“She (Mary) said: ‘O my Lord! How shall I have a son when no man has touched me.’ He (God) said: ‘So (it will be) for God creates what He wills. When He has decreed something, He says to it only: ‘Be!’- and it is” (3:47).

“Then will God say: ‘O Jesus the son of Mary! recount My favor to you and to your mother. Behold! I strengthened you with the Holy Spirit (the angel Gabriel) so that you did speak to the people in childhood and in maturity. Behold! I taught you the Book and Wisdom, the Law and the Gospel. And behold: you make out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, by My leave, and you breathe into it, and it becomes a bird by My leave, and you heal those born blind, and the lepers by My leave. And behold! you bring forth the dead by My leave. And behold! I did restrain the children of Israel from (violence to you) when you did show them the Clear Signs, and the unbelievers among them said: ‘This is nothing but evident magic’ (5:110).

““They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but they thought they did.” (Quran 4:156) “God lifted him up to His presence. God is Almighty, All-Wise” (Quran 4:157) .

It confuses me, and it frustrates me. Ron Wood and Beth Moore both teach that you should pray scriptures, but which ones? Sometimes the promises people quote seem taken out of context. Is all of the bible all true and without contradiction?

I’ll tell you what I believe (you were holding your breath, waiting to find out, weren’t you)… I believe that God is true. Christ is true. And the bible is the very best resource we having for learning what God is and wants from us. It is full of things that teach, correct, and edify us. It tells us the history of mankind with God and without God. It gives examples and precepts, commands and commentary. But I don’t know that I would stand up in a meeting like I have seen people do, hold up a bible and declare, “Every WORD in this book is true!”

I read the bible groping for what lies behind it. I read it searching for the footprints of Christ, for the marks of love and purity that show where the hand of God has touched. I had a vision once where I entered a dark room. On a black stone screen taking up the whole of one wall were glowing, fiery words. When I went closer, I saw that they were the text of the scriptures. But when I went even closer, I saw that the words were actually cut out of the screen. When I held my face up close to them, I could look through them and see that the firery glow was really the glory of the Lord’s face shinging from where he sat on the other side of the screen. He is what we are really looking for. He is what lies behind it all. The scriptures are just a way of finding him, of approaching him, of drawing close…

I study my bible, but it’s God I love.

No more hiding for you…. Good word… Keep it up!