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The Bible

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching the truth, rebuking error, correcting faults, and giving instruction for right living, so that the person who serves God may be fully qualified and equiped to do every kind of good deed.” - II Timothy 3:16-17

Our country is perhaps one of the few countries in the world that celebrates a National Bible Week. I’m not quite sure about the government’s reasons for the celebration, but perhaps this is one way of affirming the importance of the Bible in our national life.

I would like to believe that a serious study of the Biblical teachings and putting them into practice can be of great help to our national development, especially in our government’s moral recovery program. If only our people would truly read and study the Bible seriously, and apply its moral principles and teachings in their own daily lives, then perhaps we may have a nation that is morally upright, a country devoid of poverty and criminality, one that is free from graft and corruption, and where genuine peace and justice prevail.

The Bible, however, could be co-opted by the powers-that-be. People in power may appropriate the resources of faith and religion for their own vested interest. This happened in the Middle Ages and surely, it could also happen today. Knowledge of the Bible could be a way of covering up some evil deeds, or a way of easing out a morally disturbed conscience. Do we still remember how the devil quoted the Scriptures in trying to win over Jesus to its side? (Mt.4). Even the devil could use the Scriptures for its own purposes.

Nevertheless, I still believe that the Bible has an important role to play in our national development for a number of reasons: First, the Bible can be a great help in our national development, because it is useful in rebuking error and correcting faults.

The Bible is like a mirror on which we see ourselves. As we read and study the Scriptures, we discover how far we have gone in fulfilling God’s Word in whatever we do or say. The Bible is a standard by which we can measure ourselves, and probably, we may find ourselves wanting or falling short of God’s glory.

Years ago, Sen. Franklin Drilon filed Senate Resolution No. 265, urging then President Fidel Ramos to declare a National Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer. In trying to justify his Resolution, Sen. Drilon said, “We have been blessed with a beautiful country and we have grown in numbers, but we have forgotten God. We have forgotten that Gracious Hand which preserved us, multiplied, and strengthened us. And we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all the blessings we have were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.”

“Let us humble ourselves before God,” he said, “Confess our national sins and pray for clemency and forgiveness.”

“By observing a National Day of Humiliation,” he said further, “Filipinos could hope that the united cry of the nation shall be heard on high, and answered with blessings and restoration of our own divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace.”

Truly, this Resolution is a fitting and appropriate response to the Biblical injunction, wherein God said, “If my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray, then I will forgive their sins, and heal their land” (2 Chro.7:14). The Bible indeed, is useful in rebuking error and correcting faults.

Moreover, the Bible can be a great help in national development, because it is also useful in teaching the truth and giving instruction for rightful living. Truth is a basic ingredient needed for national development. Without truth as a foundation, our society may not succeed in the struggle for genuine peace and progress.

One writer rightly observed that our country is one where crooks are far more admired than reviled. Ill-gotten wealth is not always seen as a mark of dishonesty, but rather it is often seen as a mark of ability. No big-time crook or murderer thinks of himself or herself as a crook or murderer – only a benefactor and law enforcer, and neither does the public. Our values as a people are somehow distorted. They have to be transformed by the moral principles derived from God’s Word.

The famous German theologian, Paul Tillich, once said that the weakness as well as the strength of Protestantism is the tendency to intellectualize the faith. Christianity’s ultimate aim is not simply to explain the world, but rather to transform it. In the words of the UCCP Statement of Faith, it is “to make each person a new being in Christ, and the whole world as God’s Kingdom.”

Finally, the Bible can be a great help in national development, because it is believed to be inspired by God Himself. This means that God’s Spirit is at work not only in the writing, but also in the reading, studying, and in putting the Scriptures into practice. This is what makes the Bible uniquely different from any other book. And those who live according to the Biblical message may live a very dangerous life. Why? Because as they study and search the Scriptures, they would encounter the reality of the Living God, who has ultimate claim for their lives, and in whom alone they shall serve.

The life of John Wycliffe is a good example. He was known in Church History as the “morning star” of the 16th Century Protestant Reformation in Europe. He was a serious student of the Bible. He believed that the Bible must be the rule of Christian faith and practice. And so, he translated it into English so that the common people could read and understand it. However, what he did caught the ire of the powers-that-be. Thus the Council of Constance condemned him as the number one heretic of the church. The Council ordered his body to be dug out of the grave, his bones to be burned, and the ashes to be thrown into the river. True, the river carried his ashes to the sea, but his teachings based on the Scriptures continued to work as a leaven that led to the reformation.

Even today, if we take the Bible and its teachings seriously we may also live a very dangerous life. We may also be imprisoned, or declared persona-non-grata, or removed from job, or branded as anti-Christ, subversive or “communist”. However, let us rejoice in the thought of God’s promise that His Word will never return to Him empty; it will always fulfill its purpose (Isa.55:11). #

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