Basis for my belief and faith in God


Basis for my belief and faith in God
Q. How is the Bible unique?
A. Continuity & Inerrancy. 

In many ways the Bible is a most unusual Book. For instance, it has a dual authorship. In other words, God is the Author of the Bible, and in another sense man is the author of the Bible. Actually, about forty authors wrote the Bible over a period of approximately 1500 years. Some of these men never even heard of the others, and there was no collusion among the forty. Two or three of them could have gotten together, but the others could not have known each other. And yet they have presented a Book that has the most marvelous continuity of any book that has ever been written. 

Also, it is without error. Each author expressed his own feelings in his own generation. Each had his limitations and made his mistakes—poor old Moses made mistakes, but when he was writing the Pentateuch, somehow or other no mistakes got in there. You see, it is a human Book and yet it is a God-Book.

How do we know that the Bible is the Word of God?

1. Preservation—One of the objective proofs, one of the external proofs, has been the marvelous preservation of the Bible. 

There was a king of old—we read about him in the Book of Jeremiah—who, when the Word was sent to him, took a penknife and cut it to pieces. But it was rewritten, and we have that Word today. Down through the centuries there have been a great many Bible burnings. Today there’s a great deal of antagonism toward the Bible. In our country today it is not being burned because we think that we are too civilized for such behavior. The way they try to get rid of it is just to outlaw it in our schools and in many other places. (Yet we talk about our freedom of religion and freedom of speech.) 

In spite of all the attacks that have been made upon the Bible, it still today exists, and, of course, it’s one of the best sellers. And that is certainly a commentary on our contemporary society. Unfortunately the Bible is not occupying the place that it once did in the history and in the life of this nation. Yet, I think the amazing preservation of the Word of God is worthy of consideration.

2. Archaeology—Another way in which we can know the Bible is the Word of God is through archaeology. The spade of the archaeologist has turned up many things that have proven that it is the Word of God. For instance, there were those who for many years denied the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch on the basis that writing was not in existence in Moses’ day. You haven’t heard anybody advance that theory recently, have you? Well, of course not. For years the spade of the archaeologist has turned up again and again evidence of the validity of the Bible. 

The city of Jericho and the walls that fell down is one example. Now there has been some argument between Miss Kathleen Kenyon and John Garstang relative to specifics, but it’s well established that the walls fell down, and I’ll let them debate about the time and all that sort of thing. The Word of God has been substantiated there, and in many other ways archaeology has demonstrated the accuracy of the Bible. 

Many of the manuscripts that have been found do that also. It’s quite interesting that when the Isaiah scrolls, the Dead Sea scrolls, were found, the liberal leaped at that because he thought he had found an argument that would discredit the Bible. However, the scrolls have not discredited the Bible, and it seems that the liberal has lost a great deal of interest in them. 

This is a field into which you might do some research, as I cannot go to any great length in this brief post.

3. Fulfilled Prophecy—If I had just one thing to suggest that would be a conclusive proof that the Bible is the Word of God, I would suggest fulfilled prophecy. 

Fulfilled prophecy is the one proof that you can’t escape you can’t get around. And the Bible is filled with fulfilled prophecy. One-fourth of the Scripture, when it was written, was prophetic; that is, it announced things that were to take place in the future. A great deal of that, in fact, a great deal more than people imagine, has already been fulfilled. We could turn to many places where prophecy has been fulfilled exactly. 

We find that there were many local situations that were fulfilled even in the day of the prophet. For example, Micaiah was the prophet who told Ahab that if he went out to battle as he planned, he would lose the battle and would be killed. However, Ahab’s false prophets had told him he’d have a victory and would return as a victorious king. Because he didn’t like what Micaiah said, Ahab ordered him locked up and fed bread and water, and he would take care of him when he got back. But Micaiah shot back the last word, “If you come back at all, the Lord hasn’t spoken by me.” Well, evidently the Lord had spoken by him because Ahab didn’t come back. He was killed in the battle, and his army was defeated. He had even disguised himself so that there would be no danger of his losing his life. But an enemy soldier, the Scripture says, pulled his bow at a venture; that is, when the battle was about over, he had just one arrow left in his quiver; he put it in place and shot, not really aiming at anything. But, you know, that arrow had old Ahab’s name on it, and it found him. It went right to its mark. Why? Because Micaiah had made an accurate prophecy (see 1 Kings 22). This is only one of hundreds of examples. This is a particular area of interest to me so pick a prophecy and let’s dig in.

4. Transformed Lives—I offer two final reasons as proof that the Bible is the Word of God. 

One is the transformed lives of believers today. I have seen what the Word of God can do in the lives of men and women. Young and old have found purpose and fulfillment in life, marriages have been saved, families reunited, individuals have been freed from alcoholism and drug addiction. Folks have had their lives transformed by coming to Christ. Only the Bible can turn a sinner into a saint.

5. Spirit of God Made it Real—I have reached the place today where I not only believe that the Bible is the Word of God, I know it’s the Word of God. 

And I know it’s the Word of God because the Spirit of God has made it real to my own heart and my own life. That is the thing that Paul talked to the Colossians about. He prayed that they “might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.” I also want this, because I found out that the Spirit of God can confirm these things to your heart and that you don’t need archaeology or anything else to prove that the Bible is God’s Word. 

I trust that the Spirit of God is going to make the Word of God not only real to you to incorporate into your living, but that He is also going to give you that assurance that you can say, I know that it’s the Word of God.

These are five specific points that I base my belief in God on. They are all in harmony with each other while providing a means of checks and balances thus making my basis verifiable. 

In my view this is far beyond saying, “I don’t know why I believe, I just do.” 
There is proof, it is a matter of whether a person decides to engage in an in-depth study to examine the evidence in relation to scripture or to let their preconceived notions prevail in guiding them.
 

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