EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/01/2025 10:45 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “Intro to 2 Peter 1:16-21”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 2 Peter 1:16-21
Message of the verses: “16 For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, "This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased" —18 and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. 19 So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. 20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
John MacArthur entitles this fourth chapter of his commentary on 2 Peter “The Sure Word,” and as I look at these verses I certainly can tell why he named it this. As I have been doing recently I will do here and that is to quote his introduction that is found in his commentary.
“Through the centuries the Bible has had many formidable critics and detractors. Attacks on its veracity arguably reached a washshed during the time of the Enlightenment. Hayden V. White articulated the climate of that era as follows:
The Enlightenment attitude of mind was complex and internally varied, but it can be characterized roughly as a dedication of human reason, science, and education as the best means of building a stable society for free men on earth. This meant that the Enlightenment was inherently suspicious of religion, hostile to tradition, and resentful of any authority based on custom or faith alone. Ultimately the Enlightenment was nothing if not secular in its orientation; it offered the first program in the history of mankind for the construction of a human community out of natural materials along. (“Editor’s Introduction,” in Robert Anchor, The Entitlement Tradition [New York; Harper & Row,1967], ix; cited in Norman L. Geiosler and William E. Nix, A General Introduction to the Bible, revised and expanded [Chicago: Moody, 1968, 1986], 139)
Through their writings and the promotion of their secular ideas, philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679; materialism), Benedict de Spinoza (1632-1677; rationalistic pantheism and naturalism), David Hume (1711-1776; skepticism and antisupernaturalism), Immanuel Kant (1724-1804; philosophical agnosticism), Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834; romanticism and positive theology), and Georg W. F. Hegel (1770-1831; philosophical idealism and the dialectical process [thesis, antithesis, and synthesis]) did much to undermine and destroy confidence in the infallibility of Scripture and a biblical understanding of the nature of truth. Those Enlightenment philosophies also paved the way for theological liberalism (Albrecht Ritschl, 1822-1899; Adolf von Harnack, 1851-1930), present-day existentialism and post-modern relativism (Soren Kierkegaard, 1813-1855; Fredrick W. Nietzsche, 1944-1900; Rudolf Bultmann, 1884-1976; Martin Heidegger, 1889-1976), and higher criticism (F. C. Baur, 1792-1860; Julius Wellhausen, 1844-1918).”
I really hate to stop here but my typing has never been the fasted, especially when I have to type all those numbers.
11/1/2025 10:14 PM
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