Scholarly Literary Criticism
Copyright © October 7, 2019 by Robert Wayne Atkins, P.E.
All Rights Reserved.
All Scripture Verses are from the New International Version (NIV) of the Holy Bible.
In the late 1700s in the USA there began a gradual acceptance of something referred to as "scholarly literary criticism" in Christian churches and in Christian seminaries. Theoretically this was supposed to be an academic, professional, objective, and unbiased appraisal of a specific issue or topic. Its original purpose was to protect the people who issued their opinions from being openly criticized for what they wrote because the reason they published their opposing opinions was to theoretically "enhance, improve, and expand" the body of knowledge on a specific topic. Occasionally this was the case. But "scholarly criticism" is occasionally nothing more than a Satanic attack on a basic fundamental belief of the Christian faith. And because the attack is disguised as being simply an "intelligent opposing opinion" the Christian community has not only tolerated these attacks but we have actually included these heresies in our religious discussions in our Christian churches, and in the classes taught in our Christian seminaries, and it the footnotes that appear in our Christian Study Bibles.
This is not the way that the apostle Paul, and James the brother of Jesus, and the original disciples dealt with religious heretics and religious heresies. In the early Christian church religious heresies were identified for what they were and religious heretics were identified as being in league with Satan and they were not allowed to infiltrate and undermine the Christian faith. However, since the late 1700s Christians have not only tolerated these destructive theories but we spend time discussing them and considering whether or not we need to abandon the beliefs of our forefathers for a new teaching that undermines and destroys the foundations of our Christian faith.
And we wonder why membership in Christian churches is declining worldwide at the same time that the population of the world is growing at an unprecedented rate. The reason may be that we are not standing firm in our defense of the Holy Bible and we are allowing the foundations of our Christian faith to be gradually eroded and replaced with Satanic rubbish.
This is happening because we are told that Christians need to be "tolerate" of other opinions. I personally believe that we need to be tolerate of other people but we do not need to be silent on attacks on our Christian faith. Instead I believe that we should stand firm on our Christian beliefs and not allow those beliefs to be destroyed in the name of "tolerance." It is interesting to note that the people who want Christians to be tolerate of their beliefs absolutely refuse to be tolerate of our Christian faith.
This is not the same thing as correcting errors in the interpretation of the original holy scriptures. When the holy scriptures were first translated into the languages spoken by the common people and we were allowed to read the books of the Bible for ourselves we matured in the Christian faith. However the early founders of the Protestant religion were persecuted and executed for taking a stand against the heresies that were being taught at that time as part of the Christian faith.
Having legitimate questions about some of the imagery used in some of the prophetic books is also okay as long as people don't dwell on these issues because nobody on earth can correctly interpret the majority of those images. Instead we should be growing in the faith by spending more time on books that do not contain a significant amount of imagery. Getting sidetracked into trying to understand Biblical imagery is not a profitable use of a person's time.
Destructive scholarly criticism is different from the above examples. Destructive scholarly criticism creates doubts about the fundamental principles of the Christian faith. An example would be: "Was Mary really a virgin when she gave birth to her son Jesus?" This is not an objective unbiased question. It is a direct Satanic attack on what the Holy Bible clearly teaches. Another example is the opinion that Jesus only fainted on the cross and Jesus didn't actually die. This is in direct Satanic attack on the Holy Scriptures that tell us that a Roman soldier thrust his spear through Jesus' side into His heart and that blood and water spilled out. Another example would be to express an opinion that the book of Daniel and the book of Jonah are not really authentic, even though the book of Daniel and the book of Jonah were in the earliest collection of books in the first Christian Bible and they were also in the Jewish collection of Holy Writings prior to that. And Jesus himself quoted scriptures from the book of Daniel and from the book of Jonah. A question about the authenticity of the book of Daniel or the book of Jonah is not an unbiased question. It is a direct Satanic attack on the Holy Bible. If a person can begin to cast doubt on whether or not a specific book in the Bible is inspired by God then it will not be long before some people begin to abandon the Christian faith entirely. These types of questions are not designed to "enhance, improve, and expand" the body of Christian knowledge -- they are designed to undermine and destroy the Christian faith.
Christian churches, Christian seminaries, and individual Christians who discuss these types of "destructive scholarly criticisms" instead of clearly labeling them as Satanic attacks are lacking in their commitment to Jesus Christ and they are not following in the footsteps of the apostle Paul, James the brother of Jesus, and Jesus' disciples.
2 Peter 2:1-3 - But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them -- bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
1 Timothy 1:3-4 - As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work -- which is by faith.
1 Timothy 4:1-2 - The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.
1 Timothy 6:3-6 - If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.
1 Timothy 6:20-21 - Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed and in so doing have wandered from the faith.
2 Timothy 2:16-17 - Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene.
2 Timothy 2:23 - Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.
2 Timothy 4:3-5 - For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
Titus 3:9-11 - But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.
Philippians 3:18 - For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.
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