Is The Bible Reliable? Is The Bible Relevant? Series

Instead of doing any of this, I will say to you what I have heard scholar after scholar say, the Bible is historically accurate, in so much as it has accomplished its theological intention. In other words, the Bible may have a great deal of history in it, but its intention is not to record history. Its intention is to record how God has interacted with the world, so that people may turn from what the world has to offer and believe in Him.

I had it said to me once, if all the Bibles in the world were burned, would you still believe? My answer to this is, "Yes!" I believe the Christian faith would look very different, but many people would still believe that there is a God who created the world, sent His son to die and be resurrected on behalf of you and me, so that we may believe in Him and be saved, and in being saved help to make this world a better place.

The Bible merely points to God; it is not God. We are not to worship the Bible, we are to worship God. God is far above the Bible, He transcends the Bible. God is far above all things. He is not limited to the Bible, for He existed far before it ever came to be.

The Bible carries God’s message as it was passed down to His people throughout generations. We are to receive this message; the message is what changes people, not the text alone.

This reminds me of the beginning of the Gospel of John. John’s Gospel begins by saying, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God" (John 1:1--2 ESV). John’s Gospel goes on to say that the "Word" became flesh and dwelt among us, it then points to the "Word" being Jesus. John uses a Greek word "Logos" to describe Jesus. In our English Bibles the word "Logos" is translated simply as "Word," but it could just as easily be translated as "Statement," or "Message." Jesus is the "Message" of God. As a person, Jesus encompassed all that God’s "Message" was. It was a "Message" of love, forgiveness, compassion, and above all things, knowing God and doing His will. Jesus was all that God had testified about in His Scriptures in a man. He was the "Message" of the Scriptures, He was Love and in being Love, He was God.

So, is the Bible relevant? Yes! How could a document with such a beautiful history not be relevant? The Bible has withstood the test of time. The people who wrote and copied the biblical documents believed in what they were doing so much that they were willing to die for it. They would lay their own lives on the line to protect it.

Well, what about the Bible stories, are they relevant to our lives, here and now? Yes! The beauty of the Bible is that we can directly relate to its stories. The people in the Bible experienced real life events. They had emotions; they felt pain, anger, joy, and love. They are just like us. Their story is our story. It is the story of humanity.

But the Biblical books take a slightly different perspective on life than we often do. The stories are seen in light of the way God interacts with the world. If only we could always see life in this way. What I would give to be able to always view my life in terms of the way God is interacting with me and working through me. I need to say to myself more often, it is not about what I am doing, but it is about what God is doing. How is God interacting with me?