Can the Bible be trusted?

The bible is an amazing book.  There are 66 separate books written by 40 different authors over a span of nearly 1,500 years in the bible.  Yet it speaks one coherent message.

We could give you a long account of who wrote the bible from a human perspective and how it came to be; but what you really want to know is, can it be trusted to lead me to God and guide my life?

It can and has been debated for centuries whether every single part of the bible is perfectly accurate.  It has also been debated greatly whether everything in the bible took place literally – such as were Adam and Eve real people?…Did the snake in the garden really talk?…Was there really a flood and an ark with two kinds of every living thing?…and Are all the dates and events historically accurate?

These are all valid questions, but for most people, the real question isn’t about this, but rather, is the bible reliable in helping them connect with God and hear from Him?

The bible is the Word of God because it is a living and breathing document, not so much because of who the writers were or how they wrote it.  It certainly has credibility because of who wrote it and its historical context.  But the real reason the bible can be trusted is because when it was written, the writers were inspired by God to write what they did.  The actual biblical term used is “God-breathed” [2 Timothy 3:16].  God gave the writers the inspiration to write what they did because only God could know what people both then and today would need to hear and know.

At the same time, the bible isn’t just a 2,000-year-old document.  It is something that is living and breathing today because as you read it, it requires God’s Spirit to open your mind and heart to the truth found there.  Only when this process happens, does it come to life and become spiritual food for your life.  Only through this process does the Word of God reach deep into a person’s life to transform them in ways nothing else can [Hebrews 4:12].

For those who think the bible is a collection of stories, fables, myths or human wisdom, the bible hasn’t been opened to them by the Holy Spirit.  But when it is, something supernatural occurs when a searching human soul connects with God’s power through the bible.  You see, the bible is more than knowledge or facts.  We are reminded in Ephesians 3:17-19 that God’s heart for us is that knowledge is surpassed by God’s life-changing love.

When this happens, you will experience in your own life that the bible can be trusted.