“Don’t open the box!”

A recent episode of ABC’s “Tomorrow Tonight”—a discussion-style show that presents panel members with moral dilemmas and (seemingly) hypothetical scenarios—centred on the question: “What if God was real?” The implication behind the question, of course, was that God is not real, but the purpose of the show was to explore whether belief is still essential to human existence.

It was a fascinating episode, sometimes frustrating, but often surprisingly engaging. The panel was comprised of a Muslim, a convert to Judaism, and two lapsed Christians, one who abandoned Christianity in favour of Aboriginal spirituality, the other who had abandoned religion altogether. Evangelical Christianity did not feature…until the end of the episode!

After each had presented their respective views, and even engaged in a discussion on miracles, the host Annabel Crabb pulled out a box. Within the box, she claimed, was definitive proof that would stand up to even the strictest scientific scrutiny: that Jesus Christ was exactly who the Bible said he was – the son of God.  The question she then put to them: “Will you open the box?”

The first respondent tried to suggest that the truth in the box simply encompassed all religions, validating all as essentially true. Under the guise of high brow sophistication, the argument was basically all paths lead to God.

Respondent 2, the Muslim, disagreed. He admitted the claims of Christianity were exclusive to Christianity and so could not be held in concert with any other belief. When pressed on whether he would thus convert to Christianity, he said that in good conscience, he’d have to. Why: because his soul’s hunger, ultimately, was for truth.

At the end of the episode, two said that they wouldn’t open the box, two said they would. Undeniably the person with most credibility was the Muslim, who ended by saying “I can’t see how there is any argument for not opening it”. I pray his hunger for truth would lead him to Jesus.

Psalm 33 declares that the word of the Lord is right and true. What God has breathed out by his Spirit in the Scriptures is entirely reliable and precisely what every soul needs. The Bible is a box worth opening. But it’s important to know that this word of truth is not primarily a moral code by which human beings can prove their faithfulness to God, and so win his trust. No. The word of truth is primarily a promise by which God proves his faithfulness to us, and so wins our trust. Our confidence in the Bible’s veracity and God’s faithfulness rests entirely on the way his promises find their fulfilment in Jesus. Let us never neglect the full breadth of the Scriptures’ testimony, and the unfathomable depth of truth on which we have taken our stand, by faith in him.