The God revealed in the Bible is nothing like the foolish gods of pagan mythology. The gods of the Gilgamesh myth are spiteful, immoral, selfish, petty, competitive, fickle, impatient, weak, cowardly, and deceitful. The chief god Ea instructs Utnapishtim to lie to his fellow men by giving them the impression that the gods are going to bless them instead of destroy them. When the storm comes, the gods are so frightened that they flee to heaven and cower like dogs, crouching outside the door of the god Anu, and the goddess Ishtar shrieks like a woman in childbirth. After the flood, the god Enlil is furious because some of the men escaped destruction. By contrast, the creator God of Scripture is almighty, all-wise, holy, just, compassionate, merciful, longsuffering. He is the same yesterday and today. He speaks only truth. His promises are irrevocable. He is man's lawgiver and judge, and as Creator He has every right to be man's judge. But He is also the Saviour. He Himself purchased salvation for sinners by His own suffering on the cross, and He wants all men to be saved. The Gilgamesh Epic is mainly about Gilgamesh's search for immortality. He sought for it by every means, but it eluded him. The Bible is also about man's search for immortality, and it, too, says that man cannot find immortality through his own efforts. Happily, the story doesn't end there. The Bible tell us that salvation was purchased by God for man and is offered to man as a gift of His grace. Jesus Christ rose from the dead to prove that this is no pagan myth. "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time" (1 Timothy 2:3-6). Man's unbelief does not change the truth of the Bible. Even if the entire world disbelieved, it would change nothing. In fact, the widespread unbelief in our day is evidence that the Bible is true. Jesus Christ warned that His return will be preceded by the same type of conditions that existed before Noah's Flood. "And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all" (Luke 17:26-27). (Friday Church News Notes, January 31, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143) Comments are closed.
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