The Bible: Truth or Myth?

A Lie Has Many Variations, the Truth None – African proverb.

I’ve never been one to believe what I hear without first asking questions. I pursue the truth relentlessly and am, by nature, a skeptic.

skeptic – a person inclined to question or doubt all accepted opinions

Success in discerning the truth depends on receiving reliable information. Information is only as good as its source. Trustworthy sources are hard to find. Sources twist the truth to fit what they think the “truth” should be until, eventually, the “truth” becomes a lie.

ONE SOURCE OF ALL TRUTH

“There is one source for all truth.” That is a BOLD statement. Being a skeptic, I found this hard to believe. But consider for a moment that if this were true, then the truth is knowable! This one source of truth would serve as the unchanging measure by which we could weigh everything we hear to determine whether it is the truth or a lie. We could live our lives by this truth. That would be life-changing!

The good news is that this source exists. It is the inspired Word of God – the Bible. The Bible tells the truth about God, about me, about you. It has the answer to any question or moral dilemma we might face. Although the Bible was written over 1500 years by 40 authors with very different backgrounds on three continents, it tells one story with one central message: God’s redemption of man. It is the living Word and can transform lives – I know because it transformed mine.

TRUTH OR MYTH?

I haven’t always believed the Bible was this “one source for all truth.” As a teenager, I read the Bible as a story – an instructional story that was meant to teach valuable moral lessons. I didn’t believe that Moses parted the Red Sea or that Jesus turned water into wine. The idea of God raising someone from the dead seemed ridiculous to me. Good stories, yes, but likely untrue. These things were foolishness to me. You see, human wisdom and pride kept me from even considering that the Bible might be true – that its message may have saving power.

To contemplate the whole Jesus, God, Bible thing, I needed the Bible to be a legitimate option as a source of truth. I needed to hear logical arguments for why the Bible is true. Now, don’t get me wrong…

I’m not saying that I came to Christ through logical arguments, but hearing logical arguments gave my intellect permission to consider the Bible as a legitimate source of truth and ultimately believe its message. 

Without this permission, my brain kept my heart from responding to the Gospel, and the message of Christ continued to be lost on me.

SKEPTIC TO BELIEVER

My transformation from skeptic to believer was not instantaneous. Before I could accept Jesus Christ as the Lord of my life, I had to believe that the Bible was true – that it accurately reflected the story of man and, ultimately, Jesus. For so long, the truth was hidden from me by human wisdom. Thank God that He did not give up on me. He used human wisdom to present arguments to me that made sense and that began to poke holes in the lies that were closing my eyes to the truth. He brought people and resources into my life that met me where I was.

At some point in my pursuit of truth, I remember thinking if the Bible really is true, my life would forever be changed. If God created the earth by speaking, if He raised Jesus from the dead, He is a mighty God, and I want to know Him! I don’t remember the exact moment I knew that the Bible was true, but the consequences of this revelation were staggering. My life was forever changed. Believing that God was big enough to part the seas, turn water into wine, and raise Jesus from the dead gave my life purpose—the desire to know God through His Word burned in me. Since then, I have been continuously searching for more of God’s truth. I can’t get enough. The truth set me free. The truth sets us all free.

PRAYER

Thank you, God, that your Word is true and you’ve given us a way to the Truth. Thank you also for each person reading this blog. Holy Spirit, speak to them where they are today and guide them to the Truth. In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.