Why Should We Believe the Bible?
The Bible isn't the only Holy Book out there, so how do we know it's the right one?
Because there are so many “holy books” out there in the spiritual marketplace, why should we believe the Bible? Isn’t it possible that this collection of ancient documents is really just a work of pious fiction or the ramblings of madmen? If you’ve never thought about ideas like these, be assured that some of your neighbors have. Whenever I’ve asked questions of this kind on various college campuses, I’ve found that many of today’s students tend to view the Bible this way — which is why they don’t end up trusting its claims or following its advice.
So what about you? Have you thought deeply about the foundation of your faith? Have you taken the time to put your convictions to the test? Now at this point, it must be said that there are a lot of Christians who believe this approach to be an impious affair. We don’t need to think through questions like this, because, well, “The Bible says it, I believe it, and that settles it!” But in an increasingly pluralistic culture, this form of dogmatism simply isn’t persuasive. How would such a person making such a statement respond to a Muslim friend who insists that “The Qur’an says it, I believe it, and that settles it!” In either case, what appears to settle the argument is faith, but the question to pose in each of these situations is, “Why should a person have this particular faith, in contrast to all the other faith options?”
In 1Ths 5:21, Paul encourages Christian believers to “Test all things,” and to “hold on to the good.” Similarly, in 1Jn 4:1 we’re instructed “not to believe every spirit,” but instead to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” But how are we to test the spirits, and how is a person to distinguish between true and false prophets? The first text I’d like you to consider as you think about this important question is the fascinating scene from Exodus chapter 3, in which God appears to Moses at the site of the burning bush.
After he was appointed to announce God’s message of liberation to the elders of Israel, the former prince of Egypt began to consider the complete implausibility of his own story—particularly in light of the fact that he recently had a conversation with a talking bush! This led Moses to ask, “What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say?” (Ex 4:1). If you’re familiar with the story, you’ll remember that God never rebuked him for asking such a question. Instead, he promised to empower Moses to perform a variety of signs and wonders which would have the effect of confirming the authenticity of his words: “If they will not believe you nor pay attention to the evidence of the first sign, they may believe the evidence of the last sign” (Ex. 4:8, NASB). Now, when Moses did finally report all that God revealed to the elders of Israel, we’re told that he “performed the signs in the sight of the people,” just as God instructed. And the result was that “the people believed” (Ex 4:29-31 NASB). In other words, from the very beginning, biblical faith was never seen as a kind of “spiritual sixth sense,” or “blind leap in the dark,” but was always presented as a trustworthy and reliable conviction, grounded in external evidence and real-world events.
Click below to download the entire PDF resource on this topic (11 pages in length).
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