They Hear Not Moses and the Prophets

And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house — for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Luke 16:27-31

When Jesus spoke this account of Lazarus and the Rich Man, He ended it with a very compelling point: if people do not believe the writings of Moses or the prophets (i.e. the Old Testament), they will not believe even if someone rose from the dead. Of course, there is someone who rose from the dead – Jesus – and there are people who do not believe in Him because they do not believe Moses and the prophets.

A friend of mine posted a link on FaceBook which demonstrates this principle. A 'riches to rags' story in the Christian Post talks about a former Methodist pastor who lost her faith and has now become the public relations director for the American Atheists. In her own words, her descent into disbelief began with her doubts about the Bible. Read this quote from the article:

“There are basically four steps that occurred over a long period of time. One was the contradictory nature of the Bible; the lack of scientific or historical foundation or accuracy, which took me a very, very long time to come to terms with. That was the starting point I guess when I realized that that wasn't true, that the Bible wasn't true.”

So we have an example straight from the horse's mouth as it were. Her decision to embrace atheism began with a rejection of the Bible. It's the Garden of Eden all over again where Eve has believed the lies of the serpent (read this post).

I wonder exactly when this lady began to have her doubts. She only said it was a “very, very gradual” process.  Since she specifically mentions the “scientific” foundation of the Bible, I assume much of her confusion stemmed from evolution and creation. Did she ever ask anyone, “what about evolution?” I wonder what she was told. Was she given any answers or was she only told, “That's not important”? What's worse is that she might have been told, “You don't have to believe that part of the Bible.”

If the church is interested in reaching people, the issue of evolution has to be met head on. I would say that a belief in evolution is the number one obstacle preventing people in the US from accepting Jesus. Sadly, the subject receives barely a mention. The issue of origins is often considered “controversial” and so is avoided too frequently. It's simply not discussed out of fear of offending. When asked about the subject, weak church leaders will hide behind the justification that the correct interpretation of Genesis isn't relevant to salvation. To that I would say that a belief in creation may not be a requirement of salvation but it's far from irrelevant. Jesus convincingly demonstrated that there is a direct correlation between a belief in the Old Testament and a belief in Him.