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4 Hope of Israel Ministries BIBLE Correspondence Course Lesson 42

twelve books: “It is man’s first attempt to organ- destiny.
ize his knowledge of his past into what we would But what PROOF do these men have for
call an outline of history." He disregards even propounding the concept that the Bible was
the POSSIBILITY that YEHOVAH God could fraudulently written by Hebrews who only
have INSPIRED the men who wrote the Bible! “claimed” divine authority for their merely hu-
When we read Genesis, Dr. Goodspeed man utterances?
would remind us that “Genesis is a great ency- Have these men been able to DISPROVE
clopedia of HEBREW thought, and its solutions the Bible? -- to disprove the existence of its great
of the great problems that confront the human characters -- to disprove the occurrence of its
mind. Its great achievement was that it unified it outstanding historic events?
all as the work of one supreme being...." (p. 39). NO! FOR HAD THEY BEEN ABLE TO
Do you catch what this means? The DISPROVE THE BIBLE, THEY WOULD
Bible is the work of MAN only -- MAN’S HAVE DEMONSTRATED THEIR “PROOF”
attempt to organize historical knowledge, the LONG AGO!
Hebrew MAN’S solution to the world’s moral The RELIGIOUS LEADERS of this
problems -- MASQUERADING as though it world are responsible for souring the average
were from a supreme being! man-on-the-street against the Bible. What else
This is exactly the view of most educated can the average person believe when religious
people! The Bible is, according to this misguid- leaders, who are SUPPOSED to know the Bible,
ed philosophy, the inspiring record of MAN’S declare the Bible a pious fraud!
search for a concept of God -- not the INSPIRED The religious leaders are the Bible’s
record of YEHOVAH’S revelation to man of WORST ENEMIES!
essential knowledge man needs to know, but Of course the Bible is read from the
would not otherwise be able to obtain! pulpits. It is continually being translated anew,
Concerning YEHOVAH’s law, Dr. but ITS TEACHINGS HAVE BEEN REJECT-
Goodspeed says that it “perpetuates the old legal ED! ITS solutions to the world’s ills have been
practices taken over from the Canaanites after repudiated WITHOUT BEING TESTED!
the conquest..." and represents “...various stages People are being persuaded to TAKE
of primitive legislation...." In other words, Dr. FOR GRANTED WHAT THE CHURCHES
Goodspeed believes mortal, carnal human be- SAY ABOUT THE BIBLE. THEY HAVE AS-
ings formulated the Ten Commandments and all SUMED THAT THE BIBLE TEACHES HUN-
of YEHOVAH God’s statutes and judgments! DREDS OF CONFLICTING IDEAS, just as Dr.
As for the remainder of the Bible, he be- Fosdick wrote, and that the BIBLE IS the cause
lieves “The Book of Joshua is the LEGEN- for the hundreds of disputing sects and denomin-
DARY story of the conquest of Canaan" and that ations. But they have NOT BEEN WILLING
the Book of Ruth “belongs to Israel’s FICTION, TO EXAMINE THE BIBLE FOR THEM-
rather than to its history, and should be among its SELVES to learn what it actually does say! If
TALES and STORIES" (p. 51). they did, they would be mightily surprised!
The reason people have willingly be-
Sincere, but Ignorant? lieved fables about the Bible is that they sin-
cerely do NOT WANT TO DO WHAT THE
SHOCKING UTTERANCES SUCH AS BIBLE SAYS! They WANT to believe fables!
THESE ARE THE PRODUCT OF HUMAN “THEY WILL NOT ENDURE SOUND
REASON! To the natural mind the Bible is TEACHING; BUT, HAVING ITCHING
merely a book of tales and stories, and fabulous EARS, WILL HEAP TO THEMSELVES TEA-
solutions to the question of human origin and CHERS AFTER THEIR OWN LUSTS; AND

Archaeology and the Bible