...This I Know, For The Bible Tells Me So

If you have spent any time as a child in a Christian Sunday School, no doubt at one point or another, you have heard the song by William B. Bradbury (1816-1885) called, Jesus Loves Me. This tune originally appeared as a poem by Anna B. Warner (1827-1915) in a book called Say and Seal, written by Anna's sister, Susan Warner (1819-1885).  The poem was published in 1860 and the hymn with music was written 1862 by Mr. Bradbury. So very close together. No doubt since these both take place so close together that the book must have been a popular work to catch the attention of Bradbury.

If you look at these dates in history and the history preceding these dates of when the poem, book, and tune was written, this was a turbulent time in American Church history. Many different religions, sects, and cults rose up at this time, which is commonly called The Second Great Awakening between 1790 and lost steam early 1850's. But no doubt left a deep imprint of religion in America.

The Seventh-Day Adventist Church started by Ellen G. White, formerly established in 1863, came out of the Millerite Movement. The Millerite Movement, started by William Miller, who in 1833 publicly shared his belief that the second coming of Christ would happen between 1843 and 1844. This no doubt did not happen and should have been deemed a false prophet.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormonism, which was started by a young Joseph Smith (1830-1844) in which after received gold plates from the Angel Moroni and decoded them to produce a written copy of the Book of Mormon in 1830. Mormonism continued to flourish after Smith's death and when Warner's book was written, the LDS church was moving to the mid-west under the leadership of the second Prophet and President Brigham Young.

Another cult that came about around this time was the Jehovah's Witnesses,which was started in 1870 by Charles Taze Russell which was a splinter group of the Bible Student Movement. Who have for almost 150 years have denied the biblical trinity, falsely predicting Christ's coming multiple times, and proclaiming false prophecies about the end of the world.

Through the Second Great Awakening memberships skyrocketed in the Wesleyan, Baptist, Shaker and other Protestant congregations. It was one of, if not the greatest religious revival in American history.

So when this poem, book, and hymn were written, was very interesting especially with the words, "for the bible tells me so".

Which brings me to the point of this article. For those who claim to be Christian, much of the, "this I know" does not come from the bible, but through their own personal feelings, experience, and logic. Why is that? Because people do not believe that the bible is authoritative, written by the creator of the universe. Each of these cults and false religions had their own bent towards the bible, or rejected the bible as flawed or outdated. That there needs to be some sort of extra-biblical revelation attached to it.

"Please excuse my dad. He's a bigoted, grumpy old man who is outdated, not in touch with today, and doesn't know what he's saying."

It is why in my previous post that professed Christians are apologizing for something they have no right to apologize for. It is as if they are holding up their bibles and saying, "Please excuse my dad. He's a bigoted, grumpy old man who is outdated, not in touch with today, and doesn't know what he's saying." To apologize would be admitting you're wrong. These same people do not regard the words as supernatural, holy, and powerful. We need to read the bible for what it is, the words of God. God breathed. It is perfect, and without error. We need to study the bible, interpret it according to proper hermaneutics, and then apply it accordingly. It doesn't matter what you say, or I say about a particular bible verse, but what it says according to the person from which God commanded to write it down. Our feelings or personal beliefs should not matter when it comes to our interpretation of the bible.