by F.J. Foster

Created on: February 09, 2010   Last Updated: February 17, 2010

At some time in our lives, probably most of us have heard the old science-philosophy question, “If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to hear it, does it make any sound?” Perhaps the question is still asked, but it’s a different world today. Today, when that tree falls, it isn’t an isolated occurrence in a far-off stand of trees. Today it’s a media event, and it seems cameras and microphones are everywhere. Today, the world knows the answer before the question can be asked.

Welcome to the 21st century A.D. Although God knew what was coming, certainly those who wrote under His inspiration had no inkling. So it was that those who recorded His Word in what we now know as the Bible, working separately but ultimately together, penned a marvelous document that has proven relevant to every century it has touched. It is no less important, no less needed, and no less up-to-date today than it was in past centuries. Rather, its wisdom and warnings, it can be argued, are more desperately needed now than at any time in the past.

Sadly, the world today seems to glory in the fall of one of those trees. Yes, there is sound, but today it is less a crash than a deafening roar that seems to echo on forever. Not only that, but the sight and sound is inevitably followed by the clattering of tongues, and we hear statements like, “Well, there goes another one. Seems to happen all the time these days, you know? They’re all nothing but a bunch of hypocrites.”

The men and women of God, living in today’s world, find themselves in a pressure cooker unlike anything their predecessors could have ever imagined. Had Paul rebuked Peter today as he did in their own time (Gal. 2:11), it would have been front page fare in London, Paris, New York, Moscow, and Tokyo within hours. And if someone in the room was carrying a cell phone camera, the actual event would have gone worldwide via the internet, even quicker, complete with translations into local languages.

For all the primitiveness of the world they occupied, Peter and Paul still had comforts we no longer enjoy. Yes, they could err and find it recorded for all time in the Bible, but only because God wanted it for our benefit. They didn’t fear opening the front door in the morning only to be blinded by the flashing bulbs of the paparazzi. They never experienced the whirr of cameras recording every step they took. They never knew the indignity of microphones shoved under

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next Page >>