I believe It!

Deep in the mountains of West Virginia I was sitting in a small baptist church listening to a country pastor preach on the Word of God. I heard him say at least 20 times, "the Bible says it, I believe it!" Then a chorus of Amen's erupted all over the sanctuary. I admit I was one of them. However inside my spirit I was crying out, "tell them why"! I wish it was enough just to say because the Bible says it, we have reason enough to believe it. But not anymore. In this information age, we need to know in our spirit why we believe it. We need to know for ourselves so we can share it with others.

One of the things I wanted this pastor to tell everyone was how amazing the Bible is in its continuity. The Bible was written by forty different authors, living on three separate continents, speaking in three different languages, and spanning a time period of a thousand years, telling one story. It has complete thematic harmony, commonality, and consistency of information throughout the whole book. You could never go to a library and choose sixty-six books by forty authors and expect them to tell one story. It won't happen.

Another bit of information I would have liked to hear was how the Bible has been tested as authentic, biblical text just as all other historical documents. Historical documents are tested in three ways: the number of existing manuscripts, the dating of the manuscripts, and the proportion of variant readings. Let's look at just one of the three ways in greater detail. There are 24,000+ existing portions of the New testament manuscripts which ranks first in manuscript evidence. Second in manuscript evidence is Iliad, by Homer with 643 manuscripts. Wow! There is no comparison to those numbers (24,000 vs. 643).

Other ways we know the Bible is historical fact is through evidence from archaeology, early christian writers, and extra-biblical writers. For a further look into these evidences and manuscripts, please check out www.gospeloutreach.net and click on Why the Bible is the Word of God.

With all this great information available to me and to you about why the Bible is the Word of God, it still is not the reason I believe. I believe because my life has been changed by Jesus Christ. It was through the Bible that I was taught about this life-changing, life-giving power! Lives can be made new in this information age. It is He who can change your life today. You would be able to say yourself, "the Bible says it, and I believe it" because of your own personal experience which could never be challenged.

Blessings,
Lisa