It feels somehow wrong to conduct so much discussion - as I have lately done - about the truth of Christianity and the Bible without actually opening the Bible up to see what it has to say for itself.
Is the way that I go about defending Christianity consistent with the conclusions that I hope to reach in the end? Have I acted as if Jesus were not Lord and the Bible were not true in order to then argue that Jesus is Lord and that the Bible is true?
This feels a little like defending the existence of the lion when the lion's roar in his own voice will do more than all my arguments. Some may yet deny the sound. Some will say it is only a recording or a trick of the ears. But if I hope to convince someone that the Scriptures are the very words of God, how odd it would be to keep the real deal hidden until the end. Let us listen...
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All Scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16)
The Bible's claim for itself is that it is God breathed. Either that is true or not. If it is true, this is how we would expect the Bible to talk about itself.
Will we come to the Bible on our own terms, or on its terms? If we are to come to it on its own terms, then we learn here at least some of what the Bible is for. Teaching, reproof, correction, righteousness. The Bible is not a textbook on science. It is not even a detailed systematic theology. It does not answer every question we might put to it. But it does answer the questions it seeks to answer. And here we find that the Bible is intended to produce godliness in its readers. Godliness for the sake of good works. Modern readers often come with atheistic assumptions and a scalpel, instead of with a willingness to learn and a willingness to be transformed and a heart seeking any truth to be found. If the Bible is the seed, not every soil receives it equally.
He who has ears, let him hear...
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Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who were from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.
(Luke 1:1-4)
This is the beginning of Luke. He starts out and gives a reason for his writing. Luke is saying that others have written down things about Jesus - probably some of the other Gospels - and it seemed good to him to also do his own investigation and write it down. He wanted to do so orderly. He wanted to verify the accounts he had been hearing. He wanted to act as a historian while eyewitnesses were around in order to create an accurate account about Jesus. This is as a reassurance to Theophilus, a character we don't know too much about. Perhaps Theophilus was a believer who helped fund Luke's investigation, since he would have had to take time away from being a doctor in order to do his investigations.
I think we ought to take Luke at his word, unless we have a compelling reason not to. He is telling the reader how he wants his work to be read - not as myth or fiction, but as verified biography and history. (And archaeologists have found Luke to be a good historian, verifying over and over the accuracy of the different places and people he talks about in his gospel but also especially in Acts.)
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For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
(1 Corinthians 15:3-9)
This is Paul's letter to the Corinthians. Paul speaks of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection as of first importance. It is the main deal.
And he gives appropriate evidence that Jesus was raised from the dead. He is saying, "Hey, Peter saw him! and James! and I saw him. And not just us, but there was this one time when he actually appeared to hundreds of people at once. These people are still around. Don't just take my word for it. Go ask them! This isn't something I would just make up. Go check it out."
Paul was a pharisee. There is no up-front reason to think he was gullible. He had a vested interest in squashing out Christianity. He had a prominent position prior to becoming a Christian, and he had a reputation as a fierce persecutor of Christians. Yet, he became the chief spreader of Christianity. And he did so through persecution and distress, while claiming to have seen the risen Lord. His faith was an evidence-based faith. He did not stand to gain anything by switching sides if he hadn't really experienced Jesus. What he inherited was suffering and a lot of trouble and eventually a beheading by Nero. If he did not then get heaven, he got a raw deal.
If Jesus was real and his gospel was spreading, what would we expect the letters to look like? Something exactly like this. This does not have the feel of Islam or Mormonism in which the whole book or message is given to a single person who then must share it with everyone else. God's message about Jesus has not been funneled through a single source. No! You have Paul, the original disciples, and apparently a ton of extra witnesses who knew what Jesus had done. It didn't come down to one person saying, "I am God's messenger. Take my word for it." It came down to a lot of different people who couldn't help proclaiming what their eyes had seen: "God has come among us. We have seen his power. He is Jesus."
There is also a lot of fuss about whether or not the message of Scripture has been corrupted. But here - and plenty of other places, too - there is great emphasis on making sure the story is straight. Paul says that he has passed on what he had received. This is not something he would take lightly. We are talking about life-altering hugely important realities. In reading Paul's letters and the rest of the New Testament, I do not sense any tendency to want to be novel. I do not sense any tendency for the writers to want to put their own words in God's mouth. They want to get out of the foreground and let God do the talking. The later copyists would largely have been people who thought the Bible was both true and important, and it makes sense to me that they would have followed Paul's lead in wanting to faithfully pass on what they had received as of first importance.
I think only someone who didn't believe in God would have no fear about putting words in his mouth. So if, as some claim, Christianity got started as some vast conspiracy, the greatest generator of belief in God sprang from atheistic roots. To me, this would be a sociological miracle more unbelievable than resurrection itself.
John the Baptist is a great illustration of the tendency to want to get out of the way and let God be God. To humbly relay the message. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. (John 1:6-8)
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That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life - the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the father and was made manifest to us - that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
(1 John 1:1-4)
This passage drips with sensory confirmation. It is as if John is saying, "I know you may not be in the same situation as me, able to see Jesus with your own eyes. But I was. These are things that have really happened. Jesus was flesh and blood. I could see him and touch him. This Jesus that I know has a special relationship with the Father. He is God's Son. And in him we find life. We find eternal life. And I am writing to you because I want you to have this eternal life. Nothing at all would make me happier than for this writing to help you know God, to help you believe. You may not be able to see Jesus now. But trust me. And one day you will see him!"
Again, John is clearly acting as a witness. He wants to relate events. And he wants to pass on the message that was passed on to him. Being such a witness is a joy to him.
The only access we have to past events is through testimony and witness. We must decide who we will believe. Only one generation had first-hand access to Jesus. All later generations are put in the position of either trusting or distrusting witnesses. My claim is that we ought not treat every witness with extreme skepticism. We want to come with the attitude that will be most conducive to finding the truth. We do not want to be gullible; we want to be reasonable. If we trust no one, we can have no knowledge, except that which is inside the incredibly small sphere of my own personal experience.
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Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, "I believe; help my unbelief!"
(Mark 9:24)
I love the humility of this prayer, this cry from the heart.
I can see where reading Scripture might seem silly to someone who does not accept the truth of the Bible. I think what you get out of Scripture may depend on how you come to Scripture. I think to get out of Scripture what it wants you to get, you have to be open to God.
God either exists or he doesn't. Supposing he does exist, it makes sense to believe that he would be able to communicate. Supposing he exists, miracles are not ruled out of the realm of possibility. If God created the world, he certainly can do stuff in it. Suppose God did make himself known in a saving way, and he wanted to communicate the truth of that salvation to future generations. It does not seem at all unreasonable that he would put it in book form. That seems convenient at least. And the God who is able to create the universe and raise the dead also would be powerful enough to faithfully preserve this book for future generations.
If God exists, then belief in the Bible is reasonable.
If you try to read the Bible without an openness to God, it will be like trying to read a novel where all the words have been crossed out. It will be meaningless to you. I think if you are really interested in finding truth, you must be open to the possibility of God. If he turns out to be real, you would not want to have adopted an attitude or presuppositions that made it impossible for you to find him.
If you have doubts but want to seek, I invite you to pray something like this -
God, I don't really know if you are there. But if you are, I don't want to ignore you. I want to know you. I believe that if you are really there, then you will hear this prayer. I need help if the Bible is to make any sense to me. But I will read it open to your Voice. I want to know the truth.
If God is not real, you may have wasted a few breaths or a few moments. If he is real, then you may have taken a step toward securing your eternity.
But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. (Isaiah 66:2)
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:29)
Now there were also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. (John 21:25)
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