Is the Bible From God?

 

Is the Bible From God?—AP Material for All Ages

Eric Lyons, M.Min.

Misc.

When I was a teenager, a friend and I asked a kind woman if she would be interested in having a Bible study. We set up a particular time and arrived at her house “ready…to give an answer” for our hope of salvation through Jesus Christ. I had prepared for this study. I “knew” where I was going with this study (or so I thought). I was ready to talk to this hospitable woman about sin, the Savior, and how to become saved from the eternal consequences of sin by the Savior. But (as is often the case), things did not go as planned.

As we sat down at the kitchen table, only a few minutes into the study, the woman looked right at me and said, “But I don’t believe that the Bible is the Word of God.” Though I was prepared to talk to this precious lost soul about the fundamentals of God’s plan of salvation and about Jesus’ Church, I was woefully unprepared for a much more fundamental (and vitally important) discussion: “How do I know that God said these things?” 

A man can memorize the entire Bible. A woman can give a biblical answer to every question she’s asked. However, neither person is ready to defend the Gospel unless he or she can give evidence and logical reasons why people should trust that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. 

According to a May 2022 Gallup poll, “A record-low 20% of Americans now say the Bible is the literal word of God, down 24% the last time the question was asked in 2017, and half of what it was…in 1980 and 1984. Meanwhile, a new high of 29% say the Bible is a collection of ‘fables, legends, history and moral precepts recorded by man.’”1

Friends, the teaching of the fundamental evidence for the Christian faith, including especially investigating the evidence for the divine origin of the Bible, is vital to honest and healthy personal spiritual growth and evangelism. If AP can assist you in your search for and defense of the Bible, visit apologeticspress.org or check out one or more of our books (for all ages) on Bible inspiration.

Endnote

1 Frank Newport (2022), “Few in U.S. Now See Bible as Literal Word of God,” July 6, https://news.gallup.com/poll/394262/fewer-bible-literal-word-god.aspx.

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