JUST ONE BOOK

What follows are excerpts from a short book I published online back in 2011 on the credibility of the Bible. I decided to transfer some of its contents to my author Website and post chapters as blog posts. Most of the material has been updated to reflect events as of 2021. Click on Read More to see the original Introduction.

Grace is incredibly counter to human nature and our notions of what God should be like. Grace leads a person to forgive others despite unspeakable crimes. It leads one person to keep forgiving another for repeating the same offense countless times. It leads us to love our enemies, to pray for them, and do good to them.

People are always asking for scientific proof of the Bible’s claims – something that is observable, consistent, and repeatable. To me, human nature and behavior are as predictably bad as the force of gravity is observable in everyday life. Want evidence?

The Bible is a collection of 66 books/letters written over many centuries, by numerous authors, in varied geographic settings, and under a range of circumstances. Yet its core message and teachings are unified and consistent throughout.

How can we determine if the Bible contains accurate depictions of the events it describes; if it can be considered authoritative; and if it has been reliably preserved/translated over thousands of years? In short, how can we assess the reliability of the Bible?

Today, many people in Western society consider science and Christianity to be adversaries. This has only recently been the case - and things are changing.

If you were a betting man living during the time of Israel’s enslavement in Egypt - or during the time of any of the great world empires - the last country you would pick to survive thousands of years and be a keen focus of the modern world would be Israel. And yet Israel has survived, and it was predicted long ago in the scriptures.

The Bible provides the answer to the question, why are we here? It gives meaning to our lives. It reveals a higher power who created and sustains everything seen and unseen for his purposes.

Several years ago while I was attending church services, a representative of Gideons International got up to speak. It was a woman in her late thirties who described her severe drug addiction spanning many years. She talked about her downward spiral and the extreme financial, emotional and health toll accompanying it. She finally reached the point where, in a prison infirmary, she was told she would live only a matter of days.

Ask yourself why you believe the things you believe, especially things about God and faith. Is it because of the culture you live in, the way you were raised, or your likes/dislikes? Is it because you’re following the beliefs of someone influential in your life? Is it simply because of a movie you saw or a magazine article you read?

What follows are the sources of the images used above.