Two Dogs & an Egg - A Picture of Controversy Over the Bible

Two Dogs & an Egg

"Never forget," my uncle was saying, "the lesson of the two dogs and the egg."

We were sitting on the front porch in the afternoon sun, soaking in the warmth of its rays. That warmth was very welcomed on that crisp January day. So was the perfectly blue sky, and the bright sunlight reflecting on white snow.

I puzzled over his remark. How could a story about two dogs and an egg have any meaningful or spiritual application? My Uncle Tom has a strange way of thinking and talking, at times. It isn't always easy to follow his line of thought.

He saw the look on my face and so he offered a little hint.

"The two dogs would've had little to argue about," he said, "had the egg not been hardboiled. A raw egg would've simply broken and spilled, but the boiled egg held its shape, rolling all around even after the shell had been cracked. So here's the application: Because it remained a little while, it continued to give them something to fight over."

"Yes, but what does a boiled egg have to do with the Bible?" I asked the question, but I was already beginning to see where he must be going with this.

"Because the Bible remains," he said, "and cannot be dispelled, disproved, dismissed, or weakened by the bitter attacks of those who hate the true God. No matter what unbelievers say or do, or what laws they manage to have passed in this or that nation, the Bible remains the same from generation to generation. Therefore, the controversy over the Scriptures will continue until the end of time. Until Jesus Christ Himself returns to settle things on earth."

And there you have it, I thought to myself. As always, I had to go and ask. But like it or not, I could see his point. After all, it was true.

The Bible remains powerful because it has the very power of God Himself behind it and all through it. In fact, the message of Scripture is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes it. The Bible alone is faithful to always point to Jesus Christ, no matter what. And Jesus Christ is the only way to eternal life.

No matter how you look at it, the Word of God can only be as powerful as the God who speaks it and who also backs it up. As the word of any human being is only as powerful or as great as that person, so it is with Scripture in the Bible. The Bible carries the power of the Spirit of God (see John 6:63) who caused it to be written, and who causes it to remain.

The Bible has been attacked for thousands of years -- even centuries before Jesus Christ was born as a human being -- but it has never lost any of its ability to transform all who believe it into God's own children. In fact, today there are more Bibles, in more translations available in more locations than at any earlier time in history. Millions of Bibles find their way into China, India, and other regions of the world where the Scriptures may even be outlawed.

But don't get me wrong. The Bible is not a magical object. I mean, it doesn't glow in the dark or anything. Owning a Bible, touching a Bible, reading a Bible — none of these things save us. But allowing God's Holy Spirit to speak to us, as He applies the words and testimony of Scripture to our own hearts, that can lead us to faith in Jesus Christ, which leads to the confession and forgiveness of sin, and to eternal life with God.

And so the spiritual war goes on. Satan tries in many clever (but very, very obvious) ways, in every generation, to destroy, to belittle, to do away with what God has said. Even the ancient prophet Jeremiah had to rewrite his entire book of prophecy, because as it was being read aloud to the king (Jehoiakim) of Judah, it was being cut from the scroll and thrown into the fire (see Jeremiah 36).

Jeremiah's prophecy was a much-hated message, as are all the Holy Scriptures in the Bible. But Jeremiah had his assistant help him gather all the notes and scraps together so they could produce another edition of the message God had given him.

Scripture says it this way:
Now, after the king had burned the scroll with the words that Baruch wrote at Jeremiah's dictation, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: "Take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which King Jehoiakim of Judah has burned…."

And so Jeremiah set to work, gathering all the scraps and notes he had piled up over the years, and putting them back into a single scroll. The result was a book that was even bigger, with even more prophetic words than the first one. As the Bible says: "Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the secretary Baruch son of Neriah, who wrote on it, at Jeremiah's dictation, all the words of the scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah had burned in the fire; and many similar words were added to them."

(It's interesting -- to me, anyway -- to note that while the book of Isaiah has been divided into 14 more chapters than Jeremiah, the prophecy of Jeremiah still has "more words". Wherever sin abounds, God's grace will always much more abound. And the Lord has even taken the very enemy of the Gospel and transformed him into a preacher of the Gospel -- time and time again in history. Hallelujah!)

The Bible has endured many attacks in the past, and it continues to be under constant attack today. But it has already had a profound impact on modern human civilization, even in nations that are not Christian at all. And it's still transforming human lives all around the world -- right now while you read these words.

Whoever follows Jesus Christ can do himself harm by ignoring the Scriptures, but he can also do himself much good by reading the Bible daily. Nothing helps the heart & life like God's living and unbreakable Word. Nothing silences the raging stupidity of this dark age like God's Word. As the old slogan goes, never leave home without it. Spend some time alone with Scripture every day.

So I guess I have to agree with what my Uncle Tom was saying.

Had the Bible failed to be the very power of God unto salvation for generation after generation, it would've faded away long, long ago. But since it remains supremely powerful -- in every succeeding generation -- to transform broken and ruined human lives, and to alter even the world itself, it's still here. And foolish people, whose hearts are darkened, still rage against it.

The fact that those who hate God most also hate the Scriptures and openly attack them says it all. And at the same time, whoever knows and loves the Lord Jesus Christ will also honor His Word, relying on God for direction, teaching and strength in all of life.

Praise God that His Word continues to do the work of God in the hearts of everyone who loves the Lord Jesus Christ. Whoever continues to live according to the words and teachings of our Lord in the Scriptures, proves to be a true disciple and follower of Jesus Christ. Amen.