HOW DO YOU HANDLE DIFFICULT PASSAGES IN SCRIPTURE?

Today's promise: Blessings come from applying God's Word

How do you handle difficult passages in Scripture?

I know his instructions lead to eternal life…

John 12:50 NLT

Let the fool choke on them

This story is about an Episcopal clergyman who took a seat in a dining car on a train traveling along the Hudson River. It happened that opposite him was an atheist. Seeing the clerical collar of his companion, he set out to argue with him and begun thus: "I see, sir, that you are a clergyman." "Yes," was the reply. "I am a minister of the Gospel." There was a pause, after which the atheist said: "I suppose, then, that you believe the Bible."

Now the clergyman was a man of sound, scriptural faith, so that he replied: "I do believe the Bible to be the Word of God." Immediately there came a query: "But don't you find things in the Bible that you can't understand?" The minister answered humbly: "Yes, there are places in the Scripture too hard for me to understand." The atheist retorted with an air of triumph, thinking he had his companion cornered: "Well, what do you do then?"

Quietly the minister went on eating his luncheon, which happened to be Hudson River shad, a delicious fish, but noted for the over-development of its bony structure. Then he looked up and said: "I do, sir, just as I do when eating this shad. When I come to the bones, I put them to the side of the plate and go on enjoying my lunch, leaving the bones for some fool to choke on."

Frank E. Gaebelien

Quoted in 1001 Great Stories and Quotes complied by R. Kent Hughes (Tyndale House) pp 27-28

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House