Can you trust the Bible Part 2

The Greatest Question

Having dealt with the question about the historic reliability of the scriptures, this natuarally leads onto another question. Are the scriptures the word of God? By the scriptures, I refer to what we commonly call the Bible which consist of the Old Testament and the New Testament. At this point it is probably good to make a distinction between what is an historic account and what goes further and proves to be the revelation of God. If we were only interested in the history of ancient civilasations, then naturally the Bible would be a good source because the authors were eye witnesses of the events of those times. Of course other literature and manuscripts would also be good sources of information about the history of ancient civilisations, but the Bible goes further.

 

 

The Bible claims to be the word of God

 

Passages from within the Bible make the claim that it is the inerrant word of God. Here are a few of the many examples:

 

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16)."

 

"Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth (John 17:17)."

 

"20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake [as they were] moved by the Holy Ghost. (2 Peter 1:21, 22)."

"And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. (1 Thessalonians 2:13)"

 

 

Jesus believed the old testament to be the word of God

 

Jesus quoted from the old testament many times in his teaching - far to many to quote them all here but here are a small sample:

 

"And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.(Luke 24:27)"

"But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living."

"But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living. (Matthew 22:"(-32)"

"He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female (Matthew 19:4)"

"You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me (John 5:39)"

 

 

It is dangerous to ignore the word of God or change it

 

"God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? (Number 23:19)"

"The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. (Isaiah 40:8)"

"I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. (Revelation 22:18-19)"

"For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15:4)"

 

And many many more.

 

 

Not by blind faith

 

The above verses do not prove that the Bible is the word of God but they do show that the writters believed it. The believing that it is the word of God and should be therefore trusted and followed comes by faith, but it isn't a blind faith. God has given us many proofs.

 

Firstly, the witness of the Spirit (in other words God himself) witnesses with our spirit when we read or hear his word. Just before I became a Christian this was put to me in my discussions with a friend of mine who had become a believer a few months earlier. Even though I was hoding my own in our discussion (or there may be better described as debates), and would often have my friend on the ropes, I still knew inside that what he said was true. I just could not shake that inner witness.

 

Secondly, The Bible is full of prophecy that bears witness. It has been calculated that there are over 300 Old Testament prophecies that speak of or point to Jesus. I haven't researched it but I suspect some of those would be open to debate, but a lot of them are very clear that they are speaking about the coming Messiah (Jesus Christ). In fact just about every aspect of his life and ministry are covered, including where he would be born, how he would die and when. Not only that but Jesus' life and death are the fulfilling of the sacrifices and offering that Moses wrote extensively about in his books. Jesus is our sacrificial lamb that Moses spoke about. There are far too many to list but I have put some links at the bottom of the page.

 

Thirdly, the whole of creation is a witness to the existence of God. Roman's 1:20 says this "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." We Christians believe that this is why there is such a big movement to remove God from science. There is a lot I could say around the whole issue of evolution versus creation - especially as a Christian who is an applied scientist but I am going to resist the temptation on this page. If you want to know more check out the links below. What I will say is that if you take an open minded look at nature whether it is the stars, plants, animals or the laws of physics you will have to work hard not to be convinced of the glory of God.

 

Finally God say this "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13" This just about sums up the whole discussion above. If you want to know if the Bible is true? If the Bible is trustworthy? If a person can find him? Then ask him to reveal himself to you as you read his word. I recommend starting with something in the New Testament, probably one of the Gospels such as the Gospel of John but God can speak you from anywhere in his word. Similarity I recomend using one of the modern translations such as the New International Version (NIV) or the New King James Version (NKJV) but one of the older translation such as the King James Version (KJV) may be more to your taste. For free Bibles check out my link at the top of the page or check out Biblehub.com or any of the many free sites.

 

I can not leave it like this!

 

The purpose of this website is not about exposing the lies and deceit of your particular belief and then leave with no hope and nothing to believe in and no purpose in your life. While it may be a good thing to realise it if you have been lied to too or deceived, this does not mean there is no truth out there.

There is truth and something that you can believe in and commit to and it will change your life – not just for now but for all eternity. Now I am not saying all your problems and troubles will disappear while you are alive in this present world but what you can have is a peace that is greater than your worldly problems. I want to be clear on this – for some people, becoming a Christian could make your life a lot harder. But despite all this, you can have a purpose in your life despite what circumstances you find yourself in. You can have a real fellowship with the living God and actually have God himself dwelling inside you by His Holy Spirit. No one ever regrets becoming a Christian. In the end we will spend eternity with Jesus in paradise. As Paul said “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Corinthians 4:17). If you read the book of Acts and see what Paul went through, it is remarkable that he would describe them as “light and momentary troubles.”

The good news is that free and available to all of mankind. You don’t have to be clever or rich or gifted or be from a certain family or country. Anyone can receive it.

The Bible tells you all you have to do is “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” That is taken from Acts 16:31. One of the most famous verses from the Bible has the same message, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16).

There are actually a lot of Bible verses that have the same message about salvation being free and simple but I will quote just one more on this which is Ephesians 2:8-9 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”

It is a very important principle to grasp that we can bring nothing to our salvation. It is a gift from God by His grace and we can not add any of our own works to it.

 

 

So what to do now?

Of course you can simply just commit your life to Jesus by asking him to forgive all your sins, and asking Him into your life as your Lord. Making Him your Lord will mean that you allow Him to be the Lord of all your life, which means you seek his will in all you do. On occassions you will fail to obey him, but "If we confess our sins,he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1John1:9)." If you feel you are not ready to take that step but would like to know more, I would recommend getting hold or download the Bible and start reading it. I would suggest starting in the New Testament but all of the Bible is good for you. It would also be helpful for you to find a good church and go along and ask all those questions that you would love to get answers to.

Also you are very welcome to contact me on my email gospeljohn14verse6@gmail.com and I will help in anyway that I can.

 

God Bless. Kevin.