https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Homer-Sometimes-Nodded.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\tText: Numbers 23:18-19<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I. Horace (65 – 8 B.C.), a Latin poet, wrote “Sometimes even the noble Homer nods”<\/p>\n A. Homer was a blind Greek poet of the eight century B.C. Know for the Illiad and\nthe Odyssey.\n B. As accomplished as Homer was, he sometimes erred with reference to the facts of\nthe incidents that he mentioned.\n
C. It is true of every human author.<\/p>\n
1. Regardless of their genius and skills, they are still fallible.<\/p>\n
2. In spite of great care, they will “nod” or “slip” on occasion.<\/p>\n
D. But contrast this to the authors of the Bible.<\/p>\n
1. They were not great scholars – Acts 4:13<\/p>\n
2. Yet they wrote with great precision.<\/p>\n 3. So amazing is their accuracy that we can only conclude that God oversaw\nthe work.\n
II. A poet once said, “To err is human . . .”<\/p>\n
A. People err. God does not.<\/p>\n B. This allows a careful student to distinguish between a mere human document and\na divinely inspired writing.\n
C. Examples of fallible humans<\/p>\n 1. Herodotus, a Greek historian of the fifth century B.C., wrote nine books\ndealing with the Greek and Persian wars together with a history of the\ncustoms and geography of those empires.\n a. He claimed that the reason the oxen in Scythia did not grow horns\nwas due to the extreme cold.\n
b. He obviously never heard of reindeer.<\/p>\n 2. Aristotle, a famous Greek scholar of the fourth century B.C. was renowned\nfor his knowledge, but he blundered at times.\n a. In “Parts of Animals”, he argued that “a man’s soul is lodged in\nsome substance of a fiery character.”\n
b. He claimed the brain is a compound of earth and water.<\/p>\n c. He suggest that sleep is caused by the blood flowing into the brain,\nthus making it heavy. This also explained why a drowsy person\nhangs his head.\n 3. Flavius Josephus was a Jewish historian. Though a respectable historian\nof his day, he frequently slipped.\n a. He declared that during the siege of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, a heifer,\nbeing led to be sacrificed in the temple, gave birth to a lamb.\n b. He spoke of a place in Egypt where fierce serpents ascend out of\nthe ground and fly through the air.\n 4. Samuel Johnson, the author of the first English dictionary, stated that the\nletter “H” seldom, perhaps never, begins any but the first syllable of a\nword. In his very statement, he did not notice that perhaps begins with\n“H” in the second syllable. Talk about embarrassing!\n
III. Religious books are not without error either<\/p>\n A. The Qur’an, which claims to be inspired by God, claims that a human fetus results\nfrom “sperm” (no mention of an egg) that changes into a clot of congealed blood,\nwhich then becomes bones, later to be covered by flesh (Sura 23:14).\n
1. This can hardly be called an accurate description of fetal development.<\/p>\n B. The Book of Mormon, revered by millions as an infallible revelation of God given\nto Joseph Smith.\n 1. Alma 7:10 says Jesus Christ was born in Jerusalem. But everyone knows\nthe Savior was born in that “little town of Bethlehem” – Micah 5:2,\nMatthew 2:1\n 2. I Nephi 16:10 and 2 Nephi 5:12 tells of Nephi using a compass to find his\ndirection in the sixth century B.C. The problem is that the mariner’s\ncompass was not developed until around 1000 A.D.\n 3. Joseph Smith, their prophet, once taught that there were people living on\nthe moon — six feet tall, dressed like Quakers, and with a life-span of\n1,000 years. \n a. When Brigham Young, Smith’s successor, was asked about this\nmatter, he concurred and suggested that such beings also lived on\nthe Sun.\n C. Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the “Christian Science” movement stated in\n“Science and Health with Key to the Scripture” which she claimed was co-authored by God, stated “Man is not matter — made up of brains, blood, bones,\nand other material elements . . . , Man is spiritual and perfect; and because of this,\nhe must be so understood in Christian Science . . . Man is incapable of sin,\nsickness, and death.” Mrs. Eddy died December 3, 1910.\n
IV. In glaring contrast, the writers of the biblical records never nodded.<\/p>\n A. Their works are characterized by razor-sharp accuracy that defies explanation,\nsave that God is the true author.\n B. The first two chapters of the Bible record the beginning of the Universe, including\nthe Earth and its inhabitants. Even though it was penned over 3,500 years ago,\nthere is not one word in this account which is at variance with any demonstrable\nfact of science.\n 1. Yet any book on astronomy or Earth science penned fifty years ago is\nalready obsolete.\n 2. An example, the Bible says the universe had a beginning. The second law\nof Thermodynamics says the universe is decaying. In order to decay, there\nmust be some starting point in “recent” past to decay from. \n a. In contrast the Babylonian creation accounts asserts that matter is\neternal.\n 3. The Bible affirms that creation was completed at the end of the sixth day. \nThe first law of Thermodynamics says that nothing is being created today.\n 4. Ten times the Bible states that biological organisms replicate after their\nown kind. It is perfectly in harmony with the known laws of genetics —\nunlike the theory of evolution.\n
C. Medical knowledge<\/p>\n 1. The ancient world’s knowledge of medicine was based on myths and\nsuperstitions.\n a. An Egyptian remedy for hair loss was to apply a mixture of six fats\n(horse, hippopotamus, crocodile, cat, and ibex) with the tooth of a\ndonkey crushed in honey.\n b. They even had a spell for transforming an old man into a youth of\ntwenty.\n 2. Even though Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians\n(Acts 7:22), no magic mumbo-jumbo is found in his writings. Instead,\nMoses was far ahead of his time in terms of medicine and sanitation.\n a. Leviticus 13 contains detailed information for the diagnosis,\ntreatment (disinfectant with soap), and quarantine of the diseased\nall which would lessen the spread of the disease.\n b. Consider the fact that a leper was required to cover his upper lip\n(Leviticus 13:45). Dr. J. S. Morton has noted, “Since the leprosy\nbacilli are transmitted from nasal drippings and saliva, this practice\nof having lepers cover the upper lips was good hygienic policy”\n c. Dr. William Vis “To show how far Moses was ahead of modern\nsociety we need only to remind ourselves that the word quarantine\noriginated in the fourteenth century when the Italian ports of\nVenice and Genoa first refused admission to immigrants who\nmight be harboring plague and required them to stay on board forty\ndays, hence the word quarantine. Even in the seventeenth and\neighteenth centuries leprosy spread over southern Europe until the\nprinciples of Moses were re-enacted successfully.\n
D. Geography<\/p>\n 1. Then the Encyclopedia Britannica was first published it contained so many\nmistakes relative to American geography and topography, that a rival\npublisher issued a special pamphlet correcting the numerous blunders of\nits British rival.\n 2. In ancient Rome, Tacitus wrote a book on the geography, manners,\ncustoms, and tribes of Germany. It contained so many flaws, that it was\nnoted that “geography was its weak point.”\n 3. The Bible contains literally hundreds of references to geography and\ntopography. \n a. Example, we often say we will travel from Atlanta up to Chicago,\nwhereas Chicago is 500 feet lower than Atlanta. We do this\nbecause we refer to north as up and south as down.\n b. The Bible does not use such terms. One travels from Jerusalem (in\nthe south) down to Antioch, some 150 miles to the north (Acts\n15:1-2). Not once is there a geographical or topographical blunder\nin the Scriptures in spite of the fact that the ancients did not posses\nmodern sophisticated instruments.\n 4. Luke mentions 32 countries, 54 cities, and 9 Mediterranean islands. There\nis not the slightest mistake in any of his references.\n
V. The Bible has been said to be inaccurate, but time after time, it has been proven true.<\/p>\n A. The Genesis record declares Pharaoh presented Abraham with some camels –\nGenesis 12:16\n 1. In 1899, T.K. Cheyne wrote, “the assertion that the ancient Egyptians\nknew of the camel is unfounded.”\n 2. In 1980, Professor Kenneth Kitchen has shown that “the extant evidence\nclearly indicates that the domesticated camel was known in Egypt by 3,000\nB.C.” — long before Abraham’s time.\n B. On several occasions, the book of Genesis mentioned Abraham and Isaac\nassociated with Philistines (Genesis 21; Genesis 26).\n 1. In 1964, H. T. Frank characterized these allusions as an historical\ninaccuracy.\n 2. In 1983, R. K. Harrison notes some Philistines had begun to migrate to\nCanaan before the main body arrived in the early 12th<\/sup> century B.C. He\n“suggests that it is a mistake to regard the mention of the Philistines in the\npatriarchal narratives as an anachronism.”\nVI. Even the noble Homer may nod, but those guided by the Spirit of God never did. You\ncan trust the Bible. Will you trust it with your soul this day?\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Text: Numbers 23:18-19 I. Horace (65 – 8 B.C.), a Latin poet, wrote “Sometimes even the noble Homer nods” A. Homer was a blind Greek poet of the eight century B.C. Know for the Illiad and the Odyssey. B. As accomplished as Homer was, he sometimes erred with reference to the facts of the incidents that he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[568,219,1255,223,279,225,361,687,362,474],"class_list":["post-26391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-accuracy-of-the-bible","tag-bible","tag-christian-scientists","tag-geography","tag-history","tag-inspiration","tag-islam","tag-mormons","tag-muslims","tag-science"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21052,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-recommend-any-books-to-further-study-ezekiel\/","url_meta":{"origin":26391,"position":0},"title":"Can you recommend any books to further study Ezekiel?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I've stumbled upon your web site doing a search for study resources on\u00a0Ezekiel. I'm impressed with how thorough your notes are and I've bookmarked this site. Thanks for all the work you've put into this. Do you have any books you would recommend for further study? Answer: Thank you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33843,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/seeking-to-ruin-a-reputation\/","url_meta":{"origin":26391,"position":1},"title":"Seeking to Ruin a Reputation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 31, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Floyd Chappelear Sentry Magazine, December 1999 He had seen Jesus after the resurrection (Acts 9). He had been left dead and had seen things on the other side that it was not lawful to speak about (see Acts 14:19; II Corinthians 12:4). The man was powerful, influential beyond measure.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17158,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-king-james-bible-doesnt-say-once-for-all-in-jude-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":26391,"position":2},"title":"My King James Bible doesn’t say “once for all” in Jude 3","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 3, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: \"Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints\" (Jude 3). The words \"for all\" is not in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17211,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/an-overview-of-the-old-testament-prophets\/","url_meta":{"origin":26391,"position":3},"title":"An Overview of the Old Testament Prophets","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 22, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Hosea 14 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Old Testament is divided into three major sections: the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets - Luke 24:44 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Law refers to the first five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Prophets or teachings were divided by the Jews\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17263,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-need-a-dumbed-down-version-about-divorce-and-remarriage\/","url_meta":{"origin":26391,"position":4},"title":"I need a dumbed-down version about divorce and remarriage","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was wondering about a book called A\u00a0Review of Homer Hailey's The Divorced & Remarried Who Come To God\u00a0by Weldon Warnock. 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