IDK :: Trusting the Bible
Tonight, is our second installment of a series called IDK where we’re discussing tough questions people have about God and faith. Last time we answered the questions “How can I know God Exists?”. Tonight we want to answer “Can I trust the bible?”
Tonight, lets start with a simple fill in the blank.
“I can trust the Bible because ______________”
Now fill in the blank (Have them answer and you guys discuss briefly)
Tonight, I want to talk about why I think we can trust the Bible to be what it says it is. The Bible claims to be the one book that has the words of God in them. And I want to give you four reasons why you can trust the Bible, and I want to begin by looking at the historical evidence.
If you are going to talk to a friend of yours who practices a different religion or maybe doesn’t believe in God, you can’t debate them and tell them that you believe the Bible is true because “the Bible says it is true.” That is called circular reasoning.
So I want to begin by talking about the historical evidence that backs up the truthfulness of the Bible—and then the last two points will be about what the Bible says about the Bible.
Again, let these points help you in times of doubt, but also help you as you discuss religion and God with friends.
I trust the Bible because of …
1. The PEOPLE who witnessed the events recorded.
In the Bible, there are tons of stories, events, and miracles that are recorded. But I don’t believe they are true just because they are in the Bible … I believe they are true because they actually happened. People—eyewitnesses—saw these events. They saw them with their own eyes, and it wasn’t just a few crazy people; it was thousands of people who saw these things. And then they were recorded and written down for us today.
One of the major differences between Christianity and other religions is the eyewitnesses. With Jesus, there were hundreds of people who saw Him crucified. There were thousands who saw Him turn a few pieces of bread into a feast. There were 12 men who saw Him walk on water. People saw it—it was a historical event.
But with other religions, most of the time, it involved one person and no eyewitnesses. For example, Islam was founded by Mohammed, and Mohammed claimed to have a conversation with God in a cave while he was alone. There was no one else there to witness it.
Or there is Joseph Smith, who founded Mormonism. Joseph Smith had visions from God, which told him to start his own church, and he had lots of angels speak to him and help him. But there was no one with him during these visions to witness them.
I want to focus mostly on Jesus because He is the focal point of our religion. And if He wasn’t who the Bible says He is, then our religion is a lie. And also, I don’t have time to go through all the Bible.
Christianity is full of events that were witnessed by lots of people—and these people were not all Christians. There were many who saw Jesus and His miracles and yet still didn’t like Him or believe Him. But they were witnesses and could confirm what they saw.
That is what the apostle Peter wrote about in the Bible. He was one of the guys who followed Jesus and he later wrote down what he saw. He describes this:
2 Peter 1:16-18
16For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.
Here, Peter is saying that the words found in the Bible are not random myths or clever, made-up stories … he said they wrote down what they witnessed with their own eyes. They recorded what they saw in history. Peter is referring to an event that he witnessed with a few other disciples, James and John. They were up on a mountain, and God the Father spoke down from Heaven to Jesus and said “This is my son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Peter says that “we ourselves heard this voice that came from Heaven.” So they recorded it because they witnessed it.
Then, you have a man named Luke, who was not one of the 12 disciples who followed Jesus. But he was a doctor who lived at the time of Jesus, and after Jesus left the Earth, he began to travel around and record the historical evidences for Jesus. He would travel to cities where Jesus ministered and would interview the eyewitnesses.
Luke 1:1-4
1Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, 2just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, 3it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.
Luke said he investigated and went to the eyewitnesses who saw the things that Jesus did. The Bible was not written with myths or made-up stories in order to convince people to believe in a fake god. No, the Bible consists of testimonies of historical events, conversations, and miracles that actually took place in history. And this is confirmed by people who witnessed these events.
Jesus would do ministry, teach, and do miraculous things in public. He fed over 5,000 people with a few loaves … that is a lot of eye witnesses. Jesus preached sermons to thousands of people. He healed blind men, paralyzed people, raised dead children. Eyewitnesses surrounded Him.
You would think that if this Jesus guy were a fraud and didn’t do these things, that when this book was written, there would be lots of people claiming that Jesus never existed. But no … people historically know that Jesus lived and did these things. Because there were witnesses.
2. The Historical Accuracy That is Recorded
Moving beyond just the eyewitness accounts, there is a lot of historical proof that the Bible is true. And this is seen primarily in prophecies and predictions that come true.
The Bible is split in to two major sections, the Old and the New Testaments. The Old Testament is split into 39 smaller books, and they were written from 1,400 BC to 400 BC. So, a thousand years of time happened between the time when the first and last books of the Old Testament were written.
The New Testament was written from about 45 AD (10–15 years after Jesus) to 90 AD.
In total, the Bible was written over 1,500 years. And the Bible records historical events that occurred during those years—and other historical documents and books confirm these events. It is not just the Bible making up stories; it’s the Bible recording actual historical events.
For example, in the book of Joshua, there is a cool story about how the people of Israel walked around a city named Jericho. And God told them to walk around the city seven times, and then the walls will fall down. Pretty crazy story. And most people think that it is a myth and a made-up tale.
But from 1907 to 1958, four archaeologists began to discover that there were 15-foot walls that suddenly crumbled thousands of years ago. And they began to find out that the walls fell outward and not inward. Normally, when a city is attacked, the walls fall inward. But not for Jericho—when they walked around seven times, God caused the walls to come down like an earthquake. And archaeology is proving that the biblical account is accurate.
Or, you can look at how in the summer of 1993, people found proof that King David ruled over Israel. They found an impressive royal plaza with inscriptions that read “The king of Israel, the House of David” that dates back to the 9th century BC.
We could go book by book and show how the biblical accounts have been supported by archaeology, history, and documents. But I think the most important and influential historical argument is the prophecies about Jesus.
Isaiah 7:14
14Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.7:14 Immanuel means God is with us
This was written around 700 BC. And it was predicting that God’s Son would be born of a virgin. That is a shocking prophecy. And it came true.
In Micah 5:2, Written around 750 bc, it says
Micah 5:2
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose coming forth is from of old,
from ancient days.
Here, Micah prophesies that Jesus will be born in the town of Bethlehem. And if we look to the New Testament, in the book of Matthew, we see in the first two chapters that a woman named Mary, who was a virgin gave birth to Jesus in Bethlehem. And if you read it, you will see that eyewitnesses are mentioned. You will learn that Herod was ruling over the land. This account is full of historical accuracy, and it shows that the Bible is not a myth. There’s proof.
There are lots of things you can use to study further about this, if you are wondering how historically accurate the Bible is. There is a man named Josephus who lived in the first century, who was not a Christ follower, but recorded lots of proof for Jesus’ existence. You can check that out.
So let’s say you see that there is historical proof for the Bible and that there were many eyewitnesses to the works of Jesus. Great! Now we understand that Jesus is real and is who He says He is. So let’s look at what Jesus says about the Bible.
3. The Claims of Jesus About the Bible
Jesus, while preaching, said this:
Matthew 5:17-18
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
Jesus is saying that all of the Bible—every single letter, every stroke of the pen—is the Word of God. He believed it, He practiced it. Jesus is claiming that the Old and the New Testaments are true and should be held up high. Jesus Himself quoted so many Old Testament passages and believed them as the Word of God.
There are many people today who think Jesus was real, and they like Jesus, but they don’t like the Bible. And if you truly believe in Jesus, you will truly read and apply the Bible. If Jesus Himself taught from the Bible, then you cannot say Jesus was a good teacher but the Bible is false.
But this passage is powerful, because Jesus is saying to not even look down on one little stroke or letter in the Bible. He affirms the Bible and says it is the spoken Word of God. It is truth. So if you believe in Jesus, you ought to believe the Bible is trustworthy.
4. The Character of God and His Words
I also believe the Bible is trustworthy because of the author of the Bible. Look at 2 Timothy 3:16:
2 Timothy 3:16
16All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
Here, it says that all of the Bible is God-breathed. This means that each word of the Bible is from God. God breathed His words of truth into human minds, and they wrote them down. These words are perfect. They are from God.
Because I know that the words in this book are breathed out by God, I know I can trust them. Because I trust God. I know God’s character. I know He is perfect, holy, without sin, and full of truth. If God is reliable, His words are reliable, too.
For example, how many of you have a friend who is almost always late to everything? When you tell them to meet you at your house at 5:00, and they are not there, it doesn’t really surprise you. Because part of who they are—which is not a good excuse—is that they are always late. So you cannot trust them to be on time because of their past experiences of being late.
So with God, I look at what He has done and His character. And I know that He has always done what is right, pure, and full of truth. So if He is speaking the words for Scripture, I know they are trustworthy. I know they are accurate.
So those are the four reasons.
The PEOPLE who witnessed the events recorded.
The historical Accuracy that is recorded.
The claims of Jesus about the bible.
The character of God and his words.
When you think through those four reasons you have to ask yourself:
If the Bible is what it says it is, then why would I go a day without it?
Think about that. If God exists—which we talked about at the last IDK—and if He gave us this book to give us His truth, then why would we ignore this book? If this book is full of the words of God, why are we not studying it? Why are we not looking to it and doing what it says? If it is trustworthy, then what are we doing with it?
If you believe this book is what it says it is, then treat it like it is.
PRAY
Revisist “I can trust the Bible because ______________”. Have their answers changed? ETC.
Then finish your time discussing what you guys learned and what that looks like in your lives.
Ask:
Has anyone ever felt this way? Struggled with this question?
What has helped you be sure in your faith when you have thought about this question?
Has there been anyone in your life who was a part of you working through these kind of hard questions? If so tell us about that.
Of the 4 reasons which one has the biggest impact on you?
Of the 4 reasons which one do you still have the hardest time with?
Okay now go have fun :)