Doubt There are many people who consider the Old Testament writings as nothing more than a series of myths. Some of their arguments are based on archaeological research and for many centuries King Sargon was their "poster child." Sargon is mentioned only once in the bible in Isaiah 20:1 "In the year that the supreme commander, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it." The impression in that brief passage, and from other passages about that time period, is that Sargon was a powerful king, but for centuries there was no archaeological evidence that there ever was a Sargon. For those cynics who considered the bible myth, the lack of evidence for Sargon's existence was one of their cornerstone arguments. "If Sargon was so powerful, then why is there no evidence for his existence?" Their conclusion was, "If there is no evidence outside of the bible for Sargon and if there is no archaeological evidence for other people in mentioned in the bible, then the bible must be myth." Then in 1843, Paul Emile Botta discovered Sargon's palace - all 25 acres of it! Not only did he discover the palace, but inscriptions on the palace walls describe his campaign against Ashdod. I remember when I was young in the Lord, that whenever something came my way that was difficult, or if something didn't go my way, I would immediately question whether God existed. I would then have to work through my faith and establish again that I believed in God. By then the urgency of the issue that caused my doubt, would be gone and I would end up not dealing with what shook my faith in the first place. So, I never really made any progress in the the Lord. I got myself caught in a trap. After awhile, I grew stronger in my faith and so when something difficult came along, I didn't ask the question, "Does God exist?", instead I asked the question, "In light of God's existence, what can I learn from this situation?" So, instead of going back to square one and never really dealing with the issues, I moved on and grew in my faith in Christ. So, what do these two stories have in common? Doubt. If you start with a position of doubt or scepticism, that is what you are going to reap. Those who doubt the authenticity of the bible are going to always be looking for inaccuracies and discrepancies. Instead of learning from the bible, they are going to take away nothing. If we are constantly going to a place of doubt about God, we are going to miss out on everything that God has provided for us. I'm not saying that we shouldn't ask tough questions, or blindly accept everything about our faith, but we need to approach our faith, the bible and our life in Christ with certainty. We need to have a conviction that God is who God claims to be and that God will do all that He promises that He will do. When we step forward in the assurance of our faith and in obedience, we will reap the promises that God has for us. Kevin. BTW: If you want to know more about defending the bible and our faith, you will find a lot of great articles (Sargon included) at: |
| Doubt |
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| “All scripture passages are NIV unless otherwise noted.” |
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