Head-Heart-Hands — The Intellectual Side of Christianity - Thursday
Today’s Verse
Hebrews 4:12
For whatever God says to us is full of living power: it is sharper than the sharpest dagger, cutting swift and deep into our innermost thoughts and desires with all their parts, exposing us for what we really are. (TLB)
Years ago, I taught a class at Southland called Reasons. The two most often-asked questions were, “Is Jesus really God?” and “Is the Bible really true?” The second question merits our attention today.
There are five reasons for believing that the Bible is an extraordinary book unlike any other. First is its authorship. Every book in the Bible is written by either an apostle or prophet, based on eyewitness testimony. We all know that eyewitnesses bring credibility like nothing else can.
Second is the cohesion of the Bible. Written over the course of 1,600 years by more than forty authors from every walk of life, Scripture is remarkably cohesive and practical. Its message is relentlessly consistent: God created us, Jesus saves us, and the Holy Spirit guides us.
Third is its preservation. The Bible has more extant manuscripts than any other ancient book; not even close. There are nine copies of Caesar’s Gallic Wars. The Roman historian Tacitus wrote fourteen books of his Histories; we possess only 4 ½ copies. We have five copies of Aristotle's works, none earlier than 1200 A.D. By contrast, we possess 5,000 ancient Greek manuscripts of the New Testament and 10,000 copies in other ancient languages. Parts of these copies date as early as 30 years after the originals were penned. One might conclude that the Bible’s preservation is a bit of a miracle, don’t you think?
Fourth is its proliferation. The Bible is, hands down, the most published book in human history, and billions of people have read it. Scripture can be found in every corner of the world, even where owning or reading it is illegal. It has been printed in nearly every known human language and has been the world’s #1 bestseller each year since it was written!
Finally, is the Bible’s endurance. People have died torturous deaths simply to gain access to the Bible. It has been praised, cursed, restricted, banned, desecrated, burned, and fought over. People swear on it and at it. Thousands have tried to eliminate it, but every attempt has failed. The Bible has been sifted, studied, commented on, and dissected more than any other book. Scores of books have been written about it, and if stacked on top of one another, they would reach the sky.
REFLECTION
I believe that intelligent people will read the Bible. Why wouldn’t they? Southland is here—13,000 strong—because this book has transformed lives. It’s eternally relevant to the life we long for. It has changed my life and yours because we’ve surrendered to the transformational truth in God’s word.
