The Bible is the basis for all Christian teaching, so we need to think about whether this is right or not. Is the Bible unique, or is it like any other ancient book?
The first step is to see if the Bible is actually historically accurate and reliable. And when we investigate, we see it lines up very well with other historical sources from Roman and Jewish historians. We can be confident that the text we have today is very similar to the text as it was written down, for we have so many different copies which are so similar to each other. It is true that the people who wrote the Bible believed it was true, so they are biased, but being biased doesn’t mean it is not true, only that it needs to be investigated for yourself.
What does the Bible say about itself? It claims to be the way you can find God and know how to live (2 Timothy 3:14-17
). It claims to be the word of both God and man (2 Peter 1:19-21). Jesus believed the Bible was so accurate and important he used even the tense of a verb (Matt 22:23-33) and the logic of a verse (Matt 22:41-46) to argue against people with.
If this Bible is so important, it needs to be investigated closely. It needs to be read and listened to and thought about. And as we do this, if it is the Word of God as it claims to be, we will be shown the way to live now and the way to eternal life through Jesus forever.
(Based on Bible Cafe teaching, Friday 26 March 2010).