which the present generation groans, a number of popular free lance religious orators are telling us that reading the Bible will remove the anxiety, and release the stress. If this be true, the reading should begin at once. Reading the Bible is not easy. Many have started to read it, only to lose interest before its message is perceived. Interest was lost, we venture, because the reader approached the Bible with a strong prejudice, and a weak will to reason.
Because reading several chapters of the Bible did not produce the expected miracle the reading is stopped. The prejudice generated by the religious preachers moved the reader to expect certain results; when the blessing did not come, prejudice blocked further investigation. But a well-proportioned mind is one which shows no particular bias, and seeks for truth, fearless of where it leads.
The leaders of mankind know that an appeal to prejudice, our likes and dislikes, will sway the mind of man much quicker and easier than an appeal to reason. Any idea that completely fills the mind, leaving no room for an inhibiting idea, is held as true by the mind. The method by which the idea was brought to saturate the mind is of no consequence. The average man will believe anything at all if it is told him often enough.
Look at present day advertising technique: I do not smoke, yet I could give many ideas why cigarettes are acceptable to some, because my mind has been bombarded from every conceivable angle with advertisements that appeal to men’s desire for contentment. I cannot stand the taste of beer, but in a quiz I could name the one that refreshes (the ad says), and I would like to be refreshed. But beer makes me sick; otherwise, I could end up a drunkard.
The average attendant at church believes what is preached, not because it has been proven from the Bible, but because his mind has been entirely filled with the idea by a constant repetition of thoughts that appeal to his desires. Approach the preacher with a Bible verse showing an idea contrary to that in the sermon, and the verse-bringer is told that he does not have to worry about the verse—all he has to do is to accept Christ as his Savior, and all will be well. The rest of the matter may safely be left to the preacher. The great appeal is made to the Cross. And what does that mean ? That God will accept an unenlightened sinner because Christ died. That God has to have satisfaction in human suffering and death; that Christ’s death is all-sufficient. The sinner is safe.
How easy is the attaining of salvation thus made! Between the click of the gallows’ trap-door and the end of the rope, salvation may be sought by the felon, and salvation will be found. Of what use then, may we enquire, are the sixty-six books of the Bible, and why bother to read them? Why more than the statement that “God so loved the world that whoso believeth in him should not perish ?” We say because salvation is based on a reasonable belief, not on one gendered by an appeal to prejudice; and that release from anxiety and tension will come only when the entire message of the Bible is perceived. Belief is of the entire Bible which must be taken into account —and it must be read.
There is very little appeal in the Bible to the prejudice of the reader. God says to man: “Come now, and let us reason together” (Isa. 1:18). What is the purpose of the reasoning together ? “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” A condition arrived at by reasoning, by an appeal to the intelligence of man. What does he say in the same chapter? “Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth . . . And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you.” They were doing these, perhaps, not knowing the reason for the acts. In so doing, they became acts of lip service, not based on a sincere understanding. The command is to be able to give a reason for the hope that is ours (1 Peter 3:15).
Christ answered the question, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life” by saying, “Thou knowest the commandments.” When the seeker replied that he had done all these things, Christ replied, “Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.” This was more than the seeker could give. In summing up Christ said, “How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God” (Luke 18:18-25). Each verse matters here, does it not? Can a Bible reader go the required limit to gain release from anxiety and stress?
On another occasion Christ made the appeal to reason: “There is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words” (John 5:45-47). Again, Christ speaks: If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded. though one rose from the dead” (Luke 16:31). “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matt. 5:18). Each verse matters here, does it not? Is the Bible reader ready to investigate Moses and the prophets ?
An approach to the problem is found in the example of Paul: “And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures” (Acts 17:2; 18:4; 18:19). He recommends: “Brethren, be not children in understanding . . . in understanding be ye men: (1 Cor. 14: 20). The people of Berea are referred to as being more noble than those in Thessalonica, “in that they received the word with all readiness of mind (no prejudice) and searched the Scripture daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11). They heard Moses and the prophets, not a few chapters from them.
In the light of these illuminating Scriptures, one sees that the acceptable approach to God, in seeking salvation, is to have an open mind, like the Bereans, who, though Paul had told them, yet searched the Scripture to see if these things, which he had preached, were so. If Paul could be questioned, why hesitate to ask for solid proof from the Scriptures in this age ? Let us respond to the appeal to reason, not to blind prejudice. The difference means the gain or loss of salvation.
Release from anxiety and stress will come with the understanding and belief of the whole Scripture; and with this will come salvation—the peace that passes understanding.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One