SO YOU DONT KNOW THE ANSWER. WHAT DO YOU DO? “You can imagine my confusion…I was dumbfounded…[But] the question never faded from my mind, and over the ensuing years, I kept searching God’s Word for the answer.” (Victory in Christ; 11-4) Perhaps it’s the way I’m “wired,” but I like to know. It could be something that one of my daughters experienced. It might be the way something operates (especially a puzzle!). Bottom line, I find it difficult to walk away from a situation or problem without understanding the facts. I could blame it on my mother and teachers. They told me that there’s no such thing as a stupid question. And Ive taken advantage of that! At times, my ongoing questions can often drive my family nuts! So you can imagine my bewilderment when I came to realize that some people believed that the rider on the white horse in the first seal (Rev. 6:1, 2) was the antichrist. I had always heard and assumed that it was about the gospel of Jesus Christ! Upon learning this, I couldn’t get to the church library fast enough! But when I did, it didn’t help. None of my churchs Revelation books at that time (1983 to 1985)—U. Smith, S. Haskell, R. Anderson, C. M. Maxwell—said anything about Jesus Christ being the rider. They only addressed the rider’s headwear and instruments, and the horses’ colors—nothing about the rider himself. In fact, one author suggested that he wasn’t Jesus: “It doesn’t seem likely, after all, that this rider of the first seal really is Jesus,” even labeling the other three riders as “evil” (Maxwell:180, 182)! Despite the fact that I could not find a satisfactory answer, the question over the first rider’s identity continued to plague my mind, and it did so for years. Is the first seal really about the gospel of Jesus Christ or is the rider the antichrist? Could the answer be both? If riders 2-4 are “evil,” what about the rider on the first white horse? And do any of these questions—or the rider’s identify—even matter? After all, the ministers in my church were still preaching about the seven seals of Revelation 6 with unwavering conviction! But enough about my experience. What about you? Have you ever been challenged by something you read in the Bible, or the books of prophecy—Ezekiel, Daniel, or Revelation? Have you encountered something in the Bible that caused you to question any of your beliefs or your church’s teachings? If so, what did you do? Did you ignore it? Did you go to your pastor, or a number of Bible students, until you found a satisfactory answer? Did you search through and study your Bible? Based on my years of experience, I’m afraid to hear most of the answers—I know what many Christians do. Do you know how many core beliefs your church has? Can you explain or defend each of them, with your Bible alone? Since it’s the beginning of a new year, perhaps it’s also a good time to ask, Do you know your Bible? Have you read it through? Thats a lot of questions at one sitting. But if youre not satisfied with your answers, you can change that...beginning now.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 22:29:57 +0000
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