Is the Bible Really God’s Word?
June 20th, 2007
(By Nathan Busenitz)
Why do we believe that the Bible is the Word of God?
This is a critical question, and one that we ought to seriously consider. After all, as Christians, we base not only our lives on the Bible, but our eternities. We believe it to be the very Word of God. But what are the reasons we do so?
Not everyone, of course, believes that the Bible is truly God’s Word. Andy Partridge (lead singer of XTC) would be one such example. “I don’t believe the Bible,” says Partridge. “I believe most of the Bible is not lies, but fantasy based on a tiny thread of something maybe not so fantastic after all.” Captain Sensible (guitarist and founding member of the punk band The Damned) concurs: “There’s also no mention of dinosaurs in the Bible either. Perhaps it’s not inspired by an all knowing being after all and is, after all, just a cracking good work of fiction?”
Actor Bruce Willis (from a July 1998 interview in George Magazine) also agrees:
Organized religions in general, in my opinion, are dying forms. They were all very important when we didn’t know why the sun moved, why weather changed, why hurricanes occurred, or volcanoes happened. Modern religion is the end trail of modern mythology. But there are people who interpret the Bible literally. Literally! I choose not to believe that’s the way.
In an increasingly skeptical world, we (as Christians) must be ready to give good reasons for our faith (1 Pet. 3:15), including why we believe the Bible really is what it claims to be. The Christian faith, more than any other belief system, is a reasonable faith; it makes claims that correspond to testable facts, gives compelling evidences for its own truthfulness, and presents a worldview that is consistent with reality. Thus, when we are confronted by detractors, we can give a reasonable defense, knowing that the truth will ultimately prevail.
R. A. Torrey took this very approach when confronted with his own personal doubts. Nearly a century ago, Torrey wrote this:
I was brought up to believe that the Bible was the Word of God. In early life I accepted it as such upon the authority of my parents, and never gave the question any serious thought. But later in life my faith in the Bible was utterly shattered through the influence of the writings of a very celebrated, scholarly and brilliant skeptic. I found myself face to face with the question, Why do you believe the Bible is the Word of God?
I had no satisfactory answer. I determined to go to the bottom of this question. If satisfactory proof could not be found that the Bible was God’s Word I would give the whole thing up, cost what it might. If satisfactory proof could be found that the Bible was God’s Word I would take my stand upon it, cost what it might. I doubtless had many friends who could have answered the question satisfactorily, but I was unwilling to confide to them the struggle that was going on in my own heart; so I sought help from God and from books, and after much painful study and thought came out of the darkness of skepticism into the broad daylight of faith and certainty that the Bible from beginning to end is God’s Word.
As a result of his scrutiny and study, Torrey produced “Ten Reasons I Believe the Bible Is the Word of God” — a helpful survey of the reasons that compelled Torrey to believe the Bible. Over the next few days, we are going to survey a similar list (in part based on Torrey’s work), in the hopes that you will be encouraged in your own reading and study of the Scriptures.
(To Be Continued Tomorrow)
I look forward to this series Nathan. In this postmodern culture where the inerrancy of the Bible is constantly being attacked, this is a subject that we can never be reminded of enough.
Thank you for this. Torrey is one of my spiritual heroes. An amazing intellect (accepted to Yale at age 14!) who came to embrace and defend the true fundamentals of the faith. When he finally came to accept inerrancy as an aspect of his own, personal faith, his ministry began to take off in power. This will be a great series!
I most certainly believe that the Bible is the very Word of God and is infallible and inerrant. But this last day or two, I have felt God leading me to fully explore this fact and write out why I believe this.
Then, this morning, I come across this post and am greatly encouraged and amazed by God’s providence. I look forward to your future postings.
Y’know, one word has been one of the most nurturing waters and grinding stones of my existence. “Why?” I sometimes feel bad that I didn’t have the church upbringing that so many in my community had, even those who aren’t saved can recite some hymns and Bible stories which are familiar also to my saved family.
Then, I realize that although my belief in God was planted in my childhood, since I didn’t submit to His gracious salvation until I was 23, I started almost from scratch. This combined with my natural propensity to ask “why” has led to real crisis moments which invariably have led to greater faith because when I asked myself why I believe things in the Bible, I either find a very demonstrable answer, of I find that despite the current lack of that answer the abundance of previous answers makes me trust that the answer will come in time.
One that gave me no end of difficulty was “I have a book, they have a book, so how can I explain why mine is better?”
Talk about getting into deep prayer and study!
Dinosaurs most certainly ARE mentioned in the Bible! The leviathan and behemoth could not be, as many say today, a hippo and a crocodile. More later…
interesting list but were i to show that to an unsaved friend they would just shrug the moff. Such arguments are often meaningless to the lost, hardened heart. Apologetics of this sort are of little use for most men, as even if you can prove the physical (historicity, archeological support, veracity, etc) you can’t prove the spiritual to those dead spiritually. that is God’s work and needs to be wrought in the heart. the only tool we have there is faithful prayer.
btw, i look forward still to your notes from your ShepConf07 session. are you still planning to get around to posting them eventually? =)
“shrug the moff” = “shrug them off”, sorry
Spent time today under the preaching/teaching of John MacArthur on the first 4 verses of Titus through GTY’s tape lending library(what a blessing those first two tapes were to me. God’s Word has a way of making me no longer thirsty on one hand yet thirsting for more on the other ~ if that makes sense to anyone but me.). No way is the Bible anything BUT God’s Word.
Looking forward to further rich posts such as are shared here, Nathan.
My husband does not believe that Jesus is God. He believes that Jesus was a good person, a great leader, but he does not believe He is God. I am a Christian. I do believe that Jesus is God. I became saved 3 years after my marriage. It is difficult for me to share my faith with my husband becase he always says that the Bible is full of errors, mistakes and that only men gave their opinion of what God said in the Bible. He does not believe that the Bible is the actual word of God.
I am frustrated with my husaband. I am very worried about his eternal future. Nothing I say seems to help. Could you please give me some advice?
Thank you
Briget, Alexandria Virginia