Do you believe the Bible is true? A recent poll by the Barna Group revealed a startling fact about Christians and the Bible: “Just half of all self-identified Christians firmly believe that the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles (not the facts, just the principles) that it teaches.”
The entire basis of Christianity’s faith stems from what the Bible reveals about God, humanity, sin, and salvation. Is the Bible true?
Although any belief is ultimately a matter of faith, it should have a basis of credibility, reliability, and correspondence with reality. In a world where opinions of truth vary wildly, truth has to be based on more than preference.
Is the Bible true? Ultimately, the decision to believe it is up to you.
Here are 8 extraordinary facts that support the Bible as the Word of God.
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The ancient world had a bully system that worked in straightforward terms. A nation would conquer a region and demand tribute—annual payment of money and goods. If you didn’t pay tribute, they’d come and kill you. Pretty simple system.
King Hezekiah refused to pay tribute to the bully. So the Assyrians invaded Judah.
Archaeology has unearthed treasures that reveal Hezekiah’s faith in God. How does it strengthen your faith to see the Bible in archaeology?
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I had lunch with a young man who nursed serious doubts about the Bible. He raised objections. I offered answers. After each exchange, he would shake his head and say, “I just can’t believe that’s true.”
“What if I answered all of your questions to your satisfaction?” I finally asked. “Would you believe in Jesus then?” He thought for a moment, and then looked me in the eye. His answer surprised me.
“No, I wouldn’t.”
In truth, many people demand evidence for truth they never intend to accept. Their problem isn’t a lack of truth. It’s something else.
I have discovered that biblical geography can help destroy our doubts about the Bible.
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The issues of the past will always be the issues of today, because they are the issues of life. History is doomed to repeat itself when we fail to learn from it.
In Rescuing the Gospel: The Story and Significance of the Reformation, Erwin Lutzer offers an excellent introduction to the Reformation by asking and answering questions essential to every generation of believers.
The awesomeness of creation exists as more than beauty for us to observe. In spite of the chaos in our culture, the world screams order in its origin. It also speaks peace to us in our moments of struggle.
(Photo courtesy of Unsplash)
Our world’s predictable seasons and trustworthy laws of nature reveal wisdom in its design. The wisdom of creation we see is explained in the Bible we read. Wisdom played such an integral role in creation that the author of Proverbs 8 personifies it as a person present with God:
Before the hills I was brought forth . . . When He established the heavens, I was there . . . When He marked out the foundations of the earth; then I was beside Him, as a master workman. —Proverbs 8:25–33
God’s wisdom displayed in the wonders we see also proves His wisdom in all areas of life.
Including the painful ones.
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We live in a world of image, ego, and selfie sticks. Social media allows us to hide the truth that we don’t have it all together. The worst place for this feeling (other than church)? Conferences.
Whether I go to a conference on writing, theology, broadcasting, or blogging, I fight the selfie stick syndrome. You probably do too. Smarter people are everywhere.
Here’s why it’s good for us to struggle with being around smarter people.
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The Bible’s Answers to 100 of Life’s Biggest Questions by Norman L. Geisler, Jason Jimenez (Baker Books, 2015)
Good questions deserve good answers—especially when the questions are honest.
Too often questions about the Bible intend only to put up a smokescreen in which the critic uses as an excuse to hide from his or her accountability to God.
Christians need to know the Bible’s answers to the skeptic’s questions. In fact, a good answer can blow away the smoke and leave the critic exposed to the reality that his or her sin leaves them accountable to God. But thankfully, the Bible also it shows how God’s love has made provision for that sin through Jesus Christ.
Norm Geisler and Jason Jimenez have written an excellent reference book, The Bible’s Answers to 100 of Life’s Biggest Questions, which answers questions that would leave most of us standing with our mouths in the shape of a question mark. We would expect an apologetics book to offer good answers to the typical questions, like: How can a good God allow evil? And what about the person who’s never heard of Jesus? And it does well at these.
But this new volume answers question that seem slipperier.
It’s one thing to believe the Bible represents the Word of God when the biblical authors originally wrote it. It’s something else to say the copies we have today represent Scripture. After all, the originals no longer exist.
What’s more, what texts we do have reflect many centuries of copying—and many scribal variants. So how can we trust the Bible? How can we have confidence in the reliability our modern Bibles?
Here’s why we can trust our Bibles.
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Watch as Bill Nye (the Science Guy) debates Ken Ham over creation versus evolution.
Leading creation apologist and bestselling Christian author Ken Ham is joined at the Creation Museum by Emmy Award-winning science educator and CEO of the Planetary Society Bill Nye.
Ham, a former science instructor who emigrated to the USA from Australia over 25 years ago, is joined by the popular children’s program personality Bill Nye “the Science Guy” for this first and only scheduled debate. Each man delivers what he believes is the best information currently available for his case. Each then has an opportunity for rebuttal and afterward answers questions submitted by the audience.
This video will remain available for a short time here, but you can order the full, uncut HD video of the debate.
Both the DVD and download versions are available. (Length: 150 minutes)
A few weeks ago I received an email from a Jewish man who had hard questions about what Christians believe. His questions were excellent. His inquiries about Christianity boiled down to three questions.
I’ve listed his questions here without changing his wording:
What I can never fathom is how you can honor and accept the ‘teachings’ of one called Paul—an apostate and traitor to his people—to be the truth.
• Is this Paul who wrote 13/27 books of the Greek New Testament any more authoritative than the great Hebrew prophets such as Jeremiah or Amos?
• Are we to assume that G-d changed His Mind regarding His People and the Torah, and simply informed one solitary man about a new dispensation 100 years after the death of the man from Galilee?
• When Hashem [“The Name”] gave us the Torah, there were millions of witnesses to this earth-shaking event. It has become part of our collective spiritual DNA. How can a ‘new revelation’ be given with no witnesses to one individual who wrote in Greek things that are anathema and inimical to Jewish belief?
To me, these questions all boil down to one: Is Jesus the Messiah?
Here is my open-letter answer. Would you have answered differently?
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