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Testimonies for the Church Volume 5
Those are blessed with clearest light who are willing thus to accept
the living oracles upon the authority of God. If asked to explain certain
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statements, they can only answer: “It is so presented in the Scriptures.”
They are obliged to acknowledge that they cannot explain the operation
of divine power or the manifestation of divine wisdom. It is as the
Lord intended it should be, that we find ourselves compelled to accept
some things solely by faith. To acknowledge this, is only to admit
that the finite mind is inadequate to grasp the infinite; that man, with
his limited, human knowledge, cannot understand the purposes of
Omniscience.
Because they cannot fathom all its mysteries, the skeptic and the
infidel reject God’s word; and not all who profess to believe the Bible
are secure from temptation on this point. Says the apostle: “Take
heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief,
in departing from the living God.” Minds that have been educated
to criticize, to doubt and cavil because they cannot search into the
purposes of God, will “fall after the same example of unbelief.” It is
right to study closely the teaching of the Bible, and to search into “the
deep things of God,” so far as they are revealed in Scripture. While
“the secret things belong unto the Lord our God,” “those things which
are revealed belong unto us and to our children.” But it is Satan’s
work to pervert the investigative powers of the mind. A certain pride is
mingled with the consideration of Bible truth, so that men feel defeated
and impatient if they cannot explain every portion of Scripture to their
satisfaction. It is too humiliating to them to acknowledge that they do
not understand the inspired words. They are unwilling to wait patiently
until God shall see fit to reveal the truth to them. They feel that their
unaided human wisdom is sufficient to enable them to comprehend
the Scripture; and failing to do this, they virtually deny its authority.
It is true that many theories and doctrines popularly supposed to be
the teaching of the Bible have no foundation in Scripture and, indeed,
are contrary to the whole tenor of inspiration. These things have
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been a cause of doubt and perplexity to many minds. They are not,
however, chargeable to God’s word, but to man’s perversion of it. But
the difficulties in the Bible do not reflect upon the wisdom of God;
they will not cause the ruin of any who would not have been destroyed
if no such difficulties had existed. Had there been no mysteries in the
Bible for them to question, the same minds would, through their own