DaVinci Code: The Truth Behind the Fiction - Part 6

DaVinci Part 6 – More External Evidence

We’ve been looking at both the internal (from the Bible) and external evidence that the Bible is divinely inspired. In my last post I ended by telling you what my last piece of external evidence would be – the power and influence of the Bible. There are many other arguments given by scholars and theologians over the century such as the perennial freshness of the Bible from generation to generation, the character of biblical teaching, and the centrality of Christ throughout the entire Bible. But, I’ll focus in this post on the Bible’s power and influence for both the sake of time and the fact that this argument is especially powerful to me.

Influence. The influence of the Bible is, of course, world-wide. The content of Scripture has supplied themes for the greatest poets, artists, composers and playwrights the world has yet produced. The Bible has been the single most influential factor is shaping the moral progress of the human race. Its influence becomes more impressive when we consider the antiquity of the work itself. Even the most liberal scholars put the last books of the Bible added to the canon at over eighteen hundred years ago. Yet, the message of the Bible speaks to our generation as it has for countless generations over two millennia.

Books written by men (with few exception), even those of paramount influence, wane in their influence and altogether cease having any effect on mankind within fifty years. Man’s prose lives and dies with the same certainty of its creator. There are a few great works and great authors who defy this axiomatic truth – but in the end they to die and their wisdom is buried under the progress of coming generations. Further testament to this is the fact that even those whose works span centuries only make it into the hands of a very small percentage of men throughout the ages. The vast majority of mankind simply does not read these great works.

But, how different is the influence of the Bible! God describes His work as the Living Word - a Word that speaks fresh to each generation, a Word that finds relevance in an ever-changing world of diverse cultures. How can this be? This is a Book that reaches all form of man and speaks into his life in his mother tongue just as surely as it spoke to men in biblical times. No other book has experienced such success and influence – no other book.

You’ve read of the Bibles influence but what of its power? I’ll address the power of the Bible in my next blog. I know I’m leaving you waiting for the end of the story once again, but I’ve run out of time unexpectedly and at such a perfect point in my writing. So…

Until next time…

Carpe Deum! (Seize God!)
Todd Phillips