Looking Up

Looking Up is originally written as a bi-monthly column for the Faith Section of the San Angelo Standard-Times. If you wish to re-publish this column, please feel free to contact me.

About the Author

Hi! I'm Kyle Hooks. I work as an IT systems administrator for the San Angelo Standard-Times, a seminary student through Liberty Theological Seminary’s online program, youth pastor at Angelo Bible Church and associate chaplain at Shannon Medical Center.

I live in San Angelo with my wife Megan and our baby daughter Leah. If you like what you see here, my blog is at lordandhooks.com. You can also come visit Angelo Bible Church.

You can contact me through the contact page or through Looking Up's Facebook page.

About the Column

My first column best laid out my aim for the column. The Higher Criticism of the nineteenth century dealt a real blow to biblical thought. The Bible was viewed as a human literary work that can be understood from the vantage point of the latter developments in human thought such as literary analysis and naturalism. Looking down from this vantage, higher critics hoped to see the "real" truth of Scripture and find the "historic Jesus."

This flies in the face of verses which proclaim Scrpiture's authority. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 states that "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." Peter wrote that "no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." (2 Peter 1:20-21)

Being a source of authority for teaching, reproof, correction and training, and being a product of "men moved by the Holy Spirit [speaking] from God," Scripture is not something to look down on, but up to. The goal of this column is to do just that: square life on this Earth with truth as revealed by Scripture.