Over the years, I've had several conversations with non-Christian friends and relatives that have gone something like this -- "The Bible is filled with inaccurate stories about men who did horrible things and got away with it."

Usually, the people making this statement are quite unfamiliar with the Bible. They are simply parrotting something they learned somewhere, often on some atheist website. My argument is always that they should go and read the Bible for themselves before making such judgments.

Occasionally, however, I run across someone who has done their homework. Frank is such a person. He compared Hebrews 11, which speaks of the patriarchs like a roll-call of the faithful with Genesis and found the Bible wanting.

At first glance, Hebrews leaves out a lot of information about the patriarchs. Just focusing on the examples of Noah and Abraham, there is almost a disconnect between the treatment the writers of Hebrews gave to them and the real accounts found in Genesis. Noah was a reverant man, but he also cursed his grandson for the crimes of his son and got drunk. Abraham did follow God in faith, but he committed adultery and polygamy and several times failed to trust God. Doesn't that make the BIble seem contradictory and untrustworthy?

First, when one looks at history -- any history -- one takes only a snap shot of that history. Trust me, as one who loves to study history, there is no more boring historical treatment than something attempting a comprehensive study of any era or event. The writers of Hebrews (I have presented the not-original-to-me theory that it was Barnabas and Apollos writing in partnership following Paul's death) were not seeking to revisit history that had already been recorded in Genesis. They were, instead, focusing on specific examples of faith in HUMAN BEINGS.

The Bible is HISTORY, recording the events of PEOPLE and people are never perfect. Thus, Hebrews focuses on those saints in the Bible who failed, which encourages those of us who are not perfect and know it. Genesis was very candid in revealing the failures and flaws of the patriarchs, then Hebrew assured us that these very human men and women will be there in heaven. That gives me a great deal of hope for my own sorry self.

Scoffers who seek to convince themselves and others that there is no coming judgment will often point out the fact (and it is a fact!) that nothing catastrophic has happened to sinners in many years. It's been a while since there have been whole civilizations burned into oblivion or lightning bolts striking particularly egregious individuals. I think they overstate this by ignoring the very real judgment of the Flood. Noah's generation scoffed at the ark until the water rose above their hips and then they wanted on. God had told Noah that his family would be rescued by the ark, but there is no recording that God indicated that anyone else would believe and enter the ark. All the rest of mankind would be destroyed. Noah preached "righteousness", but not as an evangelist. He was not called to save that generation, only to tell them why they were condemned. Noah's faith was evident in his obedience to God's instructions, not because he was a perfect man. The authors of Hebrews focused on Noah's faith. They didn't indicate that Noah's family shared his faith. Ezekiel 14 inferred that Noah appealed to God to spare his family and God granted his request. Ezekiel also indicated that the coming final judgment would not be handles so mercifully. Unbelievers will face God's judgment, because faith is an individual matter -- we don't inherit it from our parents. We can only accept what they believe or not.

Just because Noah had faith does not mean he was free from sin and failure. The Bible tells us of one particular failure, when Noah got drunk and exposed himself to his sons (Genesis 9). Noah had faith, but he wasn't perfect.

Similarly Abraham showed great faith by leaving his homeland to go to a land that God had promised him that was as yet unknown to Abrham. He sojourned in that land like a foreigner, but never possessed it in his lifetime. It is not at all inaccurate for the writer of Hebrews to say that Abraham obeyed God in his actions, though the Genesis account recorded quite a lot of failure to obey. Abraham tarried in Ur and then Haran for quite some time and only departed with the death of his father. His obedience was not immediate, but when he finally did obey, it was by faith. Then in Genesis 12, we find Abraham's faith faltered as he fled the Promised Land for Egypt to avoid a famine. There, he feared for his own life and lied to Pharoah, who caught him in the lie and rebuked him for it. He and Sarah returned to the Promised Land only to repeat the same lack of faith in Gerar. Later, Sarah convinced Abraham to "cheat" God's plan with her servant and thus provide an heir for his line. Clearly, Abraham was not a perfect man. So how can the writer(s) of Hebrews call him a man of faith? Did he just not know about them? Was he in denial?

No, the writer(s) remembered the failures of Noah and Abraham, but chose not to mention them. Every human being is a fallen, fallable creature. The only thing that seperates Christian sinners from non-Christian sinners is the blood of Jesus Christ which cleanses our sin. This does not keep us from failing in this life. If you look at the 11 apostles of Christ, you find men of faith who served God through failure. Peter and Barnabas broth failed regarding Gentile Christians, giving in to the Judaizers and Paul had to rebuke them (Galatians 2:11-21). Men and women of faith fail. Jesus sympathize with our weaknesses, comes to our aid, and gives us mercy and grace in our time of need (Hebrews 2:17-18; 4:14-16). Living by faith means trusting God when we fail, knowing that only our Great High Priest has lived a perfect human existence.

Remember that the readers of Hebrews were steeped in the Old Testament stories. They would have immediately recognized the omission of these failures and pondered the reason for their absence. The writer(s) of Hebrews emphasized their faith in such a way as to bring their failures to mind for consideration and careful review.

What is the basis of our faith? The author(s) of Hebrews spent a good deal of ink establishing that Jesus Christ is the foundation of our faith. Yet we know the patriarchs experienced failures. How can that be?

I submit it is because God had forgotten their failures. The old Mosiac covenant was about remembering sin from sacrifice to sacrifice, year after year (Hebrews 10:3-4), but under the new covenant in Christ's blood, all sins are covered for all time. The writer(s) of Hebrews consistently applied faith as they understood it. Those who trust in God's provision for sin by faith are fully forgiven and their sins are not remembered.

Since this is true, why would any reasonable person turn from trusting in Christ and try to return to the Old Covenant? To forsake Christ for the Old Covenant would be to abandon a salvation that cannot fail to save us for one that cannot ever save us.

Being a Christian is not about trying harder to please God; it's about God being peased because of the work of His Son on the cross. It's not about us living perfect, sinless lives so that we can stay saved; it's about Christ's once-for-all sacrifice that saves us and keeps us saved. This kind of salvation is so certain that we can endure all of life's trials with absolute confidence that the good work of salvation will be brought to completion by Him, no matter what our failures.

Faith in Christ does not require our perfection, only our perseverence. Faith in Christ rests solely on His perfection, not our own. The greatness of our faith is unimportant. The greatness of Christ is the object of our faith. A small, faltering faith in a great God is vastly superior to a great faith in the wrong object.

The patriarchs were not perfect. Christians today are not perfect. Jesus Christ is the only perfect Man and He is the only worthwhile object of faith. This is the lesson of Genesis and the reaffirmation of Hebrews ... if we will only learn it.