God's Not-So-Enduring Word.

I've gotten into a trend of thinking lately, and the trend goes something along the lines of people saying the most outrageous things. Here, we have the perfect representation of that trend. On the outside, the message seems to be trying to give comfort to Christians, informing them that God's word is unchanging and forever steadfast in its ability to convey the life-giving message that has been constant in the pages of the holy book that represents it. On the inside, however, things are different; as with most things, surprising to say the least.

One need only google how the bible came into existence to find many different theories on how the process went about, which is my overall point. If God is constant, and his word the same, there would be no need to debate it; it would be enduring and steadfast, able to stand up to the most relentless of attacks. As it stands, philosophers and theologists go back and forth trying to prove one way or another that their theories are the right ones or that they know exactly what happened. It's a constant battle on a single subject that has been ongoing for centuries with no end in sight, and even worse, innocent bystanders with different or a lack of beliefs find themselves caught in the crossfire, most of the time unintentionally.

The English dictionary (pick one up at your local store) has many definitions on the word 'endure', but all of them seem to point to the conclusion that it means to continue forward without giving in. It is true that the bible has been under attack for centuries, but has it really stood the test of time? There are many different versions of the bible, all of which have a plethora of differences. If we included the Christian argument that God is completely unchanging and so is his word, then reality would very quickly disagree. It would seem then, that the bible has indeed stood up to the test of time, but it has been bent, twisted, and changed in order to allow it to do so.

To endure something means to last through, and with the way things are going in the world today, God's word will eventually need a new translation to regain its footing. Each and every day, churches around the world lose another member, and the ones that remain are desperate to refill their ranks with people who have been indoctrinated into the Christian faith. I'd like to reiterate that if God and his word were both constant and unchanging, there would be no need to debate it, much less to discuss an endurance issue. As it is, both God and his word have been, are, and always will be subject to debate and theories. Will his word endure forever? Time will tell.