Tagged: How do I know the Bible is true
Seven reasons to trust the scriptures
Muslims claim The Koran is the perfect revelation of Allah given to the prophet Muhammad by the angel Gabriel. It corrects corrupted Jewish and Christian scriptures and supersedes all other religious writings.
Members of the Unification Church say Divine Principle is their written authority, coming from the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, “the Lord of the Second Advent” who completed the work Jesus left unfinished when Jesus died on the cross rather than marrying and having children.
Mormons profess belief in four standard works: The Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, and the Bible (“as far as it is translated correctly”). The Book of Mormon is especially important, recording Jesus’ appearance in America to the descendants of a Jewish prophet; it is, in Mormon teaching, “Another Testament of Jesus Christ.”
Adherents to the Church of Scientology study Dianetics, a book by one-time science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, who claimed that people are eternal beings who go through a series of rebirths and must shed the negative baggage from past lives in order to become “operating thetans.”
Then, of course, there’s the Bible, which most Christians agree is the Word of God.
Add to these the sacred writings of countless other belief systems – from Buddhism to Baha’ism – and the claims to truth are astounding in their number and variety.
But which of these books is really true? Is it possible that all of them contain some truth – or that all of them are true for the people who choose to believe them? Is it narrow-minded, arrogant, or even bigoted to say that any of these writings is false? Why do Christians insist that the Bible is the Word of God? Can’t we all just get along?
Most Christians believe in the veracity of Scripture. That is, we trust the Bible to be the inerrant, infallible, inspired Word of God and the authoritative source of all we believe and practice. By inerrant, we mean the original autographs are without error. By infallible, we mean the Bible is incapable of error because God, as its author, does not lie or make mistakes. By inspired, we mean the Bible is “God breathed.” And by authoritative, we mean that the Bible, as God’s Word, is His written revelation to us and must therefore guide our thoughts, words and deeds.
But are there sound reasons to trust the scriptures? Indeed, there are.
Lost originals. Multiple copies. Thousands of variations. Can we trust the Bible?
Two commonly raised objections to the Bible are: 1) No one really knows what the Bible says because the original manuscripts are lost; and 2) The Bible has been copied so many times, with so many variations, there’s no way to know what was originally scripted.
It is true that the “autographs,” or original manuscripts, written on a variety of degradable surfaces from parchment to papyrus, no longer exist. But the fact that so many copies exist — dating back in some cases to within a generation of their authorship — is powerful evidence for the trustworthiness of scripture. In fact, no other book from the ancient world has more, earlier, or better copied manuscripts than the Bible.
How do I know the Bible is true?
Christians generally believe in the reliability and authority of Scripture. But some have doubts and others raise serious objections to the Bible’s claim to be the Word of God. This study will address eight of the more common objections, including: “No one really knows what the Bible says because the original manuscripts are lost,” and “The Bible is full of contradictions.”
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Download free study: How do I know the Bible is true
Christian Apologetics 101: Download free workbook
Click here to download the free workbook
Newsweek magazine recently reported that “the Christian God … is less of a force in American politics and culture than at any other time in recent memory.” Perhaps one reason is that Christianity holds to absolute truths in a society that is increasingly relativistic. When Christians hold fast to their convictions they may come under withering attacks from proponents of other faiths, secularists, or even the new breed of “angry atheists” who insist that our nation – indeed our world – would be better off with no religion at all.
Even more troubling is the realization that the church faces greater threats from within – for example, from those who relish “arguments and every high minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God” (2 Cor. 10:4-5); “deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons” (1 Tim. 4:1); false teachers who tickle our ears (2 Tim. 4:3); and false prophets who come to us with “cleverly contrived myths” (2 Peter 1:16).
For followers of Jesus there has never been a more important time to know what we believe, why we believe, and how to share our faith with an increasingly skeptical – and lost – world. The apostle Peter urges us to “set apart the Messiah as Lord in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).
Apologetics 101 is designed for laypersons who want to be better equipped to share their faith over the back fence, across the lunch counter, or in the next cubicle. This workshop lays the groundwork for defending the Christian faith by addressing a number of key questions:
• What is Christian apologetics and why should it matter to me?
• How do I know the Bible is true?
• Who’s the real Jesus?
• What do Muslims, Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses believe?
• How can I identify false teachers?
• And what are some tactics for sharing my faith with people who don’t share my faith?
These free downloadable resources may be reproduced and used in whole or in part without charge as long as they are not altered or sold.
How do I know the Bible is true?
Christians generally believe in the reliability and authority of Scripture. But some have doubts and others raise serious objections to the Bible’s claim to be the Word of God. Click here to learn more about a free downloadable study that addresses eight of the more common objections, including: “No one really knows what the Bible says because the original manuscripts are lost,” and “The Bible is full of contradictions.”
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