The Bible...

"Why should anyone read the Bible, it's all made up anyways?" A student asked me this question once, and as surprised as I was by the question, it is one with a relatively simple answer. Because the Bible is literally the God of the universe speaking. That may sound crazy, but I'll explain.

First, let's start with some of the dismissals of the Bible. Some dismiss the Bible because it's "all made up." However, nothing could be further from the truth! No portion of the Bible has ever been proven wrong. Even with what seemed like easy facts to prove wrong, lo and behold, the proof was there. Think David, a biblical king of the Israelites (from Goliath fame...) whom scholars said didn't exist. They kept saying he was made up because there was no proof of this military mastermind who established Israel as a powerhouse until they finally dug up references to "David king of the Hebrews" relating to conquests of their people. Hmm, does that sound like someone who never existed? Or better yet, let's hop forward in time: a man named Lysanias, Tetrarch of Abilene was deemed to not exist (as the Romans kept copious amounts of records, yet he couldn't be found!). Yet, what do you suppose happened? As they kept digging and looking, they found this name recorded several places. Oops... Archeology has NEVER found anything contrary to the biblical text. Hmm, does this sound like the things you've heard? That the Bible is full of incorrect facts, false information, and outrageous lies. I don't think so! The Bible has NO inaccuracies as seen in modern archeology. In fact, many in the field of archeology have used the Bible as a guide book to find things! That alone should lend credibility to the Bibles veracity. Yet it is still brought into doubt!

But, not only does archeology bear out the Bible, it is the single most reliable document in all antiquity. There are more copies of the biblical text from way earlier than any other text in the world! Yet, we look at things supposedly written by Caesar and other historical figures and say it is fact based on one or two manuscripts! How does several hundred sound? Better or worse? I'd say it's substantially better, and yet the Bible is the portion that is taken as "myth." Seems like there's something wrong to me...

All this goes to say, if the Bible is true, there's a whole lot we need to chew on. First, God exists and cares. Second, it comes down to what we are going to do with Him. Who is God to us? That's a major question posed by the Bible and it gives us an answer, the question is what does it mean to you?

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