BiblicalInsights.net

Paul Gutjahr has written a history of the English Bible in America from 1777 to 1880.  Gutjahr reveals insights into the status of the Bible in America from the time of the Revolutionary War unto the end of the nineteenth century covering a period of a little more than one hundred years.  In the Preface to the book, he identifies some of the reasons for the diminishing influence of the Bible in America.  Consider the following quote: “As the nineteenth century unfolded, radical changes in printing technology, educational practices, reading tastes, transportation networks, labor relations, demographics, political institutions, and religious traditions combined to erode the Bible’s “classic preeminence” (2).  Gutjahr goes on to say, “This study argues that the reasons for the diminishing role of the Bible in American print culture are largely founded and revealed in the evolving content and packaging of the Holy Scriptures.  The Bible’s myriad mutations played an enormous, and hitherto almost entirely ignored, role in determining the Bible’s place in American hearts and minds” (3).  By 1880, nearly two thousand different editions of the Bible were available to Americans (3).  The multiplication of the Bible in America was designed to keep it the most read, most revered book, but it may have had just the opposite effect.  It divided loyalties between various versions and texts which caused competition, confusion and disillusionment with the “unchangeable” nature of the Bible.  Gutjahr mentions the impact of higher criticism and textual criticism on the translation and multiplication of the versions of the Bible.  These two influences changed the nature of the Bible from the view that the Bible was a divine document to the view that it was both a human and divine document (2).  Higher critics attempted to separate the divine from the human.  Textual critics changed the basic Greek text from which the English translations were formed.  The result was the loss of a single unifying Bible that helped define American culture.  Gutjahr also mentions the influence of men like Thomas Paine who attacked the Bible.  Paine’s works were very popular in America and helped erode confidence in the Bible.  Paine represents the influence of secular humanism in America.  The role of the Bible in American culture changed and diminished.  Today, the Bible is no longer the basis for values and morals in American culture.  The Bible has been marginalized and excluded from the public sphere and relegated primarily to individual homes and churches.  The Bible has become one book among many instead of The Book.  I have written a review of Gutjahr’s book and placed it on my Book Reviews page.  Please take the time to read it and tell others about it.

So, you want to get away from it all!  You are tired of Covid-19 restrictions and need a vacation where you don’t have to worry about contracting the virus.  I’ve got the perfect spot for you.  It is Point Nemo located in the Pacific Ocean.  This place is 1671 miles away from Easter Island which is the closest inhabited land.  It would take 15 days, 10 hours, and 37 minutes to get to Easter Island from Point Nemo.  But, the closest humans to you would actually be on the space station located 258 miles above the earth.  Now, that is truly getting away from it all.
Does God want you to live in isolation?  In Romans 14:7-8, Paul writes, “For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.  For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.”
God Created Us
God is a person and He created us in His image (Gen. 1:26-27).  We also have personhood and can live in relationship with God and with one another.  This fact is just one of the reasons that the one, true, and living God is unique.  God desires to live in covenant and spiritual relationship with the men and women whom He created.  God did not create us for isolation, but for fellowship.
Sin Separates Us From God
Isaiah specifies the problem between Israel and God. “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:1-2).  Sin causes a breach in relationship with God.  It did in Isaiah’s day and it does for us.
Our Redemption Through Christ Secures Fellowship With God                                                            However, through Jesus Christ, we can be reconciled to God (II Cor. 5:17-21).  Spiritual union with Christ is possible through obedience to the gospel of Christ.  When we are baptized into Christ, we become one with Him and spiritually united with Him (Gal. 3:26,27; Rom. 6:3-4).  Our sins are forgiven (Acts 2:38).  We become a new creature (II Cor. 5:17).  Our obedience to the gospel is our acceptance of the terms and conditions that God has given in the New Testament for remission of sins.  Through the new birth, we become new creatures in order to walk in newness of life.  We become the children of God.  We sustain a new relationship with God and have fellowship with Him, Christ and the Holy Spirit (I John 1:3; II Cor. 13:14).  Our redemption through Christ takes away the barrier caused by sin and opens up a new opportunity for fellowship with God.  God desires that we live in spiritual fellowship with Him rather than isolation from Him.
Fellowship With Other Christians
In Christ, we live in spiritual relationship with all of those of like precious faith.  Our redemption binds us to God and to one another.  We have responsibilities to God and to each other.  We have fellowship one with another (I John 1:7-9).  These responsibilities negate living in isolation.  “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit” (I Cor. 12:13).  The spiritual body of Christ is the kingdom of God.  In the kingdom of God, disciples of Christ (Christians) are to love one another (John 13:34); bear one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2); do good for one another (Gal. 6:10); forgive one another, be tenderhearted and be kind one to another (Eph. 4:32); exhort one another (Heb. 10:25); and worship and serve God together (I Cor. 14:23; I Cor. 16:1-2; Heb. 10:25-26).
God created us with the capacity to live in relationship with Him.  Christ redeemed us so that we could enjoy fellowship with God and all of those who share in the salvation we have in Him.  The antidote to isolation is fellowship.  In Christ, no man lives to himself and no man dies to himself.  We belong to the Lord.  We belong to God’s spiritual family.  This is an incredibly comforting reality for those who love the Lord.

Sin hardens the hearts of men!  “But exhort one another daily, while it is called to day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:13).  The hard hearted do not mourn their sins or the sins of others.  Instead, they are arrogant, prideful, and rebellious.  Paul describes their obstinacy in Romans 1:32, “Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death,  not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.”
Contrast this heart condition with the hearts of the righteous.  Two examples will illustrate the difference.  The first is Jeremiah, the weeping prophet.  In Jeremiah 9:1 he writes, “Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!”  Jeremiah lamented the apostasy of God’s people who had forsaken the LORD for idols.  He knew the impending destruction that would befall them because of their sin (Jeremiah 8:18-22).  The second is Jesus.  Jesus said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stoneth them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!  Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.”  Jesus foretold the destruction of Jerusalem in Matthew 24.  In Luke 19:41, Luke writes, “And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it” (Luke 19:42-44).  Matthew Henry said, “The sins of sinners are the sorrows of the saints.”
David in Psalm 119:136, weeps for the sins of others.  “Rivers of waters run down my eyes, because they keep not thy law.”
The Source of This Mourning
The source of this mourning is the sin of the sinner.  Nothing affected David’s heart more than the dishonoring of God’s law whose glory shines through His word and His judgments.  When God’s law is dishonored, God is dishonored.  A godly man is deeply moved by the dishonoring words and deeds of the unrighteous.  Another source of these tears is the compassion of the righteous.  The sins of others are the sorrows of the saints!  The righteous understand the fierceness of the wrath of God.  They can see and predict the doom of the ungodly.
The Nature of This Mourning
First, let us note what this mourning is not.  It is not apathy.  Apathy is disinterest, lack of concern.  The righteous are not indifferent to the rampant sin of the world.  John declares that the whole world lies in darkness (I John 5:19).  This causes deep grief and is unsettling to every righteous person.  It is not a proud setting off of their own goodness or a holier than thou attitude.  It is not derision or mockery.  It is not bitterness or anger.  It is not vindictiveness or revenge.  It is sorrow of the soul that produces rivers of tears.
Second, it is an act more useful to make us more careful of our own souls.  The righteous understand the peril that sin brings to the soul.  Mourning the sins of others makes us more careful of our own steps lest we fall into the condemnation of the LORD.
Third, It is a barrier to temptation.  The soul cannot bring itself to do what it legitimately mourns in others.  The righteous do not envy the ungodly.  Rather, they weep for them.  The righteous have a true insight into the spiritual consequences of sin. That reality molds the conscience and provides a barrier to sin.
Fourth, it is the height of compassion that sees the appalling spectacle of a world of people apostatized from God.  The shear numbers are staggering when you consider that more than 7.5 billion people inhabit the planet.  Only a small percentage have found the one, true, and living God (Matt. 7:13-14).
Fifth, It is a reflection of a great and intense love for the precepts, ways, and judgments of God.  David affirmed, “O, how love I thy law!  It is my mediation all the day” (Psa. 119:97).  A lack of response to the sins of others may betray a distance between ourselves and God.  Part of the slow and steady compromise with sin involves a lack of passion and devotion to God.  Jesus observed, “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold” (Matt. 24:12).  Love dies where sin has free course in the hearts of men.  The saints of God are not immune to this malady of the soul.  When we love God and His Word, our sorrow is greatly increased when people trample Him and it under foot.
Sixth, It is the realization of the horror of horrors.  Jesus said, “Except ye believe that I am he, ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:24).  To die outside of God’s mercy is the greatest calamity that could befall a human life.  When we realize that a precious soul is doomed to eternal punishment–it is a cause for deep sorrow and rivers of tears.
Seventh, It is grief–abundant sorrow–shown when the greatest love goes unrequited.  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:31). When God’s love for the world is rebuffed and rejected it is cause for deep sorrow.  When anyone turns away from God’s love, he/she is destined to face God’s wrath!
The Effect of This Mourning
This mourning serves to warn the unrighteous.  When holy men weep, the world should ask, “What’s wrong?”  This mourning serves to instruct the ungodly.  The righteous exemplify godly sorrow.  Godly sorrow is sorrow that is generated in the human heart that understands its transgression against God, that fears the wrath of God, and is genuinely grieved by sin and its consequences.  The righteous teach the sinner the pathway to the heart of God involves a river of tears (II Cor. 7:10-11).  This mourning serves to invite the ungodly to seek a remedy for sin.  The solution to this type of mourning is the joy that comes through salvation.  Godly sorrow leads to repentance which in turn leads to salvation.  Those saved from their sins rejoice (Acts 8:39; 16:34).  The righteous rejoice (Luke 15).  Heaven rejoices (Luke 15:10).
Where Do We Begin?
David mourned his own sins.  “I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears: (Psa. 6:6).  He cried for mercy, ‘Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am weak; O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed:” (Psa. 6:2).  Joy returns when sin is forgiven and the conscience is cleared and cleansed.  “For the LORD will not cast off for ever: But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies” (Lamentations 3:31-32).  “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy” (Psa. 126:5).