As a first post, I believe the most essential topic to begin with is why to believe the Bible. The main thrust behind why to believe the Bible is the belief that it has its source ultimately in God. Yes, the books and letters of the Bible were written with human hands, but I believe (along with millions of other Christians in the past and present) that the process was superintended by and inspired by God himself.
I have recently been contemplating the immense importance of our understanding of the nature of the Bible. Previous to the past few months, I simply took for granted concepts like sola scriptura (that the Bible is our final authority in life and the Church), the canon of the Bible, and other such topics. But in today’s world, it is vital to know why we believe the Bible is from God. I believe there are two main reasons why we need to know if this book is divine in origin:
1. We need to know if the serious claims the Bible makes are worth listening to
If you have ever read the Bible, you know that it makes very serious, life-altering claims. For example, in Matthew 25:31-46 it talks about Jesus welcoming people into the kingdom of God and rejecting others when he comes back. Those he rejects go into an everlasting fire. 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10 speaks of a similar situation. Jesus will come back, and those who have rejected him will be punished and suffer destruction, while those faithful to him will be rewarded. Acts 4:12 says that we can only be saved through Jesus. Even if we only consider these three passages, one can easily see the gravity of the texts at hand. If the Bible is true, then that means what I do now affects how I will spend the afterlife. I need to be able to answer questions such as, “Is it true that Jesus will come back?”, “Is it true that if I reject him now that I will suffer later?”, and “Is it true that there is no other way outside of Jesus of entering into a pleasant afterlife?” We need reasons to know if the Bible is truly from God. If it is indeed from God, then that means I ought to listen and pay careful attention to its teachings.
2. There have been ongoing attacks against the Bible’s authority
Attacks against the Bible are not new to our generation. Since the age of the Enlightenment in the 1600’s, people such as Rene Descartes, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Schleiermacher, and scholars on up to the present have attempted to undermine the more spectacular claims of the Bible and emphasize rationalism and the individual over traditional understandings of the Bible. As of 2024, the Barna Group found that about 36% of American adults view the Bible as without error. Only 44% of self-identifying Christians view the Bible as without error (https://www.barna.com/trends/bible-reading-trends/). What this essentially means is that 64% of American adults either view the Bible as partially correct or completely incorrect. If the Bible isn’t guiding our morals, decisions, family relationships, etc, then something else is. I will give reasons for believing why the Bible is divine and therefore should be the supreme authority in our lives and churches.
After this post, I will go through eight reasons for believing that the Bible has divine origins. Some points will be less convincing than others, and at the end of the day it truly is a matter of faith. Who or what you trust in most determines what you believe. If you trust your mind and your ability to think above all else, then what you think is authoritative. If you trust in scientists, then the newest theories and discoveries will hold most weight. If you trust in some Hindu goddess, then what she says goes above all else. If you trust in God as presented in the Bible then what he says in his word goes above all else. I can give you 100 reasons to believe the Bible, and even so some individuals will not trust the Bible…they will trust in something else instead. But my hope is that you will find the following posts convincing 🙂
Thinking Theo 
Leave a comment