A while back, I was sharing my faith with a friend who was intrigued by the gospel, but had a lot of questions. They were good questions – questions about life and death, questions about God and questions about faith.
I answered his questions as best I could, frequently quoting a verse from the Bible. I did this so he would know what I was saying was not just my idea but was what God had said.
After a while he said, “You keep quoting from the Bible.” I said “Yes,” and I told him why. Then he asked the big question, “How do you know the Bible is true?” He asked, “How can I be sure I can trust what the Bible says? You are asking me to make a major decision, a decision that will change the course of my life, and you are asking me to do that on the basis of a book that was written a couple of thousand years ago!” He added, “That sounds pretty scary to me!”
Many today ask the same question. Some have been going to church for some time and have been intrigued by what’s been said. They’ve noticed the Bible being quoted a great deal, but are now asking, “How do I know it’s true? Can I trust my life to the teachings of a book that was written so long ago?”
THE BIBLE IS UNDER ATTACK
Never before has the Bible been so ridiculed or attacked as today. Atheistic philosophers attack it, humanistic historians ridicule it, secular scientists belittle it and the majority of people simply ignore it.
The Bible has become a neglected book. People laugh at the Bible, but they haven’t read it for themselves.
A Gallup Poll asked people what book had most influenced their lives, and just 1% cited the Bible.
Another Gallup Poll discovered that only a third of the American population believes the Bible to be the inspired word of God. The percentage is even smaller in Canada.
It takes courage to stand up for the Bible today.
CHRISTIANITY RESTS ON THE RELIABILITY OF THE BIBLE
The Christian faith is built on the teachings of the Bible. Christianity is not man’s teachings or philosophies. Christianity is faith in a personal God who is revealed in the Bible.
Everything we know with any degree of certainty about God, heaven and hell, is found in the Bible. If you take away the Bible, you are left with the ideas of men and women. Take away the Bible, you are left with human guesswork. Take away the Bible and there’s no final answer for guilt and sin and forgiveness. Take away the Bible, and we don’t know what Jesus taught and we don’t know the meaning of the cross or the implications of the resurrection. Take away the Bible and we have no hope for the future.
The Word of God is the foundation of the Christian faith. The whole message of the gospel rests on the truthfulness and reliability of the Bible. If it’s not true, then we might as well discard the whole message of the gospel. If the Bible’s record is not true, we might as well close up shop and go home.
However, if the Bible true, we’d better know what it says and follow its teachings. If the Bible is true and accurate, then we’d better believe it and do what it says.
The Bible is God’s Word, his love letter to the human race. It is totally true and completely accurate. It is the basis for all we believe about God, forgiveness and our eternal destiny. The Bible is our final authority, the yardstick by which we measure all we do and believe.
Recently I was asked the difference between our church and some of the mainline churches. I said, we are an evangelical church and that means the Bible is front and center in our church. The Bible has the final say. It’s not what we think or what our traditions dictate that matter; the Bible has the last word.
HOW DID WE GET THE BIBLE?
Where did the Bible come from? Did it just drop out of the sky from heaven? Who wrote it? How did it become the Bible?
If you are seeking answers to life’s questions, if you are wondering whether you should become a Christian, if you are sincerely investigating the gospel, then you want to know the background of the Bible. Let me give you a quick review.
The Bible is one book, yet it is made up of 66 separate books. These 66 books are divided into two parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament deals with everything before the life of Jesus and the New Testament deals with events starting with the life of Jesus.
The Old Testament tells the story of God’s dealings with people from the beginning of time. It especially deals with the history of the Jewish people. It contains history, poetry and prophecy. It outlines God’s moral laws.
The Old Testament was written in the Hebrew language by historians, prophets and poets. In the second century before Christ, a Greek translation of the Old Testament was made and this Greek text, called the Septuagint, was used by New Testament Christians.
None of the original writings are available or in existence today, however we do have copies of the original writings that date back very close to the time the Old Testament was written.
In the Jordan valley not far from Jericho, more than 100 manuscripts of the Old Testament were found in a cave near the Dead Sea. One of these was the entire book of Isaiah. These manuscripts have been accurately dated to 100 years before the birth of Christ. These manuscripts, some of which I’ve seen when I was in Israel, verify the accuracy of the Old Testament as we have it in our Bibles today.
No book has been scrutinized and tested for accuracy like the Bible, yet archaeology and historical research continue to prove the accuracy of the Old Testament. There has not been one archaeological discovery that has shown any part of the Scriptures to be inaccurate. On the contrary, hundreds of research projects by archaeologists have verified the Bible’s accuracy.
The New Testament tells the story of Jesus and the history of the first church.
The New Testament was written in Greek and then later translated into Latin and for more than 1,000 years, the New Testament was available only in Latin. About 500 years ago, the earliest Greek manuscripts were gathered together and the work of translating the Bible from the Greek language into the languages of the common people was begun.
In the last 500 years, a great deal of work has gone into discovering, researching and comparing the earliest Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. We have now reached the point where we have a great deal of confidence that the Bible we use in church today is accurate as to what the original writers wrote hundreds of years ago.
THE BIBLE IS UNIQUE
There’s no book quite like the Bible. It is not the book of the month; it’s the book of the ages.
Men and women wrote what God revealed to them. The Bible is a revelation of God’s character and God’s thoughts. It is God’s word.
Repeatedly, the writers said, The word of the Lord came to me. The writers wrote down what God revealed to them. They wrote as they were divinely inspired. The writers weren’t imagining things; God guided them as they wrote.
All Scripture is God-breathed (inspired) and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. (2 Timothy 3:16).
…no prophecy of scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:20-21).
This means God breathed into men the thoughts and words that they wrote. They were divinely inspired.
The Bible, as the writers wrote it, is accurate, infallible and without error. Today’s translations are extremely accurate in reflecting what was said in the original languages.
The Bible has a divine authority. Because of what the Bible is, a revelation of God, and because it was written by men who were moved by the Holy Spirit, the Bible has certain claims on our lives. The Bible has a divine authority. Since the Bible is God’s word, it contains all the authority of God himself.
This means we have to listen to what it says. We need to submit to its teachings and do what it says.
The Bible accurately reveals God’s character and thoughts and it has a divine authority over our lives.
THE BIBLE CAN BE TRUSTED
I’ve studied the evidence and looked at the facts and concluded the Bible can be trusted in all it says and teaches
Look at the words of Jesus. He quoted the Old Testament. He referred to Moses, Elijah, David and Daniel. He said he came to fulfill what the Old Testament said about him. Jesus put his stamp of approval on all the Old Testament. If he believed it, I think it’s safe for me to trust it.
Look at the hundreds of prophecies in the Bible that have been fulfilled. Consider the book of Daniel. Its prophecies are so accurate that critics of the Bible say it must have been written after the birth of Jesus. Daniel predicted to the very week, the crucifixion of Jesus.
Look at the archaeological findings. Every discovery of an ancient manuscript verifies the Bible’s authority. Some critics say that during copying and translating the Bible, errors have crept into the Bible. Then someone finds a very old manuscript and it’s the same as what we have today, proving that errors have not crept into the translations and copying.
Look at the unity of the Bible. There are 66 books, written over more than 1,500 hundred years. Most of the writers never met one another and yet there is not a single contradiction of fact or teaching in the whole Bible. The whole Bible flows together with one harmonious message.
Anyone who carefully looks at the evidence has to conclude that the Bible is not only a unique book, it’s a book that can be totally trusted.
THE BIBLE SHOULD BE READ AND STUDIED
The Bible is not a book for spiritual eccentrics, it is a mass circulation book, a book for everyone.
The Bible is not a book to set on a coffee table; it’s a book to be used. It should be read and studied.
This is true for those investigating the gospel. Don’t be afraid to read the Bible for yourself. Read the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of John. See what Jesus actually said and claimed.
Get a modern translation of the Bible. Don’t feel you have to struggle through the archaic language of the King James Version. Get a modern version like the New International Version or the Living Bible.
King David said he hid God’s Word in his heart. He became familiar with the Scripture and memorized it. God’s Word became a part of his life.
Peter said we are to crave the teaching of the Bible in the same way that a baby craves milk.
THE BIBLE REVEALS THE ONLY WAY TO BE RIGHT WITH GOD
There are many religious books in our world. Muslims have the Koran and Taoists have the book of Tao.
I’ve read some of those books, but they don’t provide answers and don’t tell with certainty how to be forgiven or show you how to be right with God.
The Bible is different. …but as for you (Timothy) continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 3:14).
Paul reminded Timothy how he had come to faith in Christ. He learned the Scriptures from his mother and they made him wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
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